COTABATO CITY – Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Governor Mujiv Hataman said Friday he is confident the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) can hurdle scrutiny at the Supreme Court.
“We cannot allow the personal interests or anyone to again sow discord where we so clearly need peace,” Hataman said in a statement.
He was reacting to a move by the Sulu local government unit, represented by Governor Abdusakur Tan II, questioning the legality of the BOL in a petition for certiorari and prohibition filed before the Supreme Court (SC).
“We cannot allow the short-sightedness that is the politics of patronage to again wreck the progress we have made on the road to lasting peace,” Hataman said.
“We need peace, and we will have that peace even if there are those who would break it to gain political leverage,” he added.
Hataman said the Bangsamoro has sacrificed more than time and effort in the endeavor, saying many have lost lives and family members to the Moro struggle for self-determination.
“Our people, especially our women, have suffered these losses but continued to work and pray for a Bangsamoro homeland across decades of conflict,” the ARMM governor said.
Hataman said he remains confident though that the BOL will stand well under scrutiny and will become a “strong foundation of the peace that the Moro people have been building for so long.”
In a petition dated Oct. 11, Tan has asked the SC to issue a temporary restraining order on Republic Act No. 11054, or the Organic Law for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, as it is supposedly not allowed under the 1987 Constitution.
Earlier, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) leadership had expressed confidence the petition will not hold water.
Ghazali Jaafar, MILF vice chair for political affairs, said the BOL was crafted without violating the Philippine Constitution.
“The BOL is legal and constitutional,” Jaafar said, adding that the MILF will continue to campaign for the ratification of BOL through a plebiscite slated in January 2019. (/PNA)
