Bangsamoro basic law should be passed this year–Comelec

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) told lawmakers that Congress need to pass the Bangsamoro basic law by this year for them to prepare for the 2016 elections.

During a briefing before the committee on suffrage and electoral reforms at the House of Representatives, Comelec chair Sixto Brillantes said the law that would implement the Bangsamoro Framework Agreement should be passed by December.

This is to allow Comelec to prepare for a plebiscite by March 2015 among the areas to comprise the new Bangsamoro political entity. The plebiscite seeks to ratify the law to form the entity replacing the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

The Bangsamoro framework agreement for a new political entity is a result of decades of peace negotiations between government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, ending the group’s Muslim secessionist movement in the country.