MILF vice chair Ghazali Jaafar dies at 75

Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) Vice Chairman and Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC) chair Ghazali Jaafar died early Wednesday morning due to kidney failure, according to a BTC official.

"To all friends and relatives of the First Vice Chairman and BTC Chairman Ghazali Jaafar, his family would like to inform everyone that he Ghazali Jaafar (Allahu yarmahu) has passed away," said Prof. Raby B. Angkal, chief of staff of the Office of the Chairman of the BTC, in a message to GMA News.

Angkal: Yumao na po ang isang mataas na lider ng MILF sa katauhan ni 1st Vice Chairman Ghazali Jaafar.

— DZBB Super Radyo (@dzbb) March 12, 2019

Angkal said Jaafar died at 1 a.m. at Metro Davao Medical and Research Center in Davao City.

In an interview on Dobol B sa News TV, Angkal said Jaafar was 75 years old.

Angkal, who is also the Jaafar family's spokesperson, said shortly after the bicameral conference committee approved in July last year the then-proposed Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL), Jaafar was hospitalized in Metro Manila due to a heart problem.

"Siya (Jaafar) po ay nagkaroon ng karamdaman noong pagkatapos ng bicam committee conference ng Congress of the Philippines para maitawid ang Bangsamoro Organic Law para maging ganap na batas," he said.

"After nun po ay nagkaroon ng karamdaman at naipasok po siya unang-una sa St. Luke's Hospital at sa [Philippine] Heart Center. Nagkaroon po siya ng bypass operation sa Philippine Heart Center at iyon po, naging tuloy-tuloy na ng kanyang pagkahina at eto na nga po, hanggang sa dumanting na sa puntong ito," he added.

Recently, Jaafar was appointed speaker of the parliament of the newly established Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, which is a product of the BOL. — BAP/KBK, GMA News