Iqbal asks for support in crafting Bangsamoro law

COTABATO CITY, Philippines – Chairman Muhaquer Iqbal of the Transition Commission on Wednesday urged their partners from the government and the international community to support extensively the crafting of the Basic Bangsamoro Law (BBL) to enable the creation of a new autonomous political entity in Southern Mindanao.

Iqbal, who is the chief negotiator of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, chairs the 15-member TransCom, comprised of eight representatives from the rebel group and seven from the national government.

The TransCom held its maiden en banc meeting in Manila on Wednesday, as agreed by the government and MILF panels during an executive session in Malaysia shortly before the Holy Week.

“Let me call on our partners from government to work hand in hand with us in trusting an instrument that will embody the Bangsamoro ideals and aspirations and create new relations founded on the principles of parity of esteem and mutual respect,” Iqbal said in his welcome remarks during the opening program for the first ever meeting of the TransCom.

Also present in the TransCom meeting at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Pasig City were Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Teresita Quintos Deles, GPH chief negotiator Miriam Coronel-Ferrer, Senator Teofisto Guingona III and North Cotabato First District Rep. Jesus Sacdalan.

“I call on the honorable members of the Senate and the House of Representatives to help us handle the remaining stages of this arduous process,” Iqbal said, apparently referring to the crafting of the BBL, which is to undergo legislative approval and, subsequently, to be ratified through a plebiscite in the proposed areas of the Bangsamoro region.

The TransCom was created by President Benigno Aquino III through Executive Order 120, which he signed on Dec. 17, 2012, in keeping with the Framework Agreement on Bangsamoro (FAB), which was signed by the GPH and MILF panels on Oct. 15 of the same year.

The GPH and the MILF panels are still to wind up with their completion of the four annexes to the FAB- wealth and power sharing, territory and transitional modalities- as basis for the crafting of the BBL.

The FAB aims to replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao with a new political entity which is to have greater administrative and political powers, and is to exercise control and utilization of natural resources in its supposed territory.

Peace talks between the government and the MILF started Jan. 7, 1997, punctuated by security issues and conflicts despite a ceasefire covering many flashpoint areas, and gained headway only in 2003 with the third party facilitation of Malaysia.

Iqbal, in a phone interview with Catholic station dxMS here before the start of the first TransCom en banc meeting, said they look forward to the immediate resumption of the GPH-MILF talks, slated last March 25-27, but postponed on President Aquino's orders.

“We didn’t want it postponed, but President Aquino wants to study some points on one of the annexes (to the FAB),” Iqbal said.

Iqbal said the two panels are to meet again “soon” in Malaysia.

“I cannot reveal dates because we have an agreement to keep dates of the formal talks confidential,” Iqbal said.