THE Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC) has completed its task to draft a Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) and is ready to submit it to President Duterte as soon as he is avaiable to receive it.
“Tapos na and ready for submission,” BTC chair Ghazali Jaafar said on Friday.
The BTC, originally composed of 11 nominees from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and 10 from the government, affixed their signatures on the draft BBL on Friday at the A.Venue Hotel in Makati. Commissioner Samira Gutoc of Marawi City, a government nominee, tendered her resignation in late May while the Marawi Crisis was unfolding, citing personal reasons and policy questions.
The new draft BBL consists of 114 pages and18 articles. The draft BBL submitted to the Office of President Benigno Simeon Aquino III on April 21, 2014 was a 97-page, 19-article document.
Asked how different the draft is from the draft BBL under the Aquino administration, Jaafar, , said, “This new (draft) Bangsamoro law now accommodates all stakeholders in the areas of Bangasmoro — indigenous people, settlers or Christians, traditional leaders or sultans, women, youth and Ulama. Lahat sila meron (All of them will have) reserved seats sa Bangsamoro Parliament.”
Lawyer Raissa Jajurie, BTC commissioner, said the major changes include accommodating more sectoral concerns of “the youth, settlers, etc.” and accommodating the unimplemented provisions of the Moro National Liberation Font’s (MNLF) 1976 and 1996 peace agreements into the new draft BBL.
Commissioner Omar Yasser Crisostomo Sema describes the draft BBL as a “converged BBL” that would implement not only the 2014 Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro signed by the government and the MILF, but would also be “implementing all peace agreements, resolving all contentious issues in the MNLF-GPH peace process.” (carolyn o. arguillas of mindanews)
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