MILF questions timing of Philconsa suit

Mohagher Iqbal: Why only now? FILE PHOTO BY RAFFY LERMA/PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER

COTABATO CITY, Philippines—Echoing Malacañang’s reaction, the secessionist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) has questioned the timing of the filing of a petition in the Supreme Court by the Philippine Constitution Association (Philconsa) seeking the nullification of the peace agreement, the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB), that the MILF signed with the Aquino administration last year.

“They should have questioned it right after it was signed last year. Why only now?” said Mohagher Iqbal, the MILF chief negotiator.

Iqbal, who also chaired the Bangsamoro Transition Commission—the body that drafted the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) that is supposed to implement the CAB—said Philconsa was allowing itself to be used by Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr., whom he accused of doing everything to derail the passage of the BBL bill.

Iqbal said some of the personals that signed the petition were also closely identified with former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, whose administration Iqbal accused of reneging on a peace agreement with the MILF.

Philconsa is led by Leyte Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, a cousin of Marcos’. Other signatories to the petition were former Marcos minister and senator Francisco Tatad, Arroyo’s former national security adviser Norberto Gonzales, Lipa Archbishop Ramon Arguelles, Davao Archbishop Emeritus Fernando Capalla and Zamboanga Archbishop Romulo de la Cruz.

The petitioners said the provisions of the CAB and the precedent document, the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro, were all “repugnant” to the Constitution and existing laws, and petitioned the high court to stop all government efforts to see their fulfillment and realization.

“We are not surprised. These people are linked to Marcos and Arroyo,” Iqbal said.

“But we are not losing hope. We are still hopeful but mindful of the obstacles along the bumpy road to peace,” he said.

“We appeal to the people behind Philconsa for reason and responsibility. For us, it’s the solution to the conflict. We don’t want to waste what we have gained out of the more than 17 years of peace negotiations,” he said.

Marcos on Saturday said he had nothing to do with the Supreme Court petitions against the peace agreement with the MILF.

He said he remained fully supportive of the quest for peace in Mindanao and was working to come up with a better version of the BBL bill.

He said that if he had wanted to kill the measure, he would have left it as is because it would surely be declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.

Marcos chairs the Senate local government committee, the main body tasked to deliberate on the Bangsamoro bill.

His ties to some of the petitioners against the peace agreement had nothing to do with his work on the measure, the senator said.

“My relationship with some Philconsa members who filed the petition against the (CAB) in the Supreme Court has nothing to do with my position on the proposed law,” he said.

“If we follow that line of reasoning, is it fair to accuse the President of being responsible for the debacle of the Philippine contingent to the SEA games just because Philippine Olympic Committee president, Peping Cojuangco, is his uncle?” he said.

Marcos said he was doing all he could to save the draft BBL, given the findings by experts that portions of it were unconstitutional.

“If I really want the BBL dead, I would have just agreed to the passage of the draft version. It would likely be shot down immediately by the Supreme Court as unconstitutional,” he said.

Marcos said he had been spending a lot of time working on the Bangsamoro bill to correct its flaws, and he expects to present his proposals for the committee to deliberate on when Senate sessions resume on July 27.

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