Aquino meets with retired military officers, discusses controversial BBL

President Benigno Aquino III has met with retired military officers opposing the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), Malacañang revealed on Tuesday.

“President Aquino met with members of the Association of Generals and Flag Officers (AGFO) yesterday in Malacañan to thresh out their concerns regarding certain provisions of the draft Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL),” Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said in a statement.

Representing the retired military officers were former Defense Secretary Renato de Villa and AGFO President Edilberto Adan who served previously as Philippine Army Commanding General and as Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) undersecretary for the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA).

Coloma cited a full-page statement published as an advertisement in the Philippine Daily Inquirer last September 14.

The said “Manifesto of Retired Officers” affirmed the group’s support for a case, filed before the Supreme Court, questioning the constitutionality of the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro (FAB) and the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB).

The statement said the signatories, composed of Agfo and other groups, want to express “great apprehension and alarm” at the government’s peace agreement with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. The group said they oppose the BBL despite the ongoing deliberations in Congress.

But Coloma said members of the Cabinet were able to reason with the group.

“At the end of the meeting that lasted for more than two hours,  retired Lt. Gen. Adan thanked the President and reiterated that, despite the reservations they expressed on provisions of the draft BBL, they fully support the government’s initiative to build enduring peace in Mindanao,” the Secretary said.

“Most of the questions revolved around the implementation of the decommissioning and normalization process, which was clarified in detail by Secretary Teresita Deles,” he said, adding that Budget Secretary Florencio Abad explained the budget allocation for the proposed Bangsamoro entity.

Meanwhile, Aquino told the group “that the baseline from which the peace negotiations started were the provisions of RA 9054 or the Act to Strengthen and Expand the Organic Act for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).”

Also in attendance were Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, National Security Adviser Cesar Garcia and Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief of Staff General Hernando Iriberri.