From the Website of MILFArticle links: http://www.luwaran.com/
Two solons file separate bills to extend Bangsamoro Transition period to 2025
Cotabato City– Representatives Esmael “Toto” Mangudadatu of the
second district of Maguindanao and Loren Legarda of the lone district of
Antique separately filed on Tuesday similar bills to extend the
transition period in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao
(BARMM) by seeking to reset the first regular election in the region
from May 9, 2022 to May 12, 2025, a Mindanews report said Thursday,
December 03.
According to the Mindanews report, Legarda filed House Bill (HB) 8116, while Mangudadatu filed HB 8117 on December 1.
House
Bill No. 8116 seeks to postpone the first regular election for the
Bangsamoro Government to 2025 to allow the 80-member Bangsamoro
Transition Authority (BTA), the body tasked to govern the BARMM during
the transition period, to “attend to more urgent needs of the Bangsamoro
people, while allowing them to strengthen the foundations for stronger
regional government and economy.”
According to
Legarda, the postponement will also give “ample time for the full
transition of the BARMM to take place, including the effective
implementation of the programs and operations of the Bangsamoro
Transition Authority.”
If BTA tenure is not extended, the
first regular election for the Bangsamoro Government “shall be held and
synchronized with the 2022 national elections” or on May 9, 2022.
The
Mangudadatu and Legarda bills seek to change the year of the first
regular election of the Bangsamoro from 2022 to 2025. The May 2025
election is on May 12.
Rep. Mangudadatu, Chair
of the Special Committee on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity, said that
his committee, the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace
Process (OPAPP) and the GRP-BTA Intergovernmental Relations Board
(IGRB) “are united that our desired peace and progress in Muslim
Mindanao will not be derailed by the lack of time to fully implement
what had been agreed upon in the CAB”
(Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro), the peace agreement signed by government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) on March 27, 2014.
(Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro), the peace agreement signed by government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) on March 27, 2014.
“Three
years are not enough for the BTA and the national government to lay a
strong foundation for peace in Mindanao and to establish a responsive
and well-functioning Bangsamoro bureaucracy,” Mindanews quoted him
saying.
On November 17, the interim Bangsamoro
Parliament passed Resolution 93, urging the House of Representatives and
the Senate to extend the transition period until June 30, 2025 to give
the transition government “sufficient time to continue in performing its
powers and functions and fulfill its mandate.”
Galvez
told the House Committee that they are aware of the difficulties of the
BARMM government in laying the ground for the foundation of the
regional government.
He said the political and
normalization tracks laid down under RA 11054, the enabling law of the
peace agreement, have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Galvez
appealed to the “senses of those opposing the extension,” explaining
that due to COVID-19, “the normalization program was stalled for more
than two years.”
“If we want the transition to be
successful, we need to give our Bangsamoro brothers and sisters ample
time to lay the foundation. And realistically, we cannot achieve this in
three years,” Galvez said as quoted by Mindanews.
The Mindanao Peoples Caucus, a peace advocacy group that has been accompanying the Bangsamoro peace process since 2002, l
Last
month, the Mindanao Peoples Caucus (MPC) presented to BTA Parliament
members the results of its midterm review of the Bangsamoro transition,
where extension of the transition period was among the recommendations
of those who participated in focus group discussions and key informant
interviews.
MILF Website
Article links:
BANGSAMORO FRAMEFORK
http://www.luwaran.com/index.php/welcome/item/787-gph-to-grant-amnesty-to-milf-rebels
http://www.opapp.gov.ph/sites/default/files/House%20Bill%20No.%204994.pdf
http://www.opapp.gov.ph/resources/house-bill-no-4994
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