Meeting of minds hoped for Aquino, Murad meeting

By: Kristine Angeli Sabillo - 10 years ago

PRESIDENT Aquino poses for a photo with Al Haj Murad Ebrahim, chair of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. MALACANANG FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines – With the future of the Bangsamoro still hanging in the balance, Malacañang on Tuesday said it hopes the meeting of President Benigno Aquino III and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) chair Murad Ebrahim will be fruitful.

“Well, if the meeting pushes through, then it will give an opportunity for both leaders to thresh out the issues and concerns that are being brought forward, and hopefully that will lead to a meeting of the minds between them,” Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said in a Palace briefing.

Coloma said that while it is unsure if the pre-SONA (State of the Nation Address) meeting will expedite the review of the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), which was stalled at the Office of the President, it was certain that the two leaders want nothing but the conclusion of the peace process.

He said the objective now is for the Philippine government and the MILF to agree on the provisions of the proposed bill before it is filed in Congress so it would easily be approved into law.

Coloma downplayed reports on the disagreements, saying it was better to disagree now than later.

“Mainam na ngayon pa lamang ay nailahad na kung ano ‘yung mga pagkakaiba ng opinyon para ‘pag naisulong na ito ay maging iisa ang posisyon ng magkabilang panig at makakuha ng sapat na suporta para maipasa ang panukalang batas; at pagkatapos nun para maipasa ito sa isang plebisito,” he said.

(It is better to tell now the differences in opinion for the two parties to come up with a united position so it could get enough support for it to be enacted into law, and later to be approved through a plebiscite.)

The BBL is a product of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro signed earlier this year. It will pave the way for the creation of a Bangsamoro autonomous entity, which will be based on the results of a plebiscite to be held in 2016.

Government chief negotiation Miriam Coronel-Ferrer on Monday admitted that “there continue to be significant points of differences” between the two parties.

“We will not and cannot move forward in the roadmap towards the establishment of the Bangsamoro unless we hurdle this crucial stage,” she said as she appealed to the MILF to understand the “basis for the comments made as part of the review process by the Office of the President.”

Ferrer said the bill cannot overstep the boundaries of the Philippine Constitution.

Critics of the agreement had earlier warned the government that the creation of the Bangsamoro autonomous entity, which was likened to a substate instead of a mere autonomous region, was unconstitutional.