BANGSAMORO NEWS UPDATES

MANILA – In anticipation of tomorrow’s resumption of Congress, Government of the Philippines chief negotiator Miriam Coronel-Ferrer once again appealed to legislators to work towards the passage of the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), which President Benigno Simeon Aquino III highlighted as his top legislative priority in his last face-to-face guesting with the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines (FOCAP) last week. Prior to recess, our Congress has been plagued by a lack of quorum and absenteeism.

MANILA – Malacanang renewed on Sunday the call for early passage of the 2016 national budget and the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) as the Senate and the House of Representatives resume session on Tuesday.In an interview with Radyo ng Bayan, Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda said the Aquino administration has five successful enactments of the budget since 2011.”We have no reenacted (budget).

MANILA -- A senior member of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) peace panel on Tuesday asked the Supreme Court (SC) to dismiss the petitions against the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro (FAB) and the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB).MILF peace panel senior member and former lawmaker Datu Michael Mastura filed an urgent omnibus motion for leave to intervene before the SC in favor of the FAB and the CAB.In his 82-page petition, Mastura asked the SC to dismiss the petitions opposing the FAB and the CAB for lack of merit.The assailed petitions were filed by the Philipp

MANILA -- The peace panel chairs of the Government of the Philippines (GPH) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) remain optimistic with the passage of the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) when the Congress resumes sessions in November. There is still hope. However, this matter depends on the senators and congressmen. They should let national interest rule over them, rather than personal or group interest,” MILF peace panel chair Mohagher Iqbal said in Filipino through a phone interview at the Kapihan sa Media ng Bayan” at the Philippine Information Agency (PIA) Bldg.

COTABATO
CITY – A lawyer and elected delegate to the 1971 Constitutional Convention will
file on October 27 an urgent motion for leave to intervene and to admit attached comment-in-intervention before the Supreme Court in defense of the
Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro (FAB) and the Comprehensive Agreement on
the Bangsamoro (CAB) which have been questioned before the highest court of the land.

The 1987 Constitution mandates the passage of an organic act for Muslim Mindanao providing itgenuine autonomywithin 18 months of the first Congress (Sec. 19, Art. X). Now in the 16thCongress, 27 years after the passage of the Constitution, the legislators have yet to pass the necessary legislation. The creation of autonomous regions in Muslim Mindanao and in the Cordilleras, which is peculiar to the 1987 Constitution,contemplates the grant of political autonomy, not just administrative authority over these regions.” (Cordillera Broad Coalition vs. COA, GR.

SULTAN KUDARAT, Maguinanao -The Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Moro National Liberation Front on Tuesday signed a unified declaration” calling for the approval the draft Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) as an embodiment of each other’s separate peace pacts with Malacañang.The two-page declaration was signed in Sultan Kudarat town in Maguindanao by the figurehead of the MILF, Al-Haj Murad Ebrahim, and former Cotabato City Mayor Muslimin Sema, chairman of the largest of three factions in the MNLF.The crafting of the declaration, where both groups warned of rejection of a diluted BBL,” was

COTABATO CITY -- Mindanao will never develop unless peace prevails in the region.Presidential hopeful Sen.

Manila – While there is a growing serious concern from stakeholders in the Bangsamoro peace process over the delay in the passage of the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), the government is committed to continue its relentless efforts to secure its enactment into law as soon as possible, Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) Secretary Teresita Quintos Deles said yesterday.Deles stressed the government and other stakeholders in the Bangsamoro peace process cannot afford to go back to square one” and remain firm in its goal to see the BBL passed into law within the term of President Ben

COTABATO CITY - The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) has assured the country's Catholic religious leaders itwill not resort to armed struggled anewif the draft Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) is not acted by Congress within President Aquino's term.The assurance was issued by MILF chief negotiator Mohaqher Iqbal.Iqbal spoke on the progress of the Mindanao peace processbefore leaders ofCatholic Bishops
Conference of the Philippines-Episcopal Comission on Interreligious Dialogue,
National Ulama Conference of the Philippines, Philippine Council of Evangelical