Implementation more critical than BBL’s passage—ARMM chief

By: Allan Nawal, Dennis Jay Santos - 10 years ago

COTABATO CITY, Philippines—Governor Mujiv Hataman of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao said the success of the Bangsamoro autonomous setup hinges on the implementation and not simply on the passage of the Bangsamoro Basic Law.

“The key here is the after, not really the passage of the BBL,” Hataman said on Monday.

He said the passage of the BBL might happen in the first quarter of next year but it will just be the start of events that could spell out either success or failure for the Bangsamoro.

“It is in the implementation. It is about what the Bangsamoro entity will do after the passage of the law,” Hataman added.

ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman. INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO

He said he was hoping that the implementation of the BBL would be up to expectation because it will help stamp out disgruntled groups, including those claiming to wage a global Jihad or have pledged support to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

“These disgruntled groups will lose reason [to fight] if there is good implementation of the peace process,” Hataman said.

Mohagher Iqbal, chair of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front’s peace panel, said the MILF considers dissenters not bad for the peace process.

“You will be able to examine where you are standing and you have to compare that to what the spoilers say. And then we would be able to improve what the spoilers say— how to move forward, how to address issues,” Iqbal said.

Chief government negotiator Miriam Coronel-Ferrer said the government and MILF peace panels would form a team to ensure a smooth transition from the ARMM to the Bangsamoro.

In an e-mailed statement, Coronel-Ferrer said the agreement was reached during a recent meeting in Kuala Lumpur.

“The two panels agreed to create a composite team that will coordinate the preparations and ensure a smooth process for the projected transition of government functions from the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao to the Bangsamoro Transition Authority upon the anticipated passage in Congress of the BBL and its subsequent ratification in the envisioned core territory,” she said.

Coronel-Ferrer said the terms of reference of the team was now being drafted.