No stalemate with MILF, says gov’t peace panelist

Government peace panel member Senen Bacani: No stalemate. PHOTO FROM OPAPP.GOV.PH

MANILA, Philippines–A member of the government peace negotiation panel on Wednesday denied there was a “stalemate” between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in the drafting of a Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL).

“Let me clarify, there’s no stalemate in the drafting of the BBL,” peace panel member Senen Bacani said at a peace forum organized by the Ateneo de Zamboanga University.

The Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) released Bacani’s statements at the forum.

The peace agreement between the government and the MILF hit a major snag after a Malacañang legal team that reviewed the draft bill put together by the Bangsamoro Transition Commission revised practically the entire document.

Watered down 

This prompted MILF chief negotiator and BTC chairman Mohagher Iqbal to describe the reviewed document as a “diluted” version of the draft bill that left no semblance of the Bangsamoro autonomous region that both parties agreed on during the peace talks.

In an interview on Tuesday, Iqbal said the MILF would not re-negotiate all issues and wordings that have been settled and signed in the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro (FAB) and its four annexes, namely: transitional modalities; power sharing; wealth sharing; and normalization.

Iqbal also said Malacañang’s review of the draft bill reflected a “conservative interpretation of the Constitution.”

“You cannot find the flexibility of the Constitution in their interpretation, although we respect their views. That is no problem. But I cannot discuss details, please emphasize that I have to stick to the confidentiality of documents,” Iqbal told the Inquirer.

At the peace forum, Bacani stressed that “both sides are intent on finding mutually acceptable formulations” for the draft law.

Reconciliable 

Bacani also expressed optimism that “the current differences in the draft bill are reconciliable.”

According to Bacani, the issue is “finding the right legal language that will embody the principles of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) that was signed by the Parties in Malacañang Palace on March 27.”

The draft bill was supposed to have been submitted to Congress two months ago but both panels admitted they would not be able to complete the “agreed version” of the BBL in time for President Aquino’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Monday, which opens the second regular session of the 16th Congress.

Racing against time 

The government and the MILF are racing against time to deliver a Bangsamoro basic law before the term of President Aquino ends in June 2016.

Bacani also told the participants that the panels were “bound by protocols for them not to disclose the details of the BBL to avoid confusion and prevent the derailment of the process.”

He said that the document would be made public once there is a final version of the BBL and when the President submits the bill to Congress.

Bacani said he “is hopeful that Congress will see the genuine intentions of the peace pact and will retain the text and spirit of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro in the BBL.”

“Hopefully, in the end, the expected outcome in terms of correcting historical injustices and uplifting the lives of our people will be achieved. There are two million people out there living in poverty [in the Muslim-dominated areas in Mindanao]. I think we have a personal and collective responsibility to help them. The challenges, I think, can be daunting, but we should never get daunted,” he said.