MILF hopeful for passage of Bangsamoro law in 2018
MANILA— The Moro Islamic Liberation Front is optimistic Congress will approve the draft Bangsamoro Basic Law this year.
The BBL is the enabling measure for the replacement of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao with a more empowered Bangsamoro political entity based on the MILF’s peace agreement with Malacañang.
President Rodrigo Duterte has expressed support for the measure but has yet to certify it urgent. He has also recently taken to airing doubts about the passage of the bill over doubts on the constitutionality of unspecified provisions in the draft measure which was submitted to, presumably reviewed, and later endorsed by his office.
Senior MILF official Ghadzali Jaafar, chairman of the Bangsamoro Transition Commission, said in a press statement Monday that the BBL must be enacted into law before the elective tenure of members of the House of Representatives ends on June 30, 2019.
Failing that, the measure would have to be refiled for the 18th Congress.
“We are expecting the approval of the BBL this year,” Jaafar said, referring to the draft bill that they endorsed to Congress last year.
It took the government and the MILF almost two decades of negotiations to reach two compacts — the 2013 Framework Agreement on Bangsamoro and the 2014 Comprehensive Agreement on Bangsamoro — the Jaafar-led commission used as basis in crafting the draft BBL.
The government is represented in the panel by commissioners chosen by President Duterte.
Jaafar said the MILF is also anticipating the possibility that some of the provisions of the proposed BBL could be subjected to strict scrutiny by lawmakers.
“A proposed law, before it can become a law, needs to go through discussion by lawmakers. It’s a process,” Jaafar said.
Mohagher Iqbal, chairman of the MILF’s peace implementing panel, said Monday changes in certain provisions of the draft BBL must be attuned to all agreements they forged with the national government.
Iqbal said they want a duly-enacted BBL that is consistent with the aspirations of the Moro people for lasting peace and self-governance.
“Giving a bad medicine for an illness is worse than not giving any medicine at all. We want a good BBL that would really address the problems of Mindanao,” Iqbal said.