MILF hopes BBL to include 'more' of its inputs

MANILA --- The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) said last May 30  it hoped lawmakers would come up with a draft Bangsamoro Law that is as close to the version proposed by a transition commission.

While the Senate's and the House of Representatives' versions were "not exactly" watered down, the MILF wants "more," said the rebel group's vice chairman for political affairs Ghazali Jaafar.

These include restoring the full block grant for the Bangsamoro from government revenues as the development of Moro lands will need more funds, Jaafar told ANC's Headstart.

"Gusto namin 'yung mga proposal namin sa BBL maipasok 'yan lahat. Hindi man buo, at least it will not be diluted or it will not be watered down," he told ANC, referring to the Bangsamoro Basic Law.

(We want our proposals to be included in the final version of the BBL. If not all our proposals, at least the final version should not be watered-down.)

Jaafar co-chaired the Bangsamoro Transition Commission which drafted the BBL and submitted it to the Senate and the House.

The two chambers passed their respective versions late Wednesday and a bicameral conference will convene to reconcile the drafts before President Rodrigo Duterte can sign it into law.

Jaafar said the House version had nine amendments to the Transition Commission's proposal.

The BBL will create a Bangsamoro political entity with greater autonomy in place of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), which Jaafar believes is a failed experiment.

Passing the BBL is among the requirements under the peace deal between the MILF and the government under former President Benigno Aquino III in 2014.

The BBL failed to pass under Aquino due to public outrage over the 44 police commandos in a botched anti-terrorism operation in the remote town of Mamasapano in January 2015.

The state troops encountered rebel forces, including MILF forces, as they hunted down Malaysian bomb-maker Zulkifli bin Hir alias Marwan, who was eventually killed. (ABS-CBN News / Google News PH/MINDANAO EXPOSE’)