Moro official urges lawmakers to be discerning in approving BBL

BEFORE approving the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), the country's lawmakers in Congress should have an appreciation of the history of Mindanao so they will have an understanding of the struggles of the Bangsamoro people in the past, an Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) official said.

In a statement he posted on social media, ARMM Assemblyman Zia Alonto Adiong said members of both the Senate and the Lower House must be “appreciative of the historical antecedents and protracted processes that both the peace panels of the government and the proponent (MILF) have undergone before the BBL came into being.”

“To put it simply, our policymakers should approach the BBL not just a mere political settlement rather as a product of decades-long peace negotiation with an objective to address the general aspiration of the Bangsamoro communities,” Adiong said.

BBL was crafted to replace the ARMM and put in place a new political entity which will be known as the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region.

Just recently, Pres. Rodrigo Duterte has reiterated his call to Congress to speed up the passage of BBL.

Duterte said he will ask Congress for a special session to tackle the provisions of the BBL, as Senate and the House of Representatives are set to adjourn for the Christmas break days from now.

Adiong said to enable the BBL to effectively operate within its envisioned territory, it is up to the legislators in Congress how they can accommodate “the

provisions of the proposed BBL and introduce them as the governing laws for the Federal Bangsamoro State if and when this administration pushes for a System change.”

Earlier, Lanao del Norte 1st District Rep. Mohamad Khalid Dimaporo has emphasized that the government must also focus on the problem of poverty that prevails in Mindanao, especially in provinces within the ARMM.

“We will never have peace so long as poverty remains persistent,” Dimaporo said in a previous statement.