Marcos wants deleted ‘separatist movement’ language back to BBL

Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

A language in the law that created the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) saying it would not be used as “separatist movement” has been deleted in the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law, Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. said on Thursday.

Marcos, chairman of the Senate committee on local government, now wants to put that language back in the BBL.

“There is language in the ARMM Organic Law, saying this will not be used as a separatist movement…that has been removed in the BBL. I would put it back,” the senator said in a recent interview on ABS-CBN News Channel.

“They removed that and I think we should put that back in,” he said.

Marcos was quick to allay fears though that the BBL would lead to cessation or separatism of the Bangsamoro people.

“We should take some kind of solace or have some confidence in the fact that the BBL is not an ordinary law where legislators pass it, the President signs it, it’s a law. This has to go through a plebiscite so it can’t be changed that easily,” he said.

“So the fact that there’s a plebiscite is some kind of guarantee that the structure as it has been agreed upon, the systems, the mechanisms as have been agreed upon will not change and those mechanisms will certainly not include the option of the Bangsamoro government eventually at some point saying, hiwalay na kami sa Pilipinas (we’re separated from the Philippines),” Marcos said.

His committee has resumed deliberations on the BBL after the temporary suspension following the bloody Mamasapano incident that left 44 elite policemen, some Moro rebels and local residents dead. TVJ

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