MILF hopes P-noy includes BBL in his SONA

COTABATO CITY - The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) is hoping President Aquino will push for the passage of the draft Bangsamoro Basic Law in his State of the Nation Address Monday.Al Haj Murad Ebrahim, MILF chair, said the MILF leadership will listen and watch the President's SONA on TV.Murad told visiting journalists from across the country who joined the visit to Camp Darapanan in Maguindanao that giving enough time about the BBL during the SONA would give the pessimists the opportunity to be enlightened about the draft law.Murad explained that the BBL is very inclusive and that it all meant not only for the Bangsamoro people but also the Filipino people.He said the MILF is hoping the government through the legislature will approve a bill into law compliant to the provisions of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) and its annexes.The MILF chair said his group will continue to hope for the passage of the bill during President Aquino's term. In the event the draft remained unacted upon by this administration, the MILF will continue to demand from the government the full implementation of the CAB.Aside from journalists, the group also involved columnists of national dailies and TV reporters, the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility, National Union of Journalists in the Philippines, MindaNewsand the Mindanao Media Forum. (MMF).Also in attendance during the two-day media forum was His Eminence Orlando Cardinal Quevedo who was an active supporter of the national government's peace initiatives in southern Philippines. Cardinal Quevedo is the archbishop of Cotabato.