PALACE TO CELEBRATE BOL LANDMARK SIGNING TODAY
Peace adviser Jesus Dureza says ceremony symbolizes major milestone in Bangsamoro peace process
President Rodrigo Duterte will lead a ceremony today to mark the passage of the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL), a landmark law that government hopes will give meaningful autonomy to the Moro people
Presidential Peace Adviser Jesus G. Dureza said the ceremony, which comes a little over a week after the President signed the law, symbolizes a major milestone in the Bangsamoro peace process. “True to his campaign promise, President Rodrigo Roa Duterte has signed the Bangsamoro Organic Law, fulfilling his desire to bring peace in Mindanao,” Dureza said.
“The Bangsamoro Organic Law is an extraordinary law. It is the product of years of peace negotiations with the Moro revolutionary groups and the stakeholders in Mindanao,” he added.
Formerly known as the Bangsamoro Basic Law, the BOL is premised on the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro, a signed peace deal.
The BOL is part of the Duterte administration’s agenda to achieve national reconciliation with the Moro rebel groups. Congress has extensively deliberated on the BOL and made sure that the law is within the bounds of the Constitution, and national sovereignty and territorial integrity, at the same time ensuring that the interests of all sectors are respected.
Dureza said the challenge is now for the country to “work hard to achieve the Bangsamoro Organic Law’s vision to bring peace and development and rectify past injustices to be able to work together in the days ahead.”
This developed as the Central Committee of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) agreed to declare its acceptance of the BOL.
MILF Chair Al Haj Murad Ebrahim said since the representatives of all MILF groups had expressed their acceptance of the law during the Bangsamoro Consultative Assembly last July 29 in Camp Darapanan, the Central Committee “held a special meeting on Aug. 1, 2018 and agreed to officially declare its acceptance of the BOL as ratified by both Houses of Congress and signed by President Rodrigo Roa Duterte.”
Nabil Tan, Deputy Presidential Peace Adviser and Chair of the Government Implementing Panel for the GPH-MILF peace accord, said the BOL “should be seen not as a privilege for a few but as the government’s recognition of the Moros’ right to chart their political future through a democratic process as enshrined and guaranteed in the Constitution.”
“The legal framework is now ready, and it is now upon us, the stakeholders–Moros and non-Moros–to put our acts together to make it work,” he said.
Ghazali Jaafar, chair of the Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC), described today’s event as the beginning of “a better tomorrow” in the Bangsamoro homeland.