Aquino assures enactment of Bangsamoro charter by yearend
- Details
Amid the apparent delay in Malacañang's review of the draft Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), President Benigno Aquino III on Friday assured the public that the measure would be enacted on schedule by the end of the year.
In an interview with reporters, Aquino said Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Sec. Teresita Deles met with Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. to "hasten the process" of coming up with a law that both the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front would support and endorse.
"We expect this to happen faster," Aquino said.
He likewise said he can assure the Filipino people that they are "exerting all efforts" to ensure that this measure is passed in a "timely manner."
"The dream still is to give the new Bangsamoro government time to demonstrate its abilities and the time that they need as a minimum is a year and six months. So, we’re hoping that all the steps will be done that they can sit already in office by January of 2015," Aquino said.
He made the statement after meeting with Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) chair Murad Ebrahim in Japan earlier this week.
During the meeting, the President said there were "broad strokes" on how to come up with a measure that will ensure swift passage in Congress.
"Now we’re putting in all of the details and I asked him if it would be possible to meet sometime next week either their panels or we in particular or our designated representatives to thresh it out and come up with that proposed measure and give it to Congress even before the SONA," Aquino said.
Asked what was delaying the review, Aquino said they are are just adjusting how it should be "articulated or written out."
"There’s a need to further refine the language so that it really, parang, really states a meeting of the minds of both parties," Aquino said.
He said there was no problem with the BBL's Constitutionality.
"From the start, the Constitution was a guiding document in crafting the Framework Agreement so, the Basic Law that gives the details should also be consistent," Aquino said.
The BBL, based on the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) signed last March, will formalize the creation of the Bangsamoro political entity that will replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).
The draft, however, is still pending review before the Office of the President. -- Kimberly Jane Tan/GMA News