Bangsamoro law: MILF asked to show good faith first

MANILA, Philippines – The ad hoc committee on the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) will not put the bill to a vote until the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) fulfills all confidence-building measures that lawmakers demand from them, committee chair Cagayan de Oro Representative Rufus Rodriguez said Tuesday, February 24.  

The bill is guaranteed defeat without a show of good faith from the MILF, Rodriguez said. 

“I believe that the ball is in the hands of the MILF. If they are going to show that they are cooperating to restore the trust, that’s the only time they can get the congressmen supporting,” Rodriguez said. 

The MILF earlier returned 16 firearms of the Philippine National Police-Special Action Force to authorities captured during the clash between elite cops and Moro rebels in Mamasapano, Maguindanao as a symbol of its commitment to the peace process.

But Rodriguez said the MILF needs to do more to rally support for the BBL. Rodriguez said the MILF needs to fulfill 3 confidence-building measures to restore trust: 

• Return all firearms of SAF commandos that were seized during the Mamasapano clash and which are in MILF’s possession
• Help in the arrest of Abdul Basit Usman 
• Surrender members should the Department of Justice find that they committed crimes during the clash 

Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr earlier made the same demands for the resumption of deliberations in the Senate. Deliberations on the BBL in both chambers of Congress were suspended following the firefight that killed at least 44 SAF members, 18 MILF members and 3 civilians. (READ: SAF survivor kills unarmed rebels, civilian)

Rodriguez said he believes that undertaking all these steps is the only way the MILF can persuade lawmakers to vote for the BBL – a product of the MILF’s peace agreement with the government. 

Deputy Speaker and Lanao del Sur 2nd district Representative Pangalian Balindong, one of the key supporters of the BBL in the House, admitted the BBL faces rough-sailing even at comittee level, noting that there are only 10 Muslim lawmakers out of the 75-member ad hoc committee. 

Proponents would have a hard time gathering enough votes if the bill is put to a vote right now, Balindong said. 

The proposed law aims to install a new autonomous government in Mindanao with greater powers and possibly a wider territory than the current one in place in a bid to aim 4 decades of armed conflict that has killed thousands. 

BBL timeline 

During President Benigno Aquino III’s Monday meeting with lawmakers in Malacañang, Rodriguez said the President asked lawmakers to be mindful of giving enough time for the transition towards the new autonomous region. 

While the President did not give a deadline to Congress, he stressed the implications of delaying the law’s passage.  

Quoting Aquino, Palace Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr said: “They won’t even have half a year to demonstrate the effectivity of governance. The commitment was we would give them a year and a half to demonstrate their effectiveness in governance. How can we convince them that the system is better and how about the reverse of this, which is failed expectations?” 

Rodriguez said the House ad hoc committee is set to resume deliberations on the proposed law on the first week of March as the police Board of Inquiry is expected to submit its report on the Mamasapano clash. It was Rodriguez himself who provided the House timeline to Aquino.

The committee suspended deliberations on key provisions of the bill following the firefight, including those on peace and security. 

The House of Representatives was supposed to put the BBL to a vote by March. The deadline was crucial in giving the MILF-led transition body at least one year to govern the new autonomous region before the 2016 elections as lawmakers would only report back for work on May after pausing for a summer break in March.  

But the Mamasapano clash derailed the timeline as the future of the peace process was cast in doubt – coupled with the fact that the submission of the BBL draft to Congress had already been delayed even before the clash.

Rodriguez said the House hopes to put the bill to a vote at the committee level before session adjourns on March 18. This will allow the bill to move to the plenary when lawmakers return to work on May 4, he added.

The law could be passed by June 11 if all goes according to plan. Once the law hurdles Congress, it needs to go be passed in a subsequent plebiscite. 

Government chief negotiator Miriam Coronel-Ferrer earlier said the ideal date for the plebiscite would be any time before the filing of the certificates of candidacies in October to allow local candidates in the Bangsamoro to participate in the 2016 elections – unless Congress passes a law allowing for a special filing for the region. 

With constitutional issues also facing the bill, proponents expect opponents to question the law before the Supreme Court once the BBL hurdles Congress. Pushing the passage of the law in Congress and in a plebiscite too close to October once again constricts the timeline.

But without the MILF’s confidence-building measures, Rodriguez said the bill will not be put to a vote even at the committee level. 

MILF chief negotiator Mohagher Iqbal earlier told the Senate committee investigating the clash that the MILF will help in the hunt for Usman. 

In an editorial on its website, luwaran.com, the MILF however stressed that “forcing” it to surrender its forces who figured in the Mamasapano clash is “subjecting the MILF to agree to an unprincipled situation that is not found in any of the agreements of the Parties.”

Rodriguez said the government must first wait for the results of the DOJ before any specific demands to surrender erring MILF members are made. –  Rappler.com