MILF trusts President Duterte, leaders of Congress the enactment of BBL

• Dec 5, 2017
• Gandhi Kinjiyo
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The leadership of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) had expressed its trust to President Rodrigo Roa Duterte and the leaders of the Philippine Congress for the enactment of the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), a legal instrument that will provide the Bangsamoro people an autonomous political entity attuned to their culture, tradition and belief.

“While we await the action of Congress to enact the Basic Law, any feeling of uncertainty is surely dwarfed by our trust and confidence in the promise  and commitment of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte and the leaders in Congress to enact into law the BBL without delay,” Al Haj Murad Ebrahim, Chairman of the MILF said in his welcome message during the Bangsamoro Assembly.

The event was held last Monday (Nov 27) attended by more than a million Moro people at the Old Capitol in Sultan Kudarat Municipality in Maguindanao Province.

It was organized by the Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC) in partnership with the MILF and with the support of various Bangsamoro organizations.

The Assembly pooled Bangsamoro people from across Mindanao and the island provinces and was attended by International peace monitors, International Non-Government Organizations and diplomats.

“If the majority of the Bangsamoro approves the enacted Basic Law in a plebiscite to be conducted for such purpose, then the Bangsamoro Transition Authority will be inaugurated,” the MILF leader said. 

“Thus we doubly urge our partners in the government to act with dispatch both in the enactment of the BBL and in the setting up of mechanism that will give a push to the socio-economic component of the normalization process,” he added.

Chairman Murad reminisced the difficulty of engaging in struggle and cited how the revolution produced great-hearted fighters of which among them are the late MILF Chairman Sheikh Hashim Salamat and his vice-chair Alim Abdulaziz Mimbantas.

He urged the followers to work and contribute “in determining our future with security and succor, a future of peace and plenty that harnesses the potentials of our people whose new skills and talents will be needed for a new age and era in the Bangsamoro.”

“We push for the enactment of the Basic Law because we firmly believe, it is the right thing to do,” Chairman Murad said citing the measure sprung from a negotiated political settlement that is bound to be delivered.

The Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro, the peace deal signed in 2014 that concluded the 17-year peace talks between the MILF and the government, states that the passage of BBL is the sole responsibility of the Philippine Government.

“Like many of you today, we took the path of revolutionary struggle more than four decades ago because we were convinced of the justness of the Bangsamoro Cause,” he pointed out.

The MILF chairman further said, “I therefore look more hopefully to a just and peaceful future not only in the Bangsamoro but for the whole republic as well.”

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