Iqbal trusts Congress will pass BBL sans revision

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines – The Moro Islamic Liberation Front is hoping Congress will adopt the original version of the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) without revisions, MILF chief peace negotiator Mohagher Iqbal said here yesterday.

“I trust the collective wisdom of Congress to pass good legislation in the form of the Bangsamoro Basic Law,” Iqbal told a press conference at the headquarters of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division in Datu Odin Sinsuat.

He said the MILF could either accept a diluted BBL, or reject one that can only do more harm than good.

“There is no option but peace,” Iqbal told the news conference with Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Teresita Quintos-Deles, government chief negotiator Miriam Coronel-Ferrer, Armed Forces chief Lt. Gen. Gregorio Catapang, Gov. Mujiv Hataman of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and ranking military officials.

Iqbal made the statement when asked if the MILF will wage war should the draft BBL be abandoned by lawmakers as a consequence of the Jan. 25 firefight between police and Muslim rebels in Mamasapano.

Iqbal said accepting a diluted form of BBL will only encourage many sectors to disengage from the peace process and foment more discontent among groups that have warned them not to indulge in peace talks with government.

Iqbal stressed that accepting a watered-down version of the BBL will not improve the security situation in Mindanao.

He said the MILF can accept a watered-down version of the BBL, but all problems it is meant to address will continue to persist.

“It will not address the problems that the BBL is supposed to solve,” Iqbal said.

For her part, Deles is also hoping Congress will pass the BBL before President Aquino’s term ends in 2016.

Deles said the MILF has considered the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) as a sacred document.

The BBL was part of the agreement under the CAB that was signed last year. The BBL will allow the creation of an autonomous region in Mindanao for the Bangsamoro people.

“They look at this as a very important law. They recognized that what we are looking at is a long lasting solution to the conflict in Mindanao. Our Constitution has offered a solution to this and this is autonomy. This is the direction of the BBL. I also hear from the leadership of the Senate and the House of Representatives that the Mamasapano incident should not be taken for granted. We look for truth. We look for accountability. But in the long term, we are looking on how do we govern this place that our Constitution recognized. It has distinct features,” Deles said.

Reviving the trust

A senior consultant of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) warned that passage of the BBL in its entirety would give the MILF valid grounds to declare Bangsamoro independence later.

Retired Col. Cesar Pobre, a consultant of the AFP’s Office for Strategic Studies and Security and Management, pointed out the MILF has not renounced its separatist policy in the BBL.

The BBL, once approved by Congress into law, would pave the way for the creation of the Bangsamoro government with vast powers including having its own police force.

“Conspicously absent in these documents is an MILF renunciation of its separatist policy with the intent of establishment an Islamic State covering Mindanao, Sulu and Palawan. Nowhere in these papers can one find an MILF undertaking to renounce its policy of separatism and goal of independence, as well as to affirm or acknowledge the country’s Constitution,” said Pobre in his position paper he submitted to Congress for the BBL.

Support for the BBL among lawmakers waned following the Mamasapano incident.

Lawmakers are waiting for signs of sincerity from the MILF that could revive support for the BBL whose fate now hangs in Congress, a senior administration lawmaker said.

 –Jose Rodel Clapano, Paolo Romero, Jaime Laude