WITH only three session days left to push the Bangsamoro Basic Law through Congress, the government’s chief negotiator Miriam Coronel Ferrer warned Sunday that a breakaway group of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front might be emboldened to tie up with foreign terrorist cells to sow terror in the country.
In an interview over radio dzBB, Ferrer also warned that the peace process would be back to square one if the present Congress failed to approve the BBL, the lynchpin in the government’s peace agreement with the MILF.
While the MILF has trust and confidence in the Aquino administration, she could not say if the same level of trust would be accorded to the next president.
If the bill is refiled in the next Congress under a new administration, the BBL would be an altogether different piece of legislation.
Ferrer said the MILF’s patience was already being stretched too thinly and urged lawmakers to attend the last three session days to pass the BBL.
Ferrer said trouble might not come from the MILF, but the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, which broke away from the MILF over the peace talks.
“The BIFF founder, the late Umbra Kato, rejected the peace negotiations because they believed nothing good will come of it. So if we are not able to implement [the peace accord], some of them will say, see, now do you believe us? We know how attractive [an option] terrorism can be,” Ferrer said in Filipino.
If the BBL is not passed, resentment will develop and some sectors will lose patience, she said.
In the end, no matter how hard the Aquino administration promises to keep the peace, the Moro rebels would no longer believe anything.
Ferrer said she cannot rule out the possibility that foreign terror cells would capitalize on the failure to pass the BBL and tie up with the BIFF.
“That’s possible, and it is really frightening,” she said, noting that the tactics used would be far different from those adopted by previous rebel movements, as recent events elsewhere in the world have shown.
But Ferrer said negotiators on both sides were not losing hope that the BBL would be approved.
What is important, she said, is that both sides were not backing down and no one is declaring war.
However, the new administration would likely bring its own negotiators and policy advisers, she said, which would further delay the implementation of the peace accord by as much as two years.
“The process takes long. When the 17th Congress opens, it will have to set up their committees. This could take two years. If they are fast, we could be looking at 2017, but that’s wasted time during which you create uncertainty,” Ferrer said.
If Congress cannot muster a quorum in the last three days, it will be even more difficult in January after the recess as election fever sets in.
Buhay Rep. Lito Atienza said the House members show up at the plenary if Congress needs to pass important major bills like the Salary Standardization Law of 2015 but disappear when the plenary debate on BBL is initiated.
“The Palace and lobbyists should realize it by now that congressmen do not want the Palace-crafted BBL. The number of those who wanted to interpellate on BBL has even increased from 15 to 21. Then we still have the period of amendments before voting ensues. We are running out of time,” Atienza said.
The secretary general of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation Iyad Ameen Madani on Sunday expressed grave concern about the delays in the BBL’s passage. In a statement, Madani said the OIC was particularly concerned about amendments to the BBL which would reduce the autonomy granted to the new Bangsamoro political entity that is supposed to replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
Despite pressure from the Palace, the BBL faced further delays in the Senate, where Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said a constitutional issue could snag the bill’s approval.
President Aquino last Tuesday held a luncheon meeting with some 120 members of the House to expedite the passage of the proposed Bangsamoro law.
But Senator Juan Ponce Enrile pointed out that if the bill is of local application, the House must approve it before the Senate acts, as required by the Constitution.
“As much as we want to speed up the Senate deliberations…we must heed the caution of a legal expert like Senator Enrile to observe the required procedure, otherwise it may provide a basis later for questioning the legality of [the law],” Marcos said.
Marcos noted that despite reports of a Dec. 16 deadline for the passage of bill, House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte later admitted it was unlikely that the House would be able to complete the period of interpellation before it adjourns for the Christmas break. With Sandy Araneta and Macon Ramos-Araneta