To amend or not to amend the BBL

We are amazed that the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and some sectors that advocate peace in Mindanao, Including Coalition of Moro Youth Movement (CMYM) which gathered and verified the 500,000 signatures in three months with no funding to support the passage of the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) in its current form, continue to threaten to use either armed force or number of votes to “convince” other sectors to swallow the draft BBL hook, line and sinker.

The draft BBL would have been ideal — free of infirmities that were noticed by other sectors — had the process of crafting it been in line with President Benigno S. Aquino III’s policy statement, “We shall endeavor to restore confidence in a peace process that is transparent and participative.”

Is the draft BBL as submitted by Malacañang a perfect document that those pushing for it will not accept any correction or amendment, however sound such may be?

In his sixth and last State of the Nation Address (SONA), President Aquino implied that there may need to amend some of its provisions when be challenged its critics to come out with concrete suggestions to back-up their criticisms.

For example, the Social Justice provision in the Malacanang submitted BBL states, “The Bangsamoro shall establish a government that ensures that every citizen in the Bangsamoro is provided basic necessities and equal opportunities in life.”

While the provision is ideal, it could be used by destabilizing forces to ignite social unrest in the event that the established government by the Bangsamoro fails to provide even a small segment of its citizenry basic necessities and equal opportunities in life as provided for by the BBL if it is approved as submitted by Malacañang.

Would it not be better if it reads, “The Bangsamoro shall establish a government that strives to provide every citizen in the Bangsamoro the basic necessities and equal opportunities in life.”

To our minds, it essentially means the same minus the potentially explosive scenario that can blow in to our faces even if the government is able to deliver the basic necessities and equal opportunities in life to 95% of the population and is unable to satisfy a mere 5% or 50,000 per one million citizens.

Will the MILF and the CMYM accept the amendment discussed above as well as similar amendments to make the BBL constitutional and therefore acceptable to all Filipinos, the more than eleven million Filipinos who responded the YES FOR PEACE campaign (yesforpeace.com) likewise without funding? — ERNESTO ANGELES ALCANZARE, Lead Organizer, YES FOR PEACE — Bayanihan para sa KKK