The rise and fall of the Bangsamoro Basic Law

One of the most controversial issues that hounded most of the Aquino presidency was the Bangsamoro Basic Law. Yes I'm referring to the BBL in the past tense simply because Congress for all intents and purposes has run out of time to pass it. It was on August 5, 2011 when the breaking news was that Pres. Benigno Aquino III slipped out of the country and went to Tokyo, Japan apparently for a secret meeting with Murad Ebrahim, chairman of the secessionist Moro Islamic Liberation Front. Why all the secrecy? Well, later on we found out that it had a more sinister purpose. This was the beginning of what would be the BBL.

With the President was Ms. Teresita Quintos-Deles, the Presidential Peace Adviser who later became one of the staunchest backers of the BBL. Already at that time, critics of the President learned that he gave the MILF through Chairman Ebrahim P5 million,  which many say is a flagrant violation of the Constitution for aiding and abetting known enemies of the state. I guess this is one case that Pres. Aquino would be facing a few months from now after he exits Malacañang. Then these critics learned that the ulterior motive of PNoy was to get the coveted Nobel Peace Prize.

Meanwhile for most of Mr. Aquino's term, he moved heaven and earth using the vast powers of the Presidency to ensure the passage of the BBL in Congress, using Malaysia as a peace broker. He made promises that the BBL would usher peace in Mindanao and consequently prosperity and warned that the alternative was war! But we know too well that Malaysia got Sabah from the Sultan of Sulu and of Sabah, an issue that has yet to be settled in the International Courts as to whom Sabah should belong. I say that Sabah belongs to the Philippines!

Then by Sept. 8, 2013 Zamboanga was under siege by the Moro National Liberation Front under the command of Ustadz Habier Malik who recognizes Nur Misuari as the leader. This siege resulted in the burning of many barangays in Zamboanga City where some 100,000 residents lost their homes. Actually the burning of the villages could have been stopped, but then Vice Pres. Jejomar Binay tried to broker a peace so that the elements of the MNLF would leave. But then DILG Sec. Manuel "Mar" Roxas refused to allow the MNLF to leave, so it ended with the burning of many villages in Zamboanga City. There were also encounters in Sabah.

The final blow to the BBL came with the infamous Mamasapano massacre of Jan. 25, 2015 when on that fateful Sunday in Tukanalipao, Mamasapano, Maguindanao, units of the Special Action Force of the Philippine National Police  aided by certain elements of the US Special Forces whose mission was set to capture or kill Malaysian terrorist and bomb maker Zulkifir Abdnir a.k.a. Marwan. They eventually succeeded in killing Marwan, but they figured in an encounter with the MILF and ended up with 44 SAF soldiers killed in the plains of Mamasapano and MILF soldiers killed.

What was tragic in this massacre is that, the dead soldiers were stripped of their weapons and clothes and wounded lying on the field were finished off with bolos or shot on the face. We all saw this being uploaded on Facebook by the killers themselves. This caused a huge outcry from a great majority of Filipinos even those that supported the peace plan called BBL.

What angered more Filipinos was that PNoy himself was in Zamboanga to monitor (he saw the whole thing through a drone) Oplan Exodus, but in the aftermath of this incident, he remained incognito for three days, surfacing only for the inauguration of a Mitsubishi assembly plant in Laguna, which coincided with the arrival ceremonies of the 44 dead SAF troopers. This was a Presidential snub that made the Filipino people realize that we had a President who was totally uncaring of our soldiers. Of course he tried to make up later by going to the wake, but it was too late for him.

Because of the numerous mishaps that struck the nation, the BBL had lost steam. I gathered that last week, PNoy Aquino tried to make a last ditch final push for the passage of the BBL by inviting some 200 plus congressmen for lunch in Malacañang. But the next day, not even half of those who went to Malacañang were present in the Halls of Congress.

Yesterday we read in the Philippine Star no less than Sen. Ferdinand "Bong Bong" Marcos, Jr. saying that the BBL could not be passed during the term of Pres. Aquino because the Senate and the House have not finished deliberations. Congress has gone on recess for the Christmas break. Then it resumes sessions on Jan. 18th to Feb. 5, 2016, then the 16th Congress would finally sign off and everyone goes on the election campaign mode. The demise of the BBL stems from the fact that the BBL made too many promises of peace when solving the Muslim question is only part of what troubles Mindanao today. We still have the CPP/NPA and warlords to neutralize in order to attain a genuine peace in Mindanao. This is why the BBL died!

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