Presidential Peace Adviser Jesus G. Dureza lauded the Bangsamoro Transition Commission’s draft of the Bangsamoro Basic Law as an inclusive and “more improved version” compared to the previous versions of the bill.

In the hearing conducted by the House Committees on Local Government, Muslim Affairs, and Peace, Reconciliation and Unity, Sec. Dureza affirmed that the BTC’s proposed version made the new BBL free from exclusivity and Constitutional barriers.

“The BTC was commissioned by President Duterte to draft a bill that will hopefully improve the previous BBL that did not pass Congress. I think we have an improved version of the previous bill,” he said.

The 21-member BTC was tasked by President Rodrigo Roa Duterte to create an inclusive version of the Bangsamoro Law. It is composed of 11 members from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), three members of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), and representatives from the government, academe, Christian settlers, CSOs, local government, ARMM and Indigenous Peoples (IPs). The draft version was submitted to President Duterte in July 17 of last year.

Sec. Dureza also hailed the commission as a symbol of unity and sincerity by the MILF to find a common ground and honor peace agreements.

“The fact that the BTC, which was composed mostly of the MILF, had agreed to refashion the law that should be entrenched into what it is today is already a recognition that one Filipino nation wants to converge together, under one flag, and under one government,” the Peace Adviser said.

“We cannot continuously stick on our very basic positions. We must find a convergence point – and I thank … the MILF and the Bangsamoro for they see this point of convergence. … and now we are looking at the present BBL.”

BBL crucial to GPH-MILF Normalization Track

Meanwhile, BTC Commissioner Maisara Dandamun-Latiph stressed to the lower chamber that the passage of the BBL is important in strengthening the current normalization track between the government and MILF.

“The completion of the normalization process of is actually hinged on the passage of the Bangsamoro Basic Law…if there is a passage of (BBL), then the decommissioning process, will actually begin,” Dandamun-Latiph said.

The normalization track is one of the two tracks in the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) signed by the Government of the Philippines and the MILF in 2014. Another one is the political and legislative track which includes the passage of the BBL.

“We have milestones already to measure the sincerity that both parties are willing to do for the sake of peace,” Dandamun-Latiph said, referring to the first phase of the normalization track, which includes the MILF’s ceremonial turnover of 75 firearms implemented in the same year with the signing of the CAB.

Strong Bicameral Support

The BTC draft version has received strong backing from both the Senate and House of Representatives. In September 2017, House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez with fellow representatives of the lower house filed the same draft as House Bill 6475.

Meanwhile, Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri withdrew his own version of BBL to be replaced with the commission’s version on January 2018.

So far, there have been six public hearings conducted by the Senate Subcommitee on Bangsamoro Basic Law, two of them held in the cities of Cotabato and Marawi. This week, public consultations will be held in Sulu, Basilan, Tawi-Tawi and Zamboanga.

The hearings to be conducted by the House of Representatives in Mindanao on the other hand will kick off in Cotabato City on February 15 and will conclude in Koronadal City on March 9. ###