By Alden M. Monzon in BusinessWorld Online

 

Negotiators are more than halfway into talks on the draft Bangsamoro Basic Law, said Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) chief negotiator Mohagher Iqbal.

 

But Mr. Iqbal said they are still working on key parts of the draft law.

“We have covered about 50-60% including ’yung mga solved issues na na-retain from previous talks. Pero ’yung natitirang mga unresolved eh ’yun ’yung pinakamahihirap (We have covered about 50-60% including the solved issues retained from previous talks. But the remaining issues that have yet to be resolved are the harder ones),” Mr. Iqbal told BusinessWorld in a phone interview.

Among the resolved issues, Mr. Iqbal said, are fiscal autonomy and patrimony.

Mr. Iqbal said negotiators are determined to ensure the draft law’s enactment.

“I do not want to think of the consequences that can result from its non-passage. We are doing everything we can,” he said.

Mr. Iqbal also branded as “unauthorized” a critical statement on the Aquino government by the Moro Christian People’s Alliance that was posted on the MILF’s Web site, luwaran.com, on Aug. 3.

The statement became the subject of a banner story by another newspaper. It said, in part: “The BS Aquino government’s peace negotiation with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) is insincere, dishonest, and deceptive. Pres. BS Aquino cannot flaunt in his 5th State of the Nation Address the success of the GPH-MILF peace talks.

“BS Aquino also conducted his peace negotiation in bad faith. In the midst of the GPH-MILF peace negotiations, Pres. Aquino publicly declared the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) a failed experiment that has to be abolished and replaced with the Bangsamoro in 2016. In spite of this declaration, Pres. Aquino used more than Php8B from the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) to resurrect the failed experiment.”

“That is unauthorized. Pinapatanggal ko na ’yun [I already had it unpublished],” Mr. Iqbal said.

“I cannot comment on that and on anything that may compromise our talks [with the government],” he added.