Maguindanao holds forum in preparation for Bangsamoro plebiscite

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines —  Participants at Tuesday's grand forum on the Bangsamoro Organic Law in Buluan town promised to campaign for a "yes" vote for next year's plebiscite on a new region to replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

The Commision on Elections has set the plebiscite for January 21, 2019.

More than 5,000 people joined the forum organized by the office of Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu in support of the 20-year peace process between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

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The BOL, called the Bangsamoro Basic Law during the legislative procees, is the enabling measure for the replacement of ARMM with a more administratively and politically-empowered Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, or BARM.

The new region will initially be led by the MILF, which negotiated for the peace agreement that the BOL is meant to implement. 

The five-hour forum in the municipal gymnasium of Maguindanao's capital town, was also attended by senior police and military officials from across Maguindanao’s 36 towns.

A member of the Bangsamoro Transition Commission, lawyer Omar Sema, explained to participants the intricacies of the BOL and the taxation powers of the proposed BARMM.

Sema also lectured on BARMM's control over natural resources obtainable in the Bangsamoro region’s core territory.

The present ARMM, mandated by the 1987 Constitution and created b Republic Act 9054, covers Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur in mainland Mindanao, the island provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi, and the cities of Lamitan and Marawi.

Mangudadatu, a staunch political ally of President Rodrigo Duterte, has repeatedly appealed on participants to the forum to vote in favor of the BOL during the January plebiscite.

"Political leaders in the province, including me and members of the Mangudadatu clan support the efforts of the MILF and the government to solve the now 50-year Moro rebellion in Mindanao. We are for the BOL," he said in a message.

Al Haj Murad Ebrahim, MILF chairman, was represented at the forum by senior MILF officials.

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In a statement, Murad said the MILF is grateful to the provincial government of Maguindanao for embarking on the activity, capped off with pledges by Mangudadatu and his constituent-mayors of support to the full implementation of the BOL, for them a lasting solution to the Mindanao Moro issue.