No worries, says MILF of Bangsamoro Law delay

MILF chief negotiator Mohagher Iqbal. AP FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Malacañang has yet to submit to Congress the draft of the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) that would create a new autonomous region in Mindanao, after failing to meet its self-imposed August deadline.

But there’s nothing to worry about, said Mohagher Iqbal, chief negotiator of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) that hammered out the law with the national government.

“We are almost done. I won’t even consider it a delay,” Iqbal told the Inquirer by phone on Friday.

Yesterday, chief government negotiator Miriam Coronel-Ferrer said the draft remained with President Aquino.

“There are ongoing discussions on some items requiring policy decisions,” Ferrer said in a text message.

She said that “both the government and the MILF know that Congress is waiting for the draft so that Congress can in turn start its own consultations and deliberations.”

Both Ferrer and Iqbal declined to say when the BBL, to be certified as urgent by the President, would be transmitted to Congress.

Iqbal said all that was left to do with the draft law was some “mopping up operations,” borrowing a military phrase that refers to cleaning up or tying the loose ends of a mission.

Iqbal said that what was still being polished in the BBL was nothing major, unlike two weeks ago when thorny issues had to be settled by the Office of the President led by Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa and the Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC).

Iqbal also chairs the BTC.

Malacañang initially announced that the proposed BBL would be submitted to Congress before the end of August.

In an interview with Bombo Radyo on Aug. 27, President Aquino said it was hoped that the plebiscite on the law in the provinces that would make up the new Bangsamoro autonomous region would take place at the “end of this year.”

“That would depend on the discussions in Congress on the [proposed bill] because we are aiming to have one year and a half for the [Bangsamoro] Transitional Authority to show why the system they suggested to run the Bangsamoro is better,” Mr. Aquino said in Filipino.

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