President Duterte names 21 members of Bangsamoro Transition Commission

President Duterte has named the 21 members that will compose the Bangsamoro Transition Committee, his peace adviser confirmed yesterday.

“President Rodrigo Roa Duterte has just released the appointment papers of the 21member Bangsamoro Transition Commission. This will signal the start of the work to come up with an inclusive Bangsamoro law that will truly reflect and address the clamor for

genuine political autonomy for the Bangsamoro people in Mindanao,” said Secretary Jesus Dureza, Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process.

The crafting of the Bangsamoro enabling law is part of the implementation process of the southern peace pact or the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) signed by the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) on March, 2014.

The new members of the expanded BTC are lawyers Jose I. Lorena and Maisara Dandamun-Latiph, Samira Gutoc Tomawis, Datu Mussolini Sinsuat Lidasan, Dr. Susana Salvador Anayatin, lawyer Hussin Amin, Romeo Saliga, Hatimil Hassan, lawyers Firdausi Ismail Y. Abbas and Omar Yasser C. Sema, Ghadzali Jaafar, Mohagher M. Iqbal, Abdulraof Abdul Macacua, Ibrahim d. Ali, Haron M. Abas, lawyer Raissa H. Jajurie, Said M. Shiek, Hussein P. Muñoz, Melanio U. Ulama, Gafur A. Kanain, and Ammal D. Solaiman, J.D.

The government has set a deadline for the BTC to submit the draft to Congress by July for deliberations and ratification.

The creation of the expanded BTC from 15 members to 21 was made after President Duterte signed Executive Order No. 8 last November 7. The EO was one of the agreements that came up during the meeting between the implementing panels of the government and the MILF last August where they discussed the new Peace and Development Roadmap for the implementation of the signed peace agreements.

The EO provides that the consultative body will have 11 members from the MILF, 10 members from the government, and three members from the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF).

In the statement, Irene “Inday” M. Santiago, chair of the Government Panel Implementing the Bangsamoro Accords, said the members were chosen “due to their capacity to listen and their extensive knowledge in Mindanao.”