LAWMAKERS blasted the government’s chief negotiator Miriam Ferrer Friday for linking the disarming of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels to the passage of the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), saying Congress should not be pressured this way.
“The peace process is always an issue of trust. Congress should not be threatened,” said Leyte Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez said, reacting to Ferrer’s statement that there would be no further turnover of weapons by the MILF unless the BBL is passed.
“All of us here support peace, but we need sincerity to end the armed conflict and ensure that we will pass a constitutional and not a half-baked BBL,” Romualdez added.
House deputy minority leader and You against Corruption party-list Rep. Carol Jayne echoed Romualdez’s view, stressing that Congress would not pass a BBL that is tailored-fit to the MILF.
“You can’t actually put a time frame to decommissioning. That is a highly sensitive issue. However nobody should apply pressure to Congress to pass a bill, whether that is as big as the BBL or a local bill,” Lopez said.
Opposition and Gabriela party-list Rep. Luz Ilagan also assailed Ferrer’s statement.
“It is some kind of pressure on the legislators to pass the BBL as soon as possible. The decommissioning is a process welcomed by many sectors that insist this is the best way for the MILF to show sincerity in the peace process. Unless and until it is completed, some groups believe the BBL will not succeed,” Ilagan said.
The proposed BBL is among the priority items on the House agenda when Congress resumes its Third Regular Session in July.
The House failed to pass the measure by the administration’s June 11 deadline because of a lack of time.
Speaker Feliciano Belmonte, Jr. earlier said the House is now hoping to pass the administration bill by September.