MILF committed to peace despite delays in passage of Bangsamoro charter

Members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front AP FILE PHOTO

COTABATO CITY, Philippines—The Moro Islamic Liberation Front said Sunday it was sticking to the path to peace despite uncertainties about the final outcome of the draft Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL).

The MILF, in an editorial posted on its website on Sunday, said much has been invested in the almost 18-year-long peace process aimed at ending the decades-old Moro problem in the southern Philippines.

“It is better for the government and the MILF to continue the path of peace, in which they have already invested so much, rather than go back to where they started,” the MILF editorial said.

The MILF said it believed the difficulty both peace panels faced in coming up with a mutually acceptable draft BBL is temporary.

“If they persevere and remain committed to solve the Bangsamoro Question, no obstacle, God willing, can stop their way,” it said.

The BBL draft prepared by the Bangsamoro Transition Commission was submitted to Malacañang in May. It was supposed to have been submitted to Congress right after President Aquino’s State of the Nation Address on July 28, but the MILF did not agree to the many changes Malacañang made to the draft, saying the revisions deviated from the provisions of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro that both sides had signed earlier.

“But this is no reason to give up—rather, there are more (reasons) to proceed,” the editorial said.

Both peace panels are now meeting at the Waterfront Hotel in Davao City until August 7.

The MILF said the current discussions need not involve finger-pointing. “But it is not good either to just ignore the cause of the delay,” the MILF added, noting for example what it referred only as the government’s “3-for-1 formula, which the MILF outright rejected as an extraneous effort, the conservative or restrictive interpretation of the Constitution adopted by the Review Team of the Office of the President (OP) and the resort to the use of ‘concepts, words and terms’.”

It said the “concepts, words and terms” were alien to the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro (FAB) and its Annexes, which together form the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro.

“While we do not question intention…  the truth is that we do not know the wisdom either,” it said.

The MILF said it was banking on the sincerity of President Benigno Aquino III to come to terms with the MILF which he repeatedly expressed in his meetings with MILF chief Murad Ebrahim, in his State of the Nation Address and meetings with the government panel and concerned government agency representatives last July 23.

“One can safely say that he (President) is still fully committed to make peace with the MILF as his legacy. His limited reference to the BBL is simply an economy of words appropriate to the true state of the current discussion of the BBL,” the MILF said.

“The road ahead still offers some promises,” it said.

The MILF cited the reason for its optimism amid delays.

“One good determining factor is that both parties have expressed willingness to travel the extra miles to be able to produce a mutually agreed version of the BBL,” the MILF said.

“All (that) is needed is a little time more; and more importantly, both sides must be truthful and faithful to the FAB and its Annexes, which is the basis of the BBL,” the editorial added.

The BBL would provide the legal basis for the establishment of a new political setup in the southern Philippines to replace the Current Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

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