THE Moro Transitional Justice and Reconciliation technical working group (MTJR-TWG) has appealed to the Moro people for “greater sense of understanding” and to give the panel a fair chance to push for legitimate claims, based on the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL).
Amir Dodo, chair of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front TWG, said more efforts are needed to popularize foremost, the initiative to establish legal mechanisms such as bills on the creation of the National Transitional Justice and Reconciliation Commission (NTJRC), as well as its counterpart measure now being deliberated in the Bangsamoro Parliament to work on a parallel and collaborative direction towards addressing centuries-old issues of land dispossession, correcting historical injustices, and human rights violations.
Dodo said he is set to fly to Manila today, Dec.16, “for another round of talks with experts on the subject matter of TJR for the establishment of the NTJRC bill.”
“I truly believe that establishment of a national TJR mechanism will be a huge leap in addressing land marginalization, historical injustices, and human rights violations committed against the Bangsamoro People,” Dodo said.
Dodo said the issue would have to be popularized in the context of reconciliation, adding that he was grossly misquoted in some posts that tend to magnify the word “apology” among other things that he had said in an opening statement in a live-streamed press conference.
He said he wanted to clarify that there are propositions of repossession (return) of lands to the Bangsamoro for bilaterally identified lands dispossessed through state policies “from 1902 when the American colonial government declared everything here as public lands owned by the state;” second for a “government compensation”, and the third option for areas beyond recovery would be to “acknowledge” on the part of the state for having committed injustices, and then seek for “apology.”
Dodo also appealed to social media commentators on the issue of TJRC, to avoid using harsh language toward the non-Muslims, and reminding them that the letter “R” in the acronym TJRC stands for “reconciliation.”
Moreover, he said, negotiations are guided by several factors, such as policies, institutional mechanisms and consensus.
Third, Dodo said, the MILF’s TJR panel is negotiating on behalf of the Moro people with mostly non-Muslim members of both chambers of Congress for the sponsorship and passage of an NTRC bill.
