Bangsamoro final OK to come from residents

COTABATO CITY, Philippines  --- Government peace broker Miriam Coronel-Ferrer has reiterated that a final peace deal with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) will uphold the constitution and that the final decision whether communities will join  the Bangsamoro territory rests on their residents.

“The proposed areas to comprise the core territory of the Bangsamoro will pass through a plebiscite where registered voters shall indicate whether they want to join the Bangsamoro autonomous political entity or not,” Ferrer said in an official statement emailed by the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process.

The GPH and the MILF are now crafting the Basic Bangsamoro Law, through the 15-member Bangsamoro Transition Commission, to enable the creation of the Bangsamoro entity to replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

The commission, which is chaired by Coronel’s counterpart in the MILF, Muhaquer Iqbal, is composed of eight representatives from the group, and seven from the national government.

Iqbal, aside from being chairman of the MILF’s peace panel, is also the information chief of the rebel group.

The BBL will be subjected to a plebiscite to determine its acceptability among voters in the five provinces of ARMM, in Cotabato City and in Isabela town in Basilan, and in parts of Lanao del Norte and in North Cotabato.

Other contiguous areas where LGUs are to promulgate resolutions for inclusion in the plebiscite, or there are petitions by at least 10 percent of local voters, may also participate in the exercise.

However, an LGU resolution or a petition for inclusion in the plebiscite, does not automatically make any area a part of the Bangsamoro.

“They would still need to vote for it in a plebiscite where a majority vote is needed,” Ferrer said.

The results of the plebiscite will determine the geographical scope of the Bangsamoro, she added.

Ferrer had clarified that sectors from outside of the proposed Bangsamoro homeland also have a role to play in the creation of the new political entity --- apparently referring to lawmakers in Congress, where the BBL is to be submitted for legislation. 

Peace talks between the government and the MILF started January 7, 1997 and  gained headway in 2013 with the participation of Malaysia as “third party facilitator.”