By Hader Glang
ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines
Various peace organizations based in the Philippines Muslim south have voiced concern to the country's president over the delay in the passage of a law that would pave the way for the establishment of an autonomous region led by the area's indigenous Muslim community.
After months of review, Benigno Aquino III's office returned the draft of the Bangsamoro Basic Law with recommendations Monday to a Transition Commission led by the south's one-time largest rebel group who signed a March peace deal with the government to end decades of armed conflict in Mindanao.
"We wish the MILF [Moro Islamic Liberation Front] to understand the basis for the comments made as part of the review process by the office of the president," the peace panel's government head Miriam Coronel-Ferrer said.
She added that "significant points of differences" on the draft law continue to threaten the roadmap towards the establishment of a goverment for the Bangsamoro - a proposed autonomous political entity for indigenous local Muslims.
The Lanao Peace Partnership said in a statement Thursday that when Aquino had assumed the presidency "we imbibed high hopes that peacemaking efforts for Mindanao would finally lead to a lasting solution to the decades-long Moro rebellion."
"Admittedly, it was quite a heavy expectation we placed on your leadership but we thought the peoples of Mindanao—having borne the ill-effects of war—deserve no less."
The Moro rebellion was an armed conflict that took place between the United States military and indigenous Muslim ethnic groups - the "Moro" - in the Philippines second largest and southernmost major island of Mindanao, and its neighboring islands of Sulu and Palawan.
"A clear articulation of your peace policy contained in your Social Contract with the Filipino People lifted our spirits and cemented our trust in your sincerity," the statement read. “From a disjointed, short-sighted Mindanao policy that merely reacts to events and incidents to one that seeks a broadly supported just peace and will redress decades of neglect of the Moro and other peoples of Mindanao.”
The groups believe that the trust Aquino has established with the MILF since peace overtures first started with its chair Al Haj Murad Ebrahim in Tokyo in 2010 has hastened negotiations for a political settlement to the conflict that underpinned the Moro rebellion.
However, they have said that the events surrounding the writing of the law confuse the hopeful atmosphere created by the forging of March's peace deal - the Comprehensive Agreement on Bangsamoro.
They are concerned that if the current situation persists, it will endanger the viability of the roadmap that the government and the MILF agreed and have committed to jointly pursue.
"For the grassroots communities and peoples, peace is synonymous with development. Hence, any more delay in implementing the peace roadmap would mean consigning the lives of millions of peoples in conflict-affected communities in Mindanao to lingering underdevelopment and constant political uncertainties," the statement said.
Aquino wants the Bangsamoro Basic Law to be submitted to Congress in time for the opening of its second regular session on July 28, but with the panels' failure to arrive at a compromise during the Manila workshop, the submission of the bill "most likely" would not happen next week.
However, stakeholders can still expect Aquino to endorse the law in his speech, according to government head Ferrer.
President Aquino and MILF chief Ebrahim had earlier been reported to be meeting again on the proposed law as the government and MILF struggle to settle key differences.
The date and time of the meeting has yet to be announced.
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