Cotabato City—The leadership of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) said it will have to support plans to amend the 1987 Constitution, so it can push for the full implementation of the 2014 peace agreement.
Mohagher Iqbal, chief negotiator for the MILF Peace Panel, said this is a strategic position on the part of the Bangsamoro leadership to improve the level of Moro self-governance achieved so far from a bilateral peace process.
Iqbal, education minister of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), said a Charter change (Cha-cha) is the least-known “track” seen in the 27-year-old peace negotiations to allow the enactment of legislative measures supportive of the peace process, but were capped by constitutional restrictions.
“There are provisions in the signed agreements that were not captured (by the congressional legislation in 2017) from the draft of the Bangsamoro Basic Law, the original (copy of what has since been renamed as the BOL or the Bangsamoro Organic Law),” Iqbal told the Manila Standard in an interview at the sidelines of preparations for the commemoration of the 10th Anniversary of the signing of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) on Wednesday, March 27.
He said the MILF leadership would have to take every opportunity to improve the BOL, even though President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. already made an announcement that the planned amendments would be limited to economic provisions of the 1987 Charter.
Iqbal said much has been achieved since the signing 10 years ago of the CAB—including passage of the priority measures prescribed in the BOL, reforms in governance, provision of paved road networks linking interior communities to local centers of commerce, and increasing the rate of enrollees at all education levels, because of improved school administration and access to various college scholarship programs in the region.
The regional government, Iqbal said, is breeding a new generation of civil servants to infuse fresh blood into the bureaucracy with sheer hard work professional commitment and dedication.
“As we commemorate the 10th anniversary of the signing of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB), I find it imperative to reflect on the journey that has brought us to the milestone of its bilateral implementation from all preceding accords. We embarked on another path toward peace, understanding, and mutual respect a decade ago, promising a brighter future for the Bangsamoro people,” Iqbal said in his message during the occasion.
He said the significance of the Peace Process was “like the proverbial torch of hope that has come to us, amid a dark path in our common quest for answers to address decades of violence, poverty, and unnerving intricacies of politics.”
“Our commitment to peace is not merely about ending a conflict, but of equal importance are the tasks in laying the foundation for sustainable development, social justice, and enduring peace within our communities,” Iqbal underscored.
“The future of the BARMM is intertwined with the principles and successes of