Bangsamoro Assembly postponed again

MILF vice chair for political affairs Ghazali Jaafar. INQUIRER.NET FILE / RYAN LEAGOGO

COTABATO CITY – For the third time, the long-awaited Bangsamoro Assembly scheduled for November 3 to 4 has been reset to a later date this year, the Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC) announced Sunday night.

Ghadzali Jaafar, Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) vice chair for political affairs and BTC chair, made the announcement in a statement released Sunday night.

Jaafar said the postponement was made due to “reason beyond our control.”

But in a radio interview Monday, Jaafar said he was informed by the Presidential Management Staff (PMS) of the postponement since President Duterte was busy with the ASEAN Summit.

He said the PMS told him that President Duterte, who was invited to grace the occasion, would not be available until after Nov. 18.

Duterte chairs the Asean Summit.

It is the BTC that is working for the assembly.

“The BTC agreed to PMS request and we are informing our people about the postponement,” he said.

“Once the final date is available, we will immediately inform the public,” he added.

The gathering will highlight discussions on the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) with the Bangsamoro people.

BBL, composed of 21 members from the government and the Bangsamoro people, forms part of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) that the government and the MILF signed in 2014.

Earlier, the gathering was postponed twice due to the non-availability of resource persons. /cbb