DAVAO CITY—President Rodrigo Duterte warns legislators a delay in the approval of the Bangsamoro Basic Law may spell out trouble.
“Yes, we continue to talk [about BBL] and I hope that Congress would expedite its approval,” he said.
“If we do not act on it expeditiously, I think that we are headed for trouble. We must continue to talk and I will urge Congress to fast-track it because they are getting impatient,” he added.
Duterte said he already asked the Moro people to wait a little longer since the government was still working to comply with their commitment with the BBL.
He said he made a commitment with the Moro National Liberation Front and Moro Islamic Liberation Front to look for the federal setup he had been eyeing ever since he threw his hat into the presidential race last 2016 presidential election.
He said he might also grant the territories the MILF and MNLF wanted with the approval of the BBL and the federal set up.
“I have committed to the main rebellion fronts, the MI pati MN, that we will work for a federal setup and maybe grant them the territories that they want and the kind of framework of governance that they expect with a reformation of all the things in the Philippines,” Duterte said.
On July 17, the Bangsamoro Transition Committee submitted the new BBL draft to the Palace and later on transmitted to the Congress on Aug. 4.
MILF 1st chairman and BTC member Ghazali Jaafar said the approval of the BBL in Congress would erase doubts in the peace process and extremism in the country.
Jaafar added the devastation brought by the five-month siege in Marawi City only led to public hatred over extremism.
He added the Moro people, specially those living in Marawi, needed just and dignified peace that the BBL could offer to the entire Moro community.