Palace to MILF: Amendments underway to make BBL acceptable to all

Following the Moro Islamic Liberation Front's comment that the version of the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law from the Senate and the House of Representatives is "unacceptable," Malacañang on Saturday said that amendments are on the way to forge a version that is acceptable by everyone.

In addressing the concern of MILF chief negotiator Mohagher Iqbal, Presidential Spokesperson Secretary Edwin Lacierda in an interview on state-run dzRB said the concerns of all the stakeholders are being considered.

“It requires the legislative mill to take its course, and the concerns of the [MILF], the concerns of all the stakeholders—whatever they are—they have to be discussed because we are going through the legislative process, which is the role of the legislative branch,” he said.

“So, kung may concerns ang MILF, mayroon na kaming mga suggested amendment po na ginagawa. All that will have to be threshed out in the plenary, in the Senate and in the House floor. So let’s allow the debates to happen so that we can come up with a workable, operational, and a BBL that will be acceptable to all,” he added.

Iqbal made the statement during a forum on Friday where the Government and MILF panels discussed the status of the BBL, with only eight months left for President Benigno Aquino III's administration.

Iqbal also said during the forum that it was better to have no BBL than have a “bad” version of it.

"The issue on natural resources is the number one... Autonomy without access to revenues from natural resources is a joke," he said referring to provisions deleted by the House of Representatives.

Still, he said the MILF is counting on the Congress and the Aquino administration to pass the BBL.

“As a negotiator for more than 10 years, we've been in the rough and tumble. Whatever confronts us, we try to overcome it... We're open for improvement and enhancement. But we hope the essential components of an autonomous government is retained,” he said.

As a product of the peace process with the MILF, the proposed BBL is expected to create a Bangsamoro juridical entity that would replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

But lawmakers said that the proposed piece of legislation should be within the ambit of the present Philippine Constitution. — Andrei Medina/LBG, GMA News