MILF draws flexible timeline for Bangsamoro

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines – Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) chairman Al Haj Murad Ebrahim has presented a flexible timeline for the creation of the Bangsamoro political entity that will replace the failed Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), amid delays and opposition in Congress.

Murad said the MILF is willing to wait for the new president, or after the 2016 elections, if the 16th Congress cannot pass a Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) that is compliant with the signed agreements between the government and the MILF. (INFOGRAPHIC: The Bangsamoro peace deal at a glance)

“What we see as a worst case scenario would be a BBL that is not compliant with the CAB (Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro) and the FAB (Frameowrk Agreement on the Bangsamoro). We will not accept it unless it is compliant,” Murad told reporters in Camp Darapan in Maguindanao on Saturday, July 25.

He did not elaborate on the actions the MILF will take if Congress would pass an “unacceptable” BBL.

“We are working very hard in order that an acceptable BBL will be passed within the term of the President. Granting that it will not be passed during his term, then we do hope that the next president will not be anti-peace,” he said.

In this scenario, Murad said they will continue to demand that the government implement the CAB and the FAB.

Further delays, however, are prompting fears of dissatisfaction on the ground that may prompt some MILF members to return to violence.

BBL under Aquino, elections in 2019?

In his final State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Monday, July 27, President Benigno Aquino III told Congress the BBL is his foremost priority measure, and challenged its critics to present an alternative.

The House of Repsenatives passed in May a version that was unacceptable to the MILF. Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr, chairman of the committee on local government, is expected to file a substitute bill next week.

“Senator Marcos may have his own version but what’s important is its compliance with the CAB and the FAB. That is our bottomoline. We can no longer renegotiate the CAB and FAB because it is a finished agreement,” Murad said.

“It’s just a matter of interpreting into law the agreement so that is why we will not allow violations of the CAB and FAB. But we may allow improvements in some provisions of the BBL which is not directly coming from the agreement. That is the bottomline of the MILF,” he added.

Chief presidential adviser Teresita “Ging” Deles is confident that the BBL wil be passed under Aquino’s term. 

“It will not be a walk in the park but we are determined,” she told Rappler.

The elections for the leaders of the new Bangsamoro continues to be debated because the MILF prefers a longer transition period.

One scenario floated is to pass the BBL before the elections, but hold the elections simultaneously with the 2019 midterm elections. 

The government’s side of the bargain

The MILF, the dominant Muslim rebel group that has waged decades-long violent wars with government forces in Mindanao, agreed to lay down its firearms and drop its bid for secession.

In exchange, the government promised to give the new Bangsamoro entity wider political and economic powers than the ARMM.

Decommissioning is MILF’s commitment. The BBL is the government’s side of the bargain. 

Mindanao saw relative peace in the last several years because of the ceasefire agreement between the government and the MILF. But this was interrupted in January when 44 elite cops were killed by armed elements including some MILF fighters during a suposed stealth operation inside MILF territory in Maguindanao.

The already delayed Bangsamoro timeline was derailed by public sentiment against the MILF, over the death of the elite cops.

The MILF said it was a “misencounter” resulting from the cops’ failure to recognize mechanisms put in place to make sure that the ceasefire is protected. The police acknowledged tactical blunders.

The committment to peace of the MILF leadership, Malacañang, and the military prevented the situation from causing the collapse of the peace process.

Aquino will now try to save a legacy that was bungled by his own friend, dismissed Philippune National Police chief Director General Alan Purisima. On the ground, the MILF needs to show its leadership and persuade the people that the President can deliver.

The uncertainty of the next elections has raised fears that this may be the best chance for peace in Mindanao to be achieved.  – Rappler.com