OPAPP confident Duterte will implement peace agreements
BAGUIO CITY –The Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) expressed confidence yesterday that President Duterte will soon fully implement the Comprehensive Agreement on Bangsamoro (CAB) and other signed peace agreements to end the yearslong conflict in Mindanao, OPAPP undersecretary Nabil Tan said.
“Other peace agreements have few remaining commitments. Pero ‘yung sa Bangsamoro, after signing peace agreement, there is still a need to pass a law to implement what has been agreed upon, and that is the passage of the BBL (Bangsamoro Basic Law),” he added.
CAB, which serves as the final peace agreement between the national government and Moro Islamic Liberation Front, was signed in 2014.
The BBL, however, did not pass the Congress because of several issues including the Mamasapano massacre in Maguindanao where 44 government troops were killed, according to Tan.
The kick-off of the Peace Buzz caravan here, which coincided with the National Day of Protest, was also a venue for officials of Baguio City government to air their sentiments.
Baguio City Mayor Mauricio Domogan appealed to Duterte to support the passage of House Bill 5343 which seeks to establish the Autonomous Region of the Cordillera (ARC). But he seemed to strongly opposes federalism as he noted CAR will not exist with that kind of government with the situation they are currently experiencing.
Domogan cited that the total taxes collected by the Bureau of Internal Revenues (BIR) in the Cordillera region in 2016 only amounted to P5.72 billion: P3.9 billion were from Baguio City and the other P1.8 billion came from other CAR provinces.
“If we become a federal state, with the situation we’re in where we have to generate our own income to manage our own government and development, I don’t think we can exist,” Domogan said.
Tan assured that the HB 5343, authored by Ifugao representative Teddy Baguilat, will be certified by Duterte as he promised so. He said the bill remains in the calendar of the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC).