Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Teresita Deles. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
THE 2016 elections poses a threat to the passage of the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), according to Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Teresita Quintos Deles.
In a recent forum hosted by the Makati Business Club (MBC), Deles pointed out that “2016 partisan interests and agenda are already out there fighting tooth and nail to claim center stage.”
She, however, asserted that the Aquino administration remained “committed to continue its relentless efforts to secure the BBL’s enactment into law as soon as possible.”
“No, we are not giving up. This is the prevailing sentiment of the government and Moro Islamic Liberation Front panels, as well as of our local and international peace partners in this historic endeavor for peace,” she said.
She asked the MBC members to “continue accompanying the peace process in ensuring that this dream will not dry up.”
“Let us together make sure it will flourish, flower and bear fruit, fruits that our children can enjoy in abundance, in a country that knows no war and tolerates no injustice, a country that is peaceful, harmonious and progressive, and one that has room enough for all its people and all their aspirations.”
Deles stressed that the government and the other stakeholders in the Bangsamoro peace process “cannot afford to go back to square one.”
“The time is getting really tight and if we give up, we can say that the entire legislation is really dead,” she said.
The Senate and the House of Representatives had agreed to move the deadline for passage of the proposed law to Dec. 16.
The filing of certificates of candidacy for May’s elections is on Oct. 12-16. After that, the politicians will be on election mode.
Civil society groups Institute for Autonomy and Governance (IAG) and the Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines (CEAP) have vowed to continue drumming up support for the passage of the BBL.
In separate statements, the Cotabato City-based IAG and the CEAP, which groups together 1,252 colleges and universities nationwide, both noted that the BBL was reflective of the spirit of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB), the 2014 peace agreement between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.