Mindanao traders urge Congress to fast-track BBL passage

COTABATO CITY
(Sept. 9/NDBC) – Business leaders in Mindanao have urged Congress to fast-track the
discussions and deliberations then pass the Bangsamoro Basic Law to complete
the peace process in southern Philippines, a peace advocate said Tuesday in a
statement.
The call came
a day before the much awaited submission by President Aquino of the draft bill
to House leaders Wednesday morning in a ceremonial hand over in Malacanang.

Business
stakeholders see the BBL as a key solution to end the decades-long armed
conflict and for the Bangsamoro people to regain their political power over
their ancestral lands in southern Philippines.
I hope
Congress will approve it immediately,” said Vincent T. Lao, chair of the
Mindanao Business Council in Mindanao, in an emailed statement released by the
Zamboanga City-based Process Media Bureau.

Lao also
called for the members of Congress to set aside their political and personal
interests in the deliberation process rather put premium the interests of the
people not only of Mindanao but the entire country as well.

Even leaders
of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) have backed the BBL, saying the
proposed bill is their hope for the Bangsamoro people to achieve a genuine
autonomy over their lands in Mindanao.

Let's hope it
shall usher in a better autonomy for Bangsamoro. Otherwise, it becomes a mere
exercise in futility, another experiment. Anything new must prove itself better
than the old,” Kong Sahrin, secretary general of the MNLF central committee,
said.
Muslim groups
have also welcomed the announcement that President Aquino will submit the draft
to Congress.

We welcome
the good news and enthusiasm to help in peace building and hopeful that
sustainable peace be achieved,” Prof. Alih S. Aiyub, secretary general of the
Bishop-Ulama Conference, said.

Other
expressed that Congress should ensure that the BBL is inclusive.

Hopefully the
last version they made truly reflects the sentiments/aspirations of the
Mindanaoan. Again, the last revision was away from the public eye.Hopefully,
no secret deal just to rush the law,” said Alrashid Jama, member of the Golden
Crescent Consortium of Peace Builders and Affiliates, and a University
professor.

Alhamdulillah!
The submission of BBL is a welcome development and I enjoin the Zamboanga City
Muslim communities to be hopeful for the finality of the issue of Bangsamoro, said Ismael Musa, mandatory representative to the Zamboanga Ciyt Council.
However, let us also be reminded that Zamboanga City’s multi-ethnicity and its
diversity are unique and this the MILF should respect as its constituents
decided to be not part of ARMM and possibly of the Bangsamoro Government,” he said.The BBL serves
as the legal document of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB)
which is a result of more than 17 years of negotiations as the parties vowed to
end the decades-old conflict in the south.

When passed
into law and ratified in a plebiscite in the core territory, the BBL will
establish the Bangsamoro government in Mindanao as envisioned in the southern
peace deal.

It will in
effect replace the current Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. (NDBC)