President Rodrigo Duterte said Thursday he had signed the approved version of the Bangsamoro Organic Law that would pave the way for lasting peace in Mindanao.
He signed the bill into law after he promised in his third State of the Nation Address that he would sign the BOL within a 48-hour time frame.
“The BBL has been signed, but I’m still going back because I have a ceremony with Jaafar and Murad,” said Duterte, referring to Moro Islamic Liberation Front chief Murad Ebrahim and MILF vice chairman Ghadzali Jaafar.
“Also, I would like to talk to [MNLF founding chairman] Nur [Misuari] so that we can have it by the end of the year.
“I can create also an autonomy for him if that’s what he wants, and pending the federal system implementation he can just wait for it if he trusts me.”
In other developments:
• Senator Win Gatchalian said he remained optimistic that the Bangsamoro Organic Law would work in Mindanao because many of the shortcomings of the past were addressed here.
He cited fiscal autonomy, one of the key features of the bill, as a very specific example. He said it was one of the key features of the BOL that was ratified by both houses of Congress.
“I’ve seen how ARMM would come to Congress, ask for money, ask for funds but it was cut but here, they have full fiscal autonomy, meaning they will now chart their own direction by utilizing those funds and it’s no ordinary fund,” Gatchalian said.
“Our minimum count for the allocation including everything will be approximately P120 billion a year. So it’s no small change.”
Opposition Senator Leila de Lima had also expressed hope that the BOL would bring lasting peace and stability in war-torn Mindanao and improve the lives of the Bangsamoro people.
• The government will have to review its plan regarding the infrastructure program if the Bangsamoro Organic Law makes it through Congress, the National Economic and Development Authority said Thursday.
“We will have to review our plans in terms of the [economic] landscape”•the new landscape. We haven’t done that yet because the law has yet to be implemented,” Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia told reporters in Pasig City.
“There will be some changes, but I guess it shouldn’t be that drastic.”
The BOL is one of the requirements under the 2014 peace agreement between Manila and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
The Bangsamoro Organic Law, known before as the Bangsamoro Basic Law, was certified as urgent by the President.