Miriam Coronel-Ferrer, Mohagher Iqbal and Sen. Francis Escudero. FILE PHOTOS
LEGAZPI CITY, Philippines—At least four key provisions in the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), including one that would give the prospective Bangsamoro autonomous region P75 billion in initial budget, are being reviewed and likely to be amended by the Senate, according to Sen. Francis Escudero, one of President Benigno Aquino III’s closest allies.
Mr. Aquino has formed a peace council that will review and introduce improvements to the BBL, which has been thrown off-track by a clash between government counterterrorism forces and Moro rebels in Mamasapano, Maguindanao province, on Jan. 25.
Both the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) are trying to save the BBL to complete the peace process that culminated in the signing of a peace agreement a year ago.
“The BBL is battered but it’s not yet out, and I think there is now some sort of recovery,” Mohagher Iqbal, chief MILF peace negotiator, said at an open-air gathering organized by the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (Oppap) on Friday night to celebrate the first anniversary of the peace agreement.
Iqbal said part of the recovery was the formation of the peace council announced by President Aquino on Friday afternoon.
READ: Aquino forms peace council
Discussion to be led by the council, Iqbal said, will “help push the peace process, especially in Congress.”
Congress is on recess for Lent, but hearings on the BBL will be held to meet a deadline set by the leaders of the Senate and the House of Representatives to pass the measure by June, before the second regular session of the 16th Congress adjourns.
Speaking to reporters in Legazpi City on Friday hours before President Aquino announced the formation of the peace council, Escudero said the BBL that would emerge from the Senate would definitely be different from the original proposal.
READ: Gov’t peace panel urges lawmakers to fix ‘illegal’ BBL provisions
“The BBL would be passing strict scrutiny as if it would pass through an eye of a needle,” Escudero said. “We will decide what is right and what is wrong.”
Controversial provisions
He named at least four “controversial” provisions that would likely be amended by the Senate.
One is the provision that would allocate P75 billion in initial budget to the new autonomous Bangsamoro region that the BBL would establish.
Escudero said the amount was bigger than the P70 billion allotted to the Philippine National Police for operation and maintenance, including salaries for 150,000 policemen nationwide.
The proposed budget for the Bangsamoro government, Escudero said, contains an allocation for a separate education fund, which, according to him, is questionable because the current Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao is already receiving regular funding from the Department of Education.
Another controversial provision, Escudero said, would put into force the Sharia law in the new Bangsamoro autonomous region.
A third controversial provision would establish what Escudero said would be duplicates of national agencies and constitutional offices like the Commission on Elections and the Commission on Audit.
And there is the provision that Escudero said would integrate members of the MILF in the Armed Forces of the Philippines or the Philippine National Police.
There are also fears, Escudero said, that the grant of autonomy to the Bangsamoro would clear the way for a separate Islamic state in Mindanao.
“We will not allow secession,” Escudero said.
‘Duplicate agencies’
Both chambers of Congress are scrutinizing the proposed BBL, but the Senate, according to Escudero, will see to it that national agencies will not be duplicated in the prospective Bangsamoro autonomous region.
Of particular concern for the Senate, he added, is the creation by the BBL of a judiciary council and other constitutional offices that already exist.
“There should be only one Judicial and Bar Council, Commissions on Audit, Civil Service Commission and Commission on Elections, one PNP and one AFP,” Escudero said.
He said the BBL that the Senate would pass would benefit not only the new Muslim autonomous region, but also all of Mindanao.
The peace negotiators have already explained that the supposed duplicates will be the regional offices of the national agencies mentioned by Escudero.
They have also explained that the PNP and the AFP will be the security forces in Bangsamoro but with Moros in the services.
Some lawmakers, however, insist on seeing and objecting to separate agencies in the BBL.
Peace council
Iqbal has said that the lawmakers, if they do not like the wording in the BBL, can use the language they prefer, but they should not dilute the measure because the MILF will not accept a watered-down autonomy law.
Congress stands to benefit from the peace council that, according to President Aquino, will study the BBL and spearhead a national discussion on the proposed Bangsamoro autonomy law.
Mr. Aquino named Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle, former Supreme Court Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr., former Ambassador to the Holy See and Malta Howard Dee, businessman Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, and youth leader Bai Rohaniza Sumndad-Usman to the council and as leaders of a National Peace Summit.
The group would invite 25 other people to join them in the BBL discussions, the outcome of which would make up a report that would be released to the public.
The Opapp-sponsored gathering at Baluarte de San Diego Gardens in Intramuros on Friday night was filled with hope, determination, and support for the government and the MILF in the effort to save the peace process.
A number of times, the host urged the attendees to raise the peace sign and breathe.
Iqbal, who has been the MILF’s chief peace negotiator for the past 15 years, was seen flashing the peace sign along with everyone else.
Iqbal also paid tribute to the five government peace negotiators with whom he squared off during the peace talks. He said all of them were brilliant.
Toughest negotiator
But when he was asked who was the toughest of them all, Iqbal named Miriam Coronel-Ferrer, the only female government chief negotiator.
“Because women, generally speaking, I hope I won’t offend the women here, they are very, very, very meticulous,” he said, drawing laughter and applause from the audience.
Ferrer began her brief message at the event by saying, “When the going gets tough, the tough gets going.”
Ferrer stressed that the peace agreement did not happen overnight, seemingly alluding to allegations that the government had sold out to the MILF.
“We didn’t rush it,” Ferrer said, noting that the peace process and, ultimately, the peace agreement went through so many challenges.
She said the book “Getting to Peace” was a compilation of the opening statements made by the government and the MILF chief peace negotiators from 2011 to 2014 during every exploratory talk in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
It was meant, she said, to “bring back the long context, the voice of reason and the core principles of social justice and meaningful autonomy” to counter the “narrow perspectives” peddled by critics of the peace process following Mamasapano.
Putting BBL back on track
Widespread public anger and recriminations following the deaths of 44 PNP Special Action Force commandos in a clash with guerrillas from the MILF, Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, Justice for Islamic Movement and armed residents of Mamasapano have thrown into doubt the completion of the peace process.
President Aquino hopes to put the process back on track with the education of the public and Congress on the BBL with the help of the peace council.
“This is the crossroads we face: We take pains to forge peace today, or we count body bags tomorrow,” Mr. Aquino said in announcing the formation of the council in a televised address to the nation on Friday.
The President urged lawmakers to resume debating the BBL and approve it to complete the peace deal with the MILF.
“If the bill is lacking, it can be addressed by pushing through with the debates on it,” he said.
The peace council, he said, “will dissect the proposed law in a calm and reasonable manner that will not incite anger and hopelessness. This way the BBL can be improved,” he said.
Longer study
On Saturday, Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma welcomed Mr. Aquino’s decision to establish the peace council.
Speaking to reporters after celebrating Mass to mark the feast of San Pedro Calungsod in Cebu City, Palma stressed the need for the government to scrutinize the BBL to ensure the achievement of lasting peace in Mindanao.
“I rather want a longer study of the BBL. We should not rush it because whatever is decided will have repercussions on the life of the country,” Palma said.
“To me, the more extensive the study, the better for Filipinos and the community,” he said. With a report from Ador Vincent S. Mayol, Inquirer Visayas
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