Outgoing President Benigno Aquino III is hoping that the
next 17th Congress will pursue the peace process in Mindanao
by passing the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL).
”We remain hopeful for the passage of the Bangsamoro Basic
Law in incoming Congress,” the President told the audience who witnessed the
launching of ‘Junctures’, a compilation of the President’s speeches and
statements about the peace process between the government and the Moro Islamic
Liberation Front (MILF) Thursday night at the Malacañang Palace.
Aquino promised to continue supporting the peace process
even that his administration started not too many years ago when he decided to
fly to Tokyo
”In 21 days, I will be stepping down from office, but to all
of you in attendance today, and to each person of goodwill who wishes to
fulfill the promise of Mindanao , I will remain
your friend and ally. Tell me how I can help this process, even as an ordinary
citizen, and I will be by your side,” the President said.
”The book we launch today tells of the journey we have taken
these past six years. We launch it fully aware that the journey is still
ongoing—that there are more challenges we must overcome, and triumphs that
await all of us,” he added.
The President said the people of the Autonomous Region of
Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) have been enjoying the dividends of the Framework
Agreement on the Bangsamoro (FAB) and the Comprehensive Agreement on the
Bangsamoro (CAB) signed between the government and the MILF in 2012 and 2014,
respectively.
”We have been able to give those in ARMM a significant boost
up to catch up; and we are seeking to build a structure that promotes true
leadership and public service in the region, as opposed to the previous status
quo, where strongmen addressed only their own families’ needs, and, by chance,
the needs only of their own tribe,” he said.
From 2011 to 2016, Aquino said the national and regional
government invested a total of 61.64 billion pesos in roads, bridges, and
flood-control projects in the ARMM.
The coverage of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program
(4Ps) has also skyrocketed from only 37,564 households in 2010 to 442,924 as of
2016 aside from improving education and health care in the region.
The Aquino administration has also spent PHP2.60 billion
pesos for the 1,133 poverty-reduction projects in ARMM.
Aquino reported that the total investments in the region
have reached to PHP13 billion while the tourists in Tawi-Tawi have
significantly increase from mere 200 to tens of thousands in 2014.
”These are only a few pieces of good news from ARMM; and
there is a lot more to come if we continue along the road to a true and lasting
peace,” the President said.
”This is the right path. It is a path that has benefited
those in the margins of society; and it is a path that heals the fractures
within the country we share. And the message that we now send to our countrymen
is: We must continue along this path,” he added.
Both the Senate and the House of Representatives failed to
pass the BBL in the last 16th Congress due to time constraint and proximity of
the last May 9 national and local elections.
The BBL is a codification of the CAB signed on March 27,
2014 with the main goal of ending the four decades of conflict in Mindanao .
Last February, the Philippine government peace panel (GPH)
and the MILF signed a joint agreement in Kuala Lumpur for renewed commitments
to pursue the peace process, including the enactment of BBL and the setting up
of a new governance framework.
http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=893693
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