BANGSAMORO NEWS UPDATES

BAGUIO CITY -- Malacañang is still hopeful that Congress will be able to pass the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) before it goes into recess for the May 9 national and local elections.This was the message delivered by lawyer Armi Beatriz Bayot of the Office of the Solicitor General and a member of the legal team of the government negotiating panel with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).Bayot on Friday said that despite the lateness of the hour, the present administration was still optimistic that the BBL would be approved by both House of Congress within the next three weeks.Congress resu

STA. CRUZ, Davao del Sur -- President Benigno S. Aquino III said on Friday that it is highly probable that the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) will be passed by Congress as congressmen work towards voting on the legislation that aims to bring lasting peace to Mindanao. May meeting kami, if I’m not mistaken, next week with the House of Representatives, precisely to push for the passage of the BBL. Si Congressman Rufus Rodriguez tells me na patapos na sila doon sa tinatawag na stage 'turno en contra' at pagkatapos ‘noon pagbobotohan na.

COTABATO CITY -- The continuing spate of attacks by the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) in Central Mindanao has nothing to do with the delayed approval by Congress of the draft Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), the group’s spokesman said Saturday.The draft BBL, still pending in Congress, is the enabling measure for the replacement of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao with a Bangsamoro political entity based on the final compact between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the March 27, 2014 Comprehensive Agreement on Bangsamoro.

MANILA (PNA) – Senator Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos on Wednesday admitted that the Senate as well as House of Representatives has been running out of time to pass the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) in the present 16th Congress.”I think we have ran out of time,” Marcos said in a media interview.Senate minority leader Juan Ponce Enrile was supposed to continue his interpellation on the Basic Law on the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region (BLBAR), a Senate substitute bill to the BBL, on Wednesday.However, the Senate adjourned for a month-long Christmas break without tackling the BLBAR.The third regular se

The following is the statement issued by His Excellency Iyad bin al-Madani, Secretary General of the Organization for Islamic Cooperation (OIC), in relation to the latest developments regarding the Bangsamoro peace process and the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law. and//www.oic-oci.org/oicv2/topic/?t_id=10717:ampt_ref=4219:amplan=en Statement by OIC Secretary General on Latest Development of the Peace Processin Southern Philippines The Secretary General of the organization of Islamic Cooperation Mr.

MANILA -- European Union Ambassador Franz Jessen today vowed continuing support to the Mindanao peace process. The European Union is impressed by the fact that the government's and the MILF's commitment to the peace process despite the delay of the adoption of the Bangsamoro Basic Law has not changed, Ambassador Jessen said, and inspired with this firm resolve to peace, the EU's eagerness and readiness to support the calls for a negotiated political settlement in Mindanao remains.

MAGUINDANAO – The once warring forces are now allies for one purpose – to maintain peace and order.Even while the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) remains stalled in Congress, selected personnel from the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), the Philippine National Police (PNP), and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front's Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (MILF-BIAF) graduated yesterday, December 6, from an 11-day training for the Joint Peace and Security Teams (JPST) that started on November 25 at the Old Provincial Capitol in Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao.

QUEZON CITY – Civil society leaders asked the Ombudsman yesterday to intercede and make members of the House of Representatives attend congressional sessions, in particular to ensure deliberations on the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL).

BULUAN, Maguindanao – Political leaders from Maguindanao have called on members of the House of Representatives and the Senate to pass a basic law for the Bangsamoro that faithfully complies with the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bansgsamoro (CAB) and not the one that will result to a government that is even less than the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).”In a petition signed by mayors of the different municipalities of Maguindanao and their representatives during the Peace Dialogue with Maguindanao Political Leaders conducted at BBGM Restaurant, Buluan, Maguindanao yesterday,

MANILA-- As Congress resumes session Tuesday, youth groups reiterated calls for the immediate passage of the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) for a peaceful and progressive future of the children of the Bangsamoro and the next generation of Filipinos. We call on our lawmakers to exercise the highest level of statemanship and pass a BBL that addresses the call of the Bangsamoro for permanent peace.