Duterte’s peace road map to clear way for federalism – Dureza

PRESIDENT Duterte has junked the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) and approved an inclusive peace road map where an all-Moro body would be tasked to draft “a new enabling law” to replace the BBL.

Speaking to reporters, presidential peace adviser Jesus Dureza said the Bangsamoro Transition Committee (BTC), which is in the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB), would be reconstituted where the MILF, MNLF, the ARMM and other Bangsamoro entity would be represented.

“The composition of the BTC is 15 members and eight of that membership will be from the MILF. And then we will spread it to the other Bangsamoro groups,” Dureza said.

“We hope that in that composition, (it) will be the start of the so-called inclusivity,” he added.

He said the peace road map would consolidate the various peace agreements already entered into by the government.

This would include the MILF’s CAB, MNLF’s 1996 Final Peace Agreement, relevant provisions of the Republic Act 9054 or the ARMM Law and Indigenous People’s Rights Acts (IPRA).

Dureza said “work on new proposed Bangsamoro enabling law will be done simultaneous with the moves to shift to a federal set up, the latter expected to come later under the planned timeline.”

But Dureza said the government has “an internal timeline that we’d like to see the BTC already come up with the proposed enabling law that we will be submitted to Congress.”

“The President yesterday (Monday) approved the new ‘Roadmap to Peace’… This will cover our engagements with the Bangsamoro including the CPP-NPA-NDF and then, of course, our effort to do closure to the agreements with the other rebel groups like the CPLA (the Cordillera People’s Liberation Army) and the RBB,” he said.

The main context of the approach now in the peace negotiations, for example, with the Bangsamoro is already to declare that the time for negotiations is already over, he added.

There will be inclusivity, henceforth, under the Duterte Roadmap for Peace where all the Bangsamoro factions, groups will have to come under one roof so that there will be inclusivity in the implementation of all this particular agreements, according to Dureza.