MILF camps to showcase confidence-building measures

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines - The main goal of the normalization agreement forged late January between the Government of the Philippines (GPH) and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) peace panels is converting the six camps of the MILF into peace and development communities, peace panel member Mejol Sadain said.

Sadain said the six MILF camps that have been identified would be made to showcase confidence-building measures in turning them into productive communities.

These camps are Camp Abubakar, Camp Omar, Camp Badar, all in Maguindanao; Camp Bilal, which straddles Lanao del Norte and Lana del Sur; Camp Rajamudah in North Cotabato; and Camp Bushra in Lanao del Sur.

“The main thrust of the normalization is to turn the rebel camps into peace and development communities,” according to Sadain, who is also a commissioner of the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos (NCMF).

He said the normalization or decommissioning strategies will still have to be ironed out by the Independent Decommissioning Body (IDB), which will be composed of three foreign and four local experts and chaired by representative from Canada.

Sadain  said the decommissionin does not only focus on the MILF armed forces but also of the private armed group which is part of the policing strategy to be conducted jointly by the MILF and the government authorities.

Meanwhile, the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) that is currently being drafted by the 15-man Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC) will be within the bounds of the constitution, Sadain reiterated.

“The BTC is allowed to identify which of the provisions that they want to be included that will need constitutional amendments. But what they can include in the basic law are only those that do not need constitutional amendments, meaning they have to work within the constitution,” he said.

Sadain explained that the fact that BTC can identify provisions that will need constitutional amendments does not mean that there is going to be constitutional amendments in the future.

“It is just identification that in the event that there will be constitutional amendment, then these are the provisions that they can include. But you all know that the President has already spoken and he does not see any constitutional amendments within his term,” he said.

The basic law, which will replace the current Republic Act 9054, will legalize the creation of the Bangsamoro region in Mindanao.

The BTC has begun its drafting as well as consultations on the ground for the basic law to be finalized and submit it to Congress before the State of the Nation Address (SONA) in July this year.

The BTC’s works resumed when the negotiators of the government and the MILF were able to sign the last annex – among the four -- of the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro on January. The previously signed annexes are the Transitional Arrangements and Modalities, Revenue Generation and Wealth Sharing, and Power Sharing.

Aside from the Annex on Normalization, the parties have also signed an agreement on the Addendum on Bangsamoro Waters that demarcate the authority and wealth-sharing on the waters that surround the Bangsamoro territories.

“Subsequently, we are hoping the Bangsamoro Transition Committee (BTC) will buckle down to work and come up with the draft of the basic law which the government expects to receive around April or May so that it will be included in the agenda of the congress before it adjourns for  SONA,” Sadain said.