As the Third Regular Session of the 18th Congress officially started last Monday, a group urged lawmakers to pass the bill extending the Bangsamoro Transition Period based on the provisions of the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL), which they said was clearly ratified by the overwhelming majority of the Bangsamoro people.
In a statement following the last State of the Nation Address (SONA) of President Rodrigo Duterte, Bangsamoro People’s Coalition for BTA Extension said extending the transitional period will show a responsive partnership of the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
The group thus held a peaceful prayer rally at Tandang Sora, Quezon City to ask for divine intervention to enlighten the national leaders on the importance of this call.
“We call for the Divine Intervention to pour mercy and steadfastness and shower it upon those mindful and peace-loving people with loving hearts such as our beloved legislators for their understanding and benevolence to support our call to extend the Bangsamoro transition period by way of postponing the BARMM elections to 2025,” the group said.
Under the law, the transition period is only three years from 2019.
Deferring the elections of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao from 2022 to 2025 “will allow the BTA to fulfill its mandated duties in achieving long-term peace and prosperity in the region.”
“We pray for the Divine Intervention to soften the hearts of those who continue to oppose our people’s noble proposal. We pray that our national leaders will finally acknowledge how imperative the extension will be in this time of health emergency where the spending priority should focus on economic recovery and containing health emergencies,” the coalition said.
“Extending the transition period outweighs the conduct of elections in BARMM. Spending on elections in times of massive cases of economic dislocations defeats the very purpose of any economic recovery efforts. There is no truthful economic growth through spending without any production output.
“Thus, elections might be rightfully held, but the situation is not only untimely but wasteful and inappropriate as well,” the Bangsamoro People’s Coalition added.
Dr. Jolly Lais, coalition spokesperson, said their call to extend the BTA aims to complete programs and projects for the Bangsamoros under the political, normalization, and transition plan which was hampered by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The political track is the setting up of the autonomous government while the normalization track is the decommissioning of former combatants.
Lais pointed out that the extension period “will pave the way for the national government to implement its commitment as espoused in the Peace Agreement it signed with the MILF and the Bangsamoro Government will be able to finish its task as specified in the Peace Agreement and the BOL.”
Bangsamoro communities have spoken and clearly defined the peace and development track in the Bangsamoro Region, he said.
Also, the coalition already reached out to the national leaders with very clear candid intentions and truthful and timely proposals which mostly mirrored the continuity of the gains of lasting peace – one of the peace legacies of President Rodrigo Duterte in the region.
“To our beloved President, kindly continue the gains of peace as we nurture our ranks toward a peaceful and progressive country, we all want to happily and safely live. Don’t miss this seldom opportunity for lasting peace to reign in the Bangsamoro region. This is your legacy, Mr. President,” the group said.
Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri said lawmakers are now in the final stages of passing the bill postponing the BARMM elections.