MILF thrashes Marcos proposal

COTABATO CITY, Philippines—The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) on Saturday rejected the proposal of Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to amend the law that established the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) instead of enacting the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL).

“Our position is very clear. Knowing fully well the mandate of Congress, its plenary powers, we welcome any enhancement and improvement to the Bangsamoro Basic Law [but] not the Marcos proposal,” said Mohagher Iqbal, the chief MILF peace negotiator.

The BBL would establish a Bangsamoro autonomous region that would replace the ARMM, which President Aquino has called a “failed experiment.”

Iqbal said that while the MILF had left improvement of the BBL up to Congress, it would not agree to trashing it entirely in lieu of another proposal.

He said the BBL was the product of 17 years of peace negotiations with the government after three major wars that cost thousands of lives.

“Then all of a sudden one man comes up to undo the work of many? This time I don’t believe that one man is better than many,” Iqbal said.

Not in present form

Marcos on Thursday said he would introduce legislation that would amend the ARMM law because he could not accept the BBL “in its present form.”

Marcos opposes, among other BBL provisions, the grant of parliamentary powers to the Bangsamoro and the right to share in the region’s natural resources with the national government.

“In the Constitution, it is very clearly stated that all natural resources found within Philippine territory belong to the state, but [the BBL] is changing that altogether,” Marcos said on Thursday.

He said he intended to amend the BBL provision on the Bangsamoro parliament that would change the powers and functions of local governments within the proposed autonomous region “in the interest of good governance.”

Marcos acknowledged that the ARMM system had flaws, but abolishing the region was not the solution to the problem.

“I think there are systemic weaknesses in the ARMM system. So what do we do? We fix it. There”s no need to throw out the baby with the bath water, as they say. We look at the system, see where the failings are, the weaknesses, and fix them,” Marcos said.

“We have already amended the organic law for ARMM once. That was a step in the right direction. So let”s [take] more steps in the right direction,” he added.

Marcos said criticism of his proposal was premature because he had not yet completed his substitute bill.

He said he would work on the bill during the recess and introduce it when Congress returns on July 27.