‘BBL to pave way for final peace accord with Moros’

SEN. Juan Miguel Zubiri on Saturday said the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) would pave they way for Muslim secessionist groups

- ment with the government and participate in nation-building.

In a radio interview, Zubiri said the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), and the smaller Muslim- led rebel groups would sign the peace accord with the government if the BBL is passed into law.

The BBL aims to create a Bangsamoro Autonomous Region (BAR) which would replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

Zubiri, chairman of the Senate subcommittee on BBL, conducted two public hearings on Thursday and Friday in Cotabato City and Marawi City respectively to get the public’s sentiments on the creation of BAR through BBL.

“The beauty of this is that if we approve the BBL, the MILF, MNLF and all the major armed groups in the Bangsamoro area

- ment ( with the government). They will surrender their firearms,” he said.

“They will be now part of the political landscape because their members will be part of the proposed parliament (under the BBL) and they will be part of nation-building,” Zubiri said. He added: “That will be a great historical event. They will be part of the mainstream (population). They will join us and they will

“They will be the ones to run after the BIFF (Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters) and ISIS (Islamic State). And in fairness to the MILF leadership, in the last six months, they maintained a good relationship with President Duterte,” he said.

The senator said at least 20 series of encounters with the BIFF “to show their sincerity and goodwill” with the government.

Zubiri is optimistic that the BBL would be passed by the Senate since all of his fellow senators expressed their support for its passage.

Zubiri and minority bloc senators Risa Hontiveros and their respective proposed BBL measures based on the version of the Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC), which indicated a bipartisan support for its passage.

“The 22 of them gave their 99.9 % support. They merely raised concerns about constitutionality issues. But I told them that we’re willing to amend it a little bit so that the essence of the BTC version will not be lost and will still be able to passed the constitutionality,” he said.