UN hails ‘landmark’ BOL

The head of the United Nations (UN) praised President Rodrigo Duterte’s signing of the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) last Thursday as a landmark achievement of the government that will lead to lasting peace in Mindanao.

The BOL will establish the Bangsamoro region, culminating over two decades of negotiations under four Presidents. The new region is aimed at settling nearly half a century of unrest in Mindanao.

A spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres cited negotiators of the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the Bicameral Conference Committee, the Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC) and civil society groups for their efforts that led to the enactment of the law.

“The United Nations will continue to support the Philippines in the implementation of the law and to help build the capacity of the Bangsamoro Transition [Commission] as an effective conduit for peace, democratic governance and human rights,” Guterres spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

The UN said in a statement the law “raises hopes that years of separatist violence involving central government troops and militants from the MILF can be brought to an end.”

The BOL came four years after the government signed a peace deal with the separatist group, which dropped its bid for full independence, seeking instead a new deal over self-rule.

The MILF began its uprising in 1978, marking a period of violent confrontation which left around 120,000 dead. The new expanded autonomous region will be led initially by the BTC before being run by a new parliamentary body.

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana also expressed optimism the BOL “will usher in a new era of peace in Mindanao.”

Lorenzana said the government is ready to start the implementation of important provisions of the new law, including the decommissioning of MILF fighters, and the possible integration of qualified rebels to the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP).

“The DND (Department of National Defense) is ready to assist our fellow Filipinos in the Bangsamoro to start their lives anew, heal the wounds of conflict and end our people’s divisiveness after decades of fighting,” Lorenzana said in a statement.

“I now call on the remaining groups still fighting the government to follow the path of peace just like the MILF and MNLF (Moro National Liberation Front). Through our localized peace efforts, we remain committed to achieve peace, even with members of the Communist Terrorist Group and pursue the peace agenda of our President who is walking the extra mile to unite the people as one nation,” he added.

The MILF is reaching out to other stakeholders in Mindanao, including non-Muslims, indigenous peoples and even MNLF founder and chair Nur Misuari to solicit support for the BOL.

“Even the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), we will reach out to them,” MILF vice chair for political affairs Ghazali Jaafar said.

The BIFF is a breakaway group of the MILF formed by the late Ombra Kato, who expressed impatience over the delayed peace process in Mindanao. It split into smaller groups before its mother organization pledged allegiance to the Islamic State.

Jaafar, concurrent chair of the BTC that drafted the proposed enabling law for BOL, said the MILF does not claim sole ownership for the success of the struggle to gain the right to self-determination.

Mr. Duterte earlier had cited the need to unify all Moro fronts to achieve real peace.

Jaafar said a committee has been formed to reach out to Misuari and his leaders while assuring elected officials of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) that the BOL is just an expanded form of the current ARMM.

ARMM Regional Assemblyman Zia Alonto Adiong of the First District of Lanao del Sur said a provision in BOL stated elected officials will remain in their place until their term ends when the Bangsamoro government is set up.

The BOL said 50 percent of government officials in the autonomous region will come from the MILF.

Jaafar said the new government would not be discriminating in selecting workers and assured officials those who would be affected would be remunerated accordingly.

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