COTABATO CITY–The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) announced Tuesday it has formally submitted its application to the Commission on Elections (Comelec) for the accreditation of its political party.
Sammy Al-Mansoor, the MILF’s military chief, did not say when the accreditation documents were submitted but disclosed that the Securities and Exchange Commission has already legalized the existence of the United Bangsamoro Justice Party.
Al-Mansoor, who also acts as UBJP secretary general, said the MILF-led political party’s first task was to campaign for the ratification of the Bangsamoro Basic Law, which is expected to be passed by Congress next year.
He said that in preparation for the task and other activities, the UBJP will conduct a general membership assembly on December 23-25, which will be open to Christians and indigenous people.
“We are calling a gathering of our volunteers on December 23 to prove that the UBJP is now in business,” Al-Mansoor told reporters here.
He said the MILF intended to gather about 25,000 people from across Mindanao “to educate them on the country’s electoral system.”
“If we want to sustain this political party, we need to prove that it is really existing that’s why we have this gathering,” he said.
The MILF announced it was creating a political party as early as March.
Mohaqher Iqbal, the MILF chief peace negotiator and chair of the Bangsamoro Transition Commission, said the UBJP might affiliate itself with a national political party.
He said the party will be fielding candidates in the elections that would be held in the future Bangsamoro region.
Al-Mansoor said the MILF, through the UBJP, was establishing a network of political party supporters, even as it expected to enlist more community-based volunteers to sign-up for participation and support in Basilan, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.
He said organizing the political party was necessary “for the MILF to be able to participate in all democratic processes.”
Meanwhile, former Maguindanao Congressman Simeon Datumanong told members of the House ad-hoc committee on the Bangsamoro Basic Law that its draft of House Bill No. 4884, which seeks to enact the BBL, could withstand legal and constitutional scrutiny and should gain the support of lawmakers from other regions.
In a paper he submitted to the committee, Datumanong said Section 18, Article X of the Constitution states that “the organic act shall define the basic structure of government for the region consisting of the executive department and legislative assembly, both of which shall be elective and representative of the constituent political units.”
“Thus, the choice of Congress to create a parliamentary form of government within the Bangsamoro is well within its plenary authority. It is an exercise of its absolute legislative discretion and wisdom. This ‘legislative will’ is absolutely covered by the ‘political question’ doctrine,” Datumanong said.
Datumanong, a former justice secretary, noted that differing opinions presented by legal experts should be reconciled by the timely “need to revolutionize ideas in order to create the form of government that will best serve the interests of the Bangsamoro.”
He said by making the Charter’s language “broad and general enough to allow Congress to determine the appropriate governmental structure or mechanism (for an autonomous region), “the framers of the 1987 Constitution are well aware that the solutions to the secessionist problems in Southern Philippines are not quick-fixed, but are constantly evolving.”
“The historical lessons of past agreements–from the creation of two autonomous regional governments (Lupong Tagapagpaganap ng Pook) in Region IX and Region XII in the 1970s (under) PD 1618, to the present government of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, which has been organized and reorganized under Republic Act No. 6734 and Republic Act No. 9054, respectively–taught us that there is a need to revolutionize ideas in order to create the form of government that will best serve the interests of the Bangsamoro,” Datumanong said.
Datumanong said the LTP version of the autonomous region under him in 1977 was also made inclusive and elections to assembly seats were won by Christian candidates in five Central Mindanao provinces and three cities—among them, Carlos Cajelo, Esteban Doruelo, Ernesto Roldan, Tomas Baga, and Francisco Rabang.
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