Bill on new Moro autonomy seen done in April

KIDAPAWAN CITY—Members of a commission formed to draft a proposed law that would create a new autonomous region in Mindanao as part of a peace deal with Moro rebels are expected to submit to President Aquino the draft of the proposed law by April, according to the chair of the commission.

Mohagher Iqbal, chief peace negotiator of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and chair of the Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC), said the BTC was in the last few stages of drafting the proposed law that would create a new Bangsamoro autonomous region.

Tokyo breakthrough

The BTC was formed by an executive order issued by President Aquino, whose meeting with Iqbal in August 2011 in Tokyo was taken as a breakthrough in and the strongest push by the Aquino administration for peace talks with Moro rebels to succeed.

Iqbal and other members of the BTC, which was formed mainly to draft the proposed law that would create the new autonomous region, paid a visit to Cotabato Gov. Emmylou Mendoza on Monday in a continuing information campaign on peace talks between the government and MILF and their implications.

In remarks that she made to welcome members of the BTC, Mendoza said the BTC members’ visit was important.

Cotabato support

“It is essential that we engage in consultation and discussion about  Bangsamoro and know what stage of the road map to its establishment it is in now,” she said.

The governor reiterated support for the peace process and gave assurances to the BTC that the provincial government supports peace initiatives like forums, dialogues and other measures that would ease whatever apprehensions the people may have about a new autonomous region for the Moro people.

In a speech he read during the BTC visit to Cotabato, Iqbal said Moro rebel leaders and the government “have come to terms to achieve long-lasting peace.”

“The time has come for the people of Mindanao to set aside hatred, differences and conflict,” Iqbal said.

He acknowledged, however, that the BTC and the peace process continue to face challenges, especially now that the BTC is in the middle of drafting the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), which Iqbal said would be finished by April.

Hoping for the best

“We hope for the best … that President Aquino will endorse it as a priority bill,” Iqbal said.

A referendum is expected to take place in 2016, the year Mr. Aquino steps down from office, in areas identified by the BBL as those that will compose the new autonomous region.

The BTC came with a delegation from the International Monitoring Team (IMT), led by Maj. Gen. Dato Abdul Rahim bin Mohd Yusuff. The IMT is in charge of monitoring compliance with the ceasefire by both Moro rebels and the government.

Territories

Under the proposed Bangsamoro law, the new autonomous region would be composed of the current Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao  and other areas that would agree to be part of the new autonomous region. Edwin Fernandez, Inquirer Mindanao