Spouse of MNLF exec refiles BBL

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines – The lawmaker-spouse of the chairman of a faction of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) has refiled in Congress the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), which will benefit the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

Maguindanao First District Rep. Sandra Sema yesterday said she re-filed the BBL on June 30, which lawmakers did not pass during the 16th Congress.

“In a way, my move to have the BBL studied again by the House will show that there is inclusivity now in the effort of the Bangsamoro people to build lasting peace in the homeland,” she said.

If passed into law, the BBL will be the legal basis for the creation of an autonomous Bangsamoro entity, which will replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

The creation of the Bangsamoro is part of the Comprehensive Agreement on Bangsamoro (CAB), the final compact between the government and the MILF, which was signed in March 2014 under the Aquino administration.

In 1996, the MNLF led by Nur Misuari forged a peace deal with the Ramos administration. The MILF started only as a small breakaway faction in the MNLF.

Sema’s spouse, Datu Muslimin, is a former mayor of Cotabato City and chairman of the largest faction in the MNLF.

The MNLF faction led by Sema is not hostile to the MILF, unlike the faction led by Misuari who has been opposing the Aquino administration’s dealings with the MILF.

A third MNLF faction led by Abulkhayr Alonto has also expressed support to the peace overture between the government and the MILF.

Sema said the BBL was re-filed in its original format, containing the provisions which lawmakers opposed for being “unconstitutional.”

“We can study again and discuss the BBL provisions that are construed to be unconstitutional,” she explained.

President Duterte, who was in Buluan town in Maguindanao on Friday, said he would not oppose the BBL as long as all of its unconstitutional provisions are taken out.

He cited the provision providing for the creation of regional armed forces, which many legislators assailed antagonistically in past congressional deliberations.

“We will not need a regional Army anymore if we already have peace,” Duterte said in a message to local officials while in Buluan on Friday afternoon.

Duterte also said he would focus on the peaceful resolution of the Mindanao secessionist conflict.

He told MILF officials who joined him in his sortie in Buluan that he recognizes the “historical injustice” done to Mindanao’s Moro people by outsiders and settlers who came to integrate with their self-governing communities many decades ago.

“We are one on that. I agree with you that you were here first. Let us address this historical injustice,” Duterte said.

Duterte was in Buluan town to launch a 4.5-megawatt biomass power plant established by the family of Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu and private Chinese firm Green Earth Enersource Corp.

The facility will operate using only bio-degradable wastes from oil palm trees as fuel to propel power-generating turbines.

Duterte again pushed for the shift from unitary government to federalism.

Duterte’s visit to the municipality, his first as president, was hosted by members of the Mangudadatu clan, among them the provincial governor’s politician-sibling, Datu Khadafeh, an ARMM assemblyman.