Maranao folk rally vs PNoy, Rodriguez

By FROILAN GALLARDO
Special Correspondent

MARAWI City–A former congressman on Monday lashed out at Cagayan de Oro 2nd District Rep. Rufus Rodriguez over what he described as his “dismal performance” as chairman of the House ad hoc committee on the Bangsamoro Basic Law.

Former congressman Benasing Macarambon Jr. said he was disappointed with Rodriguez because he “was the first to question” the BBL’s constitutionality.

“His chairmanship was a dismal performance. He could have refused the position if he doubted its constitutionality,” Macarambon said.

Macarambon lashed out at Rodriguez even as a group of Maranaos staged a rally here to denounce the fate of the proposed law.

Chanting slogans and expressing dismay that the proposed BBL is already dead in Congress, residents here blamed President Aquino, Rodriguez and other legislators over the failure to pass the law which, they saw, could have ended years of Moro insurgency in Mindanao.

“Noynoy, traydor ka,” the crowd of some 5,000 residents chanted as they gathered on Cabili Ave. in Banggolo district in downtown Marawi on Monday.

Aside from Aquino, the rallyists also put the blame on Rodriguez, Zamboanga City Rep. Celso Lobregat, and senators Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Peter Cayetano and Grace Poe for their “irrational, insensitive, and flawed judgment of the aspirations of the Bangsamoro people.”

“It is sad that these anti-BBL legislators in both houses refused to recognize the sentiments of the Bangsamoro people and peace loving groups in Mindanao,” the group Ranao Confederation for Peace stated in a manifesto. “The BBL is the Filipino people’s obligation to the Bangsamoro people.”

The group said the draft BBL forged in agreement between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) was “the embodiment of the Bangsamoro hopes, dreams and aspirations that could have left behind their youth and succeeding generations.”

“Bangsamoro Basic Law would have uplifted our lives. Now even our dreams are no longer there,” said Najmah Arcadio Batugan, an 18-year-old education student of the Khadijah Muhammad Islamic Academy.

Batugan said watching the events on the BBL unfold on national television and social media, she could not understand why there was so much prejudice and bias towards the Bangsamoro people.

“Why can’t they accept us?” Batugan asked rhetorically.

Macarambon said there is so much disappointment in Lanao del Sur and Marawi City after Congress failed to pass the BBL.

Macarambon said the residents had hoped that  Aquino would influence Congress into passing the BBL draft or House Bill 4994, and not the Basic Law for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region (BLBAR) of Rodriguez’s committee.

“I told my people that President Aquino should not be blamed for this but they are no longer listening. They think that President Aquino did not fulfill his end of the bargain in the agreement he signed with the MILF,” Macarambon said.

For his part, Rodriguez said it was the January 2015 incident in Mamasapano that left 44 members of the Special Action Force (SAF) dead that “killed” the bill.

“The congressmen just lost their interest on the bill. It was evident in the lack of quorum every time the bill is tackled in the floor,” Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez said it was fair for the House ad hoc committee to pass the BLBAR after they found and deleted 40 provisions in the original draft bill made by the Bangsamoro Transition Council and Malacanang.

“The new Bangsamoro region cannot have its own armed forces and police. That would be unconstitutional,” Rodriguez said.