Senator Gregorio Honasan. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
The United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) vice presidential bet Sen. Gringo Honasan met with officials of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in a bid to convince them that an administration under Jejomar Binay would prioritize peace, with or without the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL).
Honasan, a former soldier turned rebel, represented Binay in a meeting with MILF chairman Al Haj Murad Ebrahim and peace panel chairman Mohagher Iqbal during a meeting at Camp Darapanan in Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao on Tuesday.
In a statement on Wednesday, Honasan said he met the MILF to convince them that a Binay administration would focus on bringing about peace and prosperity in strife-torn Mindanao.
Honasan also met with MILF’s military affairs chief of staff Sammy Al-Mansoor and vice chairman Ghadzali Jaafar.
“We are committed to a path of peace for Mindanao. A Binay administration will address the concerns of our Muslim brothers and sisters with the goal of bringing peace and security to Mindanao, with or without a BBL,” Honasan said in the meeting with the MILF central committee.
READ: Only 3 options for MILF after BBL non-passage, says Iqbal
“We believe that by focusing on poverty and injustice, we will be able to break the decades-long unrest in the region,” he added.
Honasan said a Binay-led government would be able to bring investments in the region once peace is restored.
Honasan made the statement of peace with or without the BBL as Binay earlier said the BBL should not be the only option for peace, citing constitutional infirmities that need to be ironed out first.
Binay had also said the BBL should also include the Lumads in Mindanao, and even the Moro National Liberation Front, from which the MILF was a breakaway group.
The vice president also said the Aquino administration should not rush the passage of the bill only because the president wanted it to be part of his legacy.
The BBL, which sought to create a more politically autonomous and financially stable Bangsamoro region to replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, was killed when Congress adjourned without passing the bill ahead of the 2016 campaign period.
The BBL faced rough waters in Congress after lawmakers questioned the sincerity to peace of the MILF when it got involved in the bloody Jan. 2015 Mamasapano clash between Special Action Force cops, MILF fighters, and other rebels in the hunt for terrorist Marwan, who was allegedly coddled by the MILF and some members of its breakaway group, the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters. TVJ
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