By Roel Pareño in Philippine Star

 

ZAMBONGA CITY, Philippines - Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Teresita Deles called on the stake holders to continue supporting the peace process after government and the MILF peace panels extended for another week the finalization of the draft Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) to be submitted to congress within this month.

 

The peace panels have been initially given 10 days to complete the review of the basic law after it was revised by a  Malacañang legal team owing to constitutional issues.

 

In a joint statement, both GPH and MILF panels said substantial differences have been resolved and agreed to extend until August 18 complete the draft BBL for presentation to President Benigno Aquino III who  will have to submit it to the congress for the passage of the basic law of the new Bangsamoro region.

 

READ: Joint Press Statement of the ‎GPH and MILF Negotiating Panels

 

“We really need to ask the assistance of as many other parties as possible to help explain [the issues],” Deles said.

 

“It is important to have more voices, more informed voices helping to clarify... The call is really for everyone who thinks this is important. And I believe there are many of them and many of them have come forward.  The business sector, for example, has already said this is important and more of them are saying: ‘yes we want to be part of helping to clarify.’ And there are others, the religious, the civil society, and of course, the academe,” Deles added following questions on issues surrounding the delay of the draft BBL.

 

The government peace adviser reiterated that it is essential for the different stakeholders to provide more support to sustain the peace process in the southern Philippines.

 

“We ask again everyone who wants to accompany the peace process to be ready for that (sustained campaign),” Deles said.

 

Deles also hoped the people have understood that government and both peace negotiating panels are on track to overcome the challenges in finalizing the draft Bangsamoro basic law.

 

“This will not be the last of it, but we will continue to pursue it in this way,” Deles said.

 

Deles added that the OPAPP will exhaust all efforts and assure the people that the BBL they are working on deserve the support of the Congress.

 

Meanwhile, GPH chief negotiator Miriam Coronel-Ferrer on Monday told Catholic station dxMS in Cotabato City  that both sides have resolved some of the misunderstandings on the content of the draft BBL’s preamble and other "basic articles” during the initial August 1-10 meeting at a seaside resort hotel in Davao City.

 

“The two panels will present and discuss what had been accomplished in that meeting with their respective principals,” Ferrer said, apparently referring to President Benigno Aquino III, and the MILF’s figurehead, Hadji Murad Ebrahim.

 

The chairman of the MILF’s peace panel, Muhaquer Iqbal, has described as “difficult and challenging” the 10-day meeting.

 

Iqbal is the presiding chair of the Bangsamoro Transition Commission, which drafted the proposed law. The BTC's original version of the draft BBL was only more than 90 pages, but became more than 400 pages, filled with remarks and annotations, after a two-month review by the Office of the President.

 

Ferrer said the GPH and MILF panels agreed to continue reconciling  their position on other important provisions of the draft BBL, particularly those pertaining to transition concerns, the structure of the Bangsamoro entity, and its supposed relationship with the national government.

 

Ferrer said the two panels are also still to iron out articles on fund grants for the proposed Bangsamoro political entity, and the annual budget needed for its operation.

 

The draft BBL, once enacted into law by Congress and ratified via a plebiscite in selected areas,  will replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) with a new Bangsamoro self-governing entity.

 

The ARMM, which has a “Little Malacañang,” the Office of the Regional Governor, and a “little Congress,” the 24-seat Regional Assembly, has been existing since 1990, first  under its pioneering charter, Republic Act 6734, which was amended to become R.A. 9054 through a referendum in 2001.

 

The ARMM covers Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur, both in Central Mindanao, the island provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi, and the cities of Marawi and Lamitan.

 

Ferrer and Iqbal, in a joint communiqué drafted before Sunday’s culmination of their 10-day meeting in Davao City, reiterated the government and MILF’s commitment to agree on a common BBL draft, one that is acceptable to both parties.

 

They also both expressed gratitude to the Bangsamoro Development Agency, the regional government of ARMM, and the Ateneo School of Government for helping in the peace process.

 

Iqbal said the MILF remains steadfast in pursuing peace to resolve the Mindanao Moro issue.

 

“The only option is a peaceful negotiation, one leading to lasting peace in our homeland,” he said.

 

Peace talks between the GPH and MILF started January 7, 1997, almost four months after the crafting of the September 2, 1996 final peace accord between the government and the Moro National Liberation Front.

 

The government-MNLF truce was signed by then President Fidel Ramos and the now fugitive Nur Misuari, wanted in connection with the deadly September 2013 siege by his men of several barangays in Zamboanga City. - with a report from John Unson

 

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