The Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) is a key component of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB), which the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) signed last year.
The peace agreement with the MILF is one of the cornerstones of the Aquino administration and it was clear that the President wanted lasting peace in Mindanao to be one of his legacies.
Mr. Aquino has certified the proposed BBL as a priority measure of his administration.
Lawmakers had been deliberating the BBL measure. They earlier promised to enact the law in March and hold a referendum in May.
The House ad hoc committee on the BBL has shelved indefinitely its hearings on the draft law until the MILF has returned all firearms it took from the fallen police commandos.
Support for the measure has waned, said Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, head of a special panel in the House of Representatives that is considering the law.
“I have to admit that there is an erosion of support within the ad hoc committee and members of Congress,” Rodriguez said.
The MILF on Tuesday said the indefinite suspension of hearings in the House on the proposed BBL was not a good sign for the peace process but added that it respected the House decision.
“Well, that’s the decision of the Lower House,” Mohagher Iqbal, the MILF chief negotiator, said on the phone.
But he said the proposed BBL appeared to have become the latest casualty following the bloody Mamasapano incident, in which 44 police commandos, 18 rebels and five civilians were killed.
Iqbal said it was not the MILF that was saddened by the decision of the House ad hoc committee.
“Everybody who wants and supports peace is not feeling good about what is going on.”
But Iqbal said that despite the setback, the MILF would continue to pursue peace and “will not resort to any act that will add more trouble in Mindanao.”
“We are still in control of our men on the ground,” he said.
The Mamasapano incident on Jan. 25 appeared to have placed the peace agreement under a cloud of uncertainty.
Malacañang said government would continue to adhere to the CAB and in return it expected the MILF to do so as well as a peace partner to end the protracted war in Mindanao.
“What is important to government is the implementation of the provisions of the CAB. Aside from this, because of the incident in Mamasapano, we are waiting for them to show concrete manifestation on fulfilling their obligations under this (peace) agreement,” Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said in Filipino.
This was Coloma’s reply when sought for Malacañang’s reaction to the statement of Iqbal that the MILF remained a revolutionary group until the peace process was completed with the establishment of an autonomous Bangsamoro region.
MILF obligations
On what obligations he was referring to, Coloma reiterated President Aquino’s statement on
Jan. 28, three days after the Mamasapano debacle, that government expected the MILF to help in the operations against Afghan-trained terrorist Abdul Basit Usman, in identifying the MILF guerillas who were accountable for the encounter with the police commandos and in returning the firearms and other personal effects of the Special Action Force (SAF).
The President earlier said it was “reasonable” to expect this from the MILF.
Asked what would be Malacañang’s recourse should Congress fail to pass the proposed BBL, Coloma said: “We continue to work with Congress in carving a path forward for the peace process, as we face current challenges.”
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