President Rodrigo Duterte is willing to amend the recently passed Bangsamoro Organic Law to accommodate the concerns of Moro National Liberation Front founding chairman Nur Misuari, including a possible separate autonomous region, the Palace said Monday.
Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said the President is willing to sit down with leaders in Sulu to discuss possible amendments.
“The general sentiment of the President is if there are those who want to object because of specific provisions, we are open to reviewing the specific provisions,” said Roque, adding that the President’s several trips to Jolo, Sulu imply that he is serious in reaching out towards the people to provide them a lasting peace in Sulu.
“He is willing to listen to Nur Misuari and accommodate some of his wishes if [they] can be accommodated,” said Roque. “It’s just really a strong message that if you are not happy with BOL, come to talk to me.”
During his speech in Ipil, Zamboanga Sibugay, the President announced that he would like to talk with Misuari for a possible separate autonomous region for his group, noting that the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao was created through a peace pact between the government and the MNLF.
“I can create also an autonomy for him if that’s what he wants, and pending the federal system implementation, he can just wait for it if he trusts me,” Duterte said, adding he has three years to hack it.
On July 26, the President has signed into law the Republic Act. No. 11054 or the BOL.
The BOL will abolish the ARMM and will create a new Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in its place. The BAR territorial jurisdiction includes the original ARMM provinces such as Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Tawi-Tawi, Basilan, and Sulu; six towns in Lanao del Norte; 39 barangays in North Cotabato; Cotabato City, and Isabela City in Basilan.
The Bangsamoro parliament, headed by an elected chief minister, will govern the new autonomous region.
The chief minister must be elected by 80 members or representatives. Forty of these representatives need to be party representatives, while the remaining half must be made up of district representatives and sectoral representatives.
Non-Muslim indigenous people such as the Teduray, Lambangian, Dulangan Manobo, B’Laan, and Higaonon will also be given seats.
Under the BOL, a plebiscite must be held not earlier than 90 days and no later than 150 days after the law’s effectivity. The President will then appoint 80 members of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority to help deliver a lasting peace in Mindanao.
Senator Francis Escudero said Monday the Palace is bound to submit to Congress any proposal to amend the new law.
“A copy of the proposal containing the amendments should be transmitted to both houses of Congress—the Senate and the House,” said Escudero, a member of the subcommittee on the Basic Bangsamoro Law.
He said the proposal should go through the normal procedure, which means that it will pass the committee level for a committee report. The report would then be submitted to the plenary for deliberations.
In Camp Darapanan, Maguindanao, the chairman of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front said: “the Moro struggle does not end with the signing of the Bangsamoro Organic Law” or with the establishment of a new Bangsamoro government following a plebiscite to ratify the law in December.
“Our struggle will continue to overcome greater challenges ahead of us,” said MILF Chairman Murad Ibrahim.
Murad was addressing more than 90,000 who had entered the camp to take part in the Bangsamoro Consultative Assembly on the new organic law.
Murad said social and health services, the creation of jobs to help address poverty, and the threat of extremism would be at the forefront of the MILF governing agenda.
MILF First Vice Chairman Ghazzali Jaafar, also chairman of the Bangsamoro Transition Commission, said the fruits of peace reaped with the passage of the BOL did not only belong to the MILF, but to all the Bangsamoro people.
For his part, Mohaguer Iqbal who has been designated as chairman of MILF BOL implementing committee said the law was considered 85 percent compliant with the Comprehensive Agreement on Bangsamoro, based on their review of its final copy.
Jaafar also thanked Christian friends of the MILF, including Cardinal Orlando Quevedo, Fr. Angel Calvo, Fr. Eliseo Mercado Jr. Dr. Susana Salvador Anayatin, who, he said, had greatly contributed to the peace process.