Thousands assemble to discuss next steps for new Bangsamoro gov't
MAGUINDANAO — Thousands joined in the consultative assembly on the Bangsamoro Organic Law on Sunday in the main enclave of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in central Mindanao.
The MILF organized the assembly in Camp Darapanan in Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao for its members and supporters to discuss the intricacies of the law, premised on their two compacts with the government—the 2013 Framework Agreement on Bangsamoro and, subsequently, the 2014 Comprehensive Agreement on Bangsamoro.
President Rodrigo Duterte signed last week the Bangsamoro Organic Law, which would pave the way for the replacement of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao with a more empowered Bangsamoro government.
It is the enabling measure for the setting up of an MILF-led self-governing political entity, a product of 21 years of talks between the rebel group and Malacañang via a “third party facilitator,” the government of Malaysia.
Peace talks between the government and the MILF, which splintered from the Moro National Liberation Front in the early 1980s, started on January 7, 1997.
The overture, however, got stalled repeatedly due to misunderstandings from both sides and armed conflicts amid an interim truce meant to ensure the cordiality of the negotiation.
The MILF’s figurehead, Hadji Murad Ebrahim, reiterated on Sunday the readiness of their members to decommission once the Bangsamoro government is in place.
Representatives from the MNLF under former Cotabato City Mayor Muslimin Sema and Yusoph Jikiri, erstwhile governor of Sulu, were also present in the assembly.
The group broke away in 2000 from what was then the monolithic MNLF, founded by Nur Misuari in the early 1970s, due to loss of confidence in his leadership.
The split came just four years after the MNLF forged a final peace accord with the government brokered by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, a bloc of more than 50 Muslim states, including petroleum exporting countries in the Middle East and North Africa.
Misuari has since been leading another MNLF group comprised of loyal followers, mostly residents of the island provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.
The group of Sema and Jikiri was involved in the crafting of the Bangsamoro Basic Law, now known as the Bangsamoro Organic Law, through its representatives in the MILF-led Bangsamoro Transition Commission.
MILF officials had called on participants to the assembly to patiently support the implementation of the Bangsamoro Organic Law, the charter for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
It shall supersede ARMM’s charter, the Republic Act 9054 that established in 1991 an autonomous government with an executive department under the Office of the Regional Governor and a 24-member Regional Assembly, touted as the region’s “Little Congress.”
ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman, now in his second term as chief executive of the autonomous region, said Sunday his administration is ready to facilitate a transition from the present regional government to the new Bangsamoro outfit.
Hataman also vowed to support the setting up of the Bangsamoro government based on its charter, also known as the Republic Act 11054.
Mujiv Hataman, regional governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, said he is confident there will be no interruption of reforms and government services during a transition to a proposed Bangsamoro region that will replace the ARMM.
He added regional officials will meet on a potential transition that will happen if the Bangsamoro Basic Law is passed.
"I want them to know that I started from a problematic regional government. Ayaw ko maranasan nila (Bangsamoro Transition Authority) ) ang naranasan ko noong nag-transition ako," Hataman, who was caretaker governor from 2011 to 2013, said. He was elected regional governor in 2013 and again in 2016.
The military’s Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom) commended and honored with medals the Malaysian-led International Monitoring Team -16 (IMT) for ensuring compliance with the peace accord forged between the government and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
Lt. Gen. Alfredo Rosario Jr., Westmincom chief, and his command staff gave the honor Tuesday as the IMT-16 led by Maj. Gen. Datuk Hamdan Bin Hj Ismail made their exit call at Westmincom headquarters after completing their tour of mission as peace observers in Central and parts of Western Mindanao areas.
Rosario handed over the plaque of recognition to the IMT-16 for its successful mission at ensuring the accord, especially the cessation of hostility that has followed since the formal signing of the agreement in 2014.
Rosario said since the deployment of IMT-6 covering the pandemic period of April 2020 to April 2021, no violation of the ceasefire accord was recorded on the ground. —The STAR/Roel Pareño
The first of 11 planned Joint Peace and Security Team barracks has been turned over to the Joint Peace and Security Committee, the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process says.
The JPST will be tasked with safeguarding decommissioned weapones from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, OPAPP says.
The barracks will be put up in seven provinces in Mindanao and are being builty through the OPAPP, with funding support by the UN Development Programme.
Decommissioning of MILF weapons and combatants is part of the normalization tracks of the peace agreement with the former rebel group.
A contingent of police and military personnel are in Parang, Maguindanao for deployment with Joint Peace and Security Teams that will be jointly staffed with members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process says.
It says 77 members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and 96 from the Philippine National Police will be joined by 152 from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front - Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces for training with the JPSTs.
"The JPST training is a unique community policing training where contingents from the AFP, PNP and MILF-BIAF shall undergo a one-month training program to enable them to acquire knowledge, skills and attitudes to make them a capable and dependable force to protect the gains of the peace process," Police Lt.Col. Arnold Razote, training director, says in the OPAPP release.
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