COTABATO CITY – Four visiting senators here on Thursday have expressed support to the passage in to law of a clear, inclusive Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) that is designed to end the decades-old Moro struggle for self-determination in Mindanao.
The BBL aims to establish a new autonomous political entity that will be led by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, formerly Mindanao’s largest Moro rebel group now engaged in a comprehensive peace agreement with the government, aimed at replacing the old Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) set up.
Senators Juan Miguel Zubiri, Sonny Angara, JV Ejercito and Risa Hontiveros took time Thursday to preside over the 1:30 – 4:30m p.m. jampacked joint public hearing held inside Shariff Kabunsuan Complex, the provisional seat of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao in this city.
“It is high time for a lasting peace solution be realized for Mindanao. Rest assured that the passage of this measure would be smooth sailing,” said Zubiri, himself a Mindanaoan from Bukidnon and head of the Senate’s subcommittee on the BBL.
For his part, Ejercito urged the Bangsamoro people to engage in trade and commerce once the BBL is passed and do business with his hometown in San Juan in Metro Manila.
“I am for peace. You are all welcome there for business,” Ejercito said before the cheering crowd.
Angara, who heads the Senate’s Committee on Local Government, emphasized before the crowd that should there be revisions made in the BBL before the Senate, “it would be minimal and just for everybody.”
Hontiveros, for her part, assured that they would make the BBL passage “clear for everybody” to avoid setbacks.
Expressing his posture on the issue, ARMM Governor Mujiv Hataman said in his speech that he is ready to step down anytime to give way for the coming in of the new Bangsamoro regional administration.
Holding back tears, Hataman expressed his sadness over accusations that the ARMM of recent years has done nothing to help the Bangsamoro people.
“I think of the sacrifices that many of my colleagues had to make, some of them even leaving their families behind in the island provinces, just to serve the ARMM and to show that Moros and Muslims can lead our people,” Hataman, who hails from the island-province of Basilan, said, referring to critics who discredit the value of the BBL and gains of the ARMM.
Hataman stressed the importance of unity among leaders in the ARMM at this time, especially when any indication of discord is taken advantage of by those who are discrediting not only the BBL but also their capacity to lead their people.
“Let us not wait for more deaths in our region, or for the return of ISIS. Let us not give terrorists a convenient narrative in which they can say ‘see, you’re only making fools out of us,” the governor said.
Earlier on same day, the senators paid a visit to Camp Darapanan, the main MILF headquarters situated in Simuay, Sultan, Kudarat, Maguindanao, and were met by MILF Chair Al Haj Murad for discussions on the status of the BBL proposal.
The senators are bound for Marawi City Friday for the same BBL public hearing. The Senate will also hold similar public hearings on the BBL in Basilan, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi. (Noel Punzalan/PNA)
