Philippine ex-rebels: Public talks on law on south over

By Hader Glang

ZAMBOANGA CITY, the Philippines (AA) - The Philippines’ one-time largest Moro rebel group has stressed that enough public consultations have been held over a proposed autonomy law for the country’s Muslim south.

Local media reported Monday that the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) insisted that consultations on the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) were “virtually over”.

“All what should be done is to revisit or use the inputs of these consultations or hearings, in the case of Congress, to fast-track the legislative roadmap or process,” the group said in an editorial on its official website Luwaran. “Or better still, to refine them to ensure the smooth flow of the process and ensure the early passage of the BBL in Congress.”

The BBL would have sealed a March 2014 peace deal signed by the MILF and the government that brought to a close 17 years of negotiations and ended a decades-old armed conflict in the southern Mindanao island region.

However, the BBL was stalled earlier this year as Congress adjourned for campaigning for the May 9 election, won by Rodrigo Duterte - now set to become the first Philippine leader from the south upon his inauguration June 30.

The MILF underlined in its recent editorial that the peace panels of both the MILF and the government, the Bangsamoro Transition Commission, non-governmental organizations, civil society organizations, and religious, educational and business institutions had conducted hundreds of public consultations in past years.

“Any consultation asking the same people or repeating the same issues will only slow down, if not stifle, the legislative process,” it said. “More seriously, if those to be asked are those who harbour strong anti-Moro prejudices, biases, hatred, the outcome is already predicted.”

It stressed that Duterte had “solemnly pledged” during campaigning that he would “solve the ‘legitimate grievances’ of the Bangsamoro people; and ‘nothing’, he said further, ‘can satisfy them except by passing the BBL’.”

The MILF said they “hold on to this promise, as sacred”, expressing their trust in Duterte - whose close friends “attested to his loyalty to friendship” and how “once he commits he fulfills”.

The editorial was published after the incoming peace adviser, Jesus Dureza, told MindaNews that “wider consultations” would be conducted on a Bangsamoro peace roadmap.

In late May, MILF leaders had also expressed concerns after Davao Del Norte representative-elect - and Duterte's choice for Speaker of the House of Representatives - Pantaleon Alvarez suggested that the BBL be overridden by plans to introduce a federal system.

In a meeting with Duterte in Davao City last week, MILF leaders underlined their wishes to see the BBL enacted before any change in the form of government.

The group’s vice chairman for political affairs, Ghadzali Jaafar, told The Philippine STAR that they told Duterte “we are not against federalism per se but we believe we can be more of help to the federal government of the Philippines if the Bangsamoro [government] is implemented first.”