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Friday, March 29, 2024

‘Expanded’ Bangsamoro Commission members named

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President Rodrigo Duterte on Friday named members of the expanded Bangsamoro Transition Commission—a body that will be tasked to draft the new Bangsamoro enabling law.  

“President Rodrigo Roa Duterte has just released the appointment papers of the 21-member Bangsamoro Transition Commission. This will signal the start of the work to come up with an inclusive Bangsamoro law that will truly reflect and address the clamor for a genuine political autonomy for the Bangsamoro people in Mindanao,” Peace Process Secretary Jesus Dureza said.    

The creation of the expanded BTC from 15 to 21 was made after President Duterte signed Executive Order No. 8 on Nov. 7. The EO was the result of one of the agreements reached during the August meeting between the implementing panels of the government and the MILF, where they discussed the new Peace and Development Roadmap for the implementation of the signed peace agreements.

The crafting of the law is part of the implementation process of the southern peace pact or the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro signed between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in March 2014.

Among the new members of the expanded BTC are MILF vice chairman Ghadzali Jaafar, former MILF chief negotiator Mohagher M. Iqbal, lawyer Jose I. Lorena, lawyer Maisara Dandamun-Latiph, Samira Gutoc-Tomawis, Datu Mussolini Sinsuat Lidasan, Dr. Susana Salvador-Anayatin, lawyer Hussin Amin, Romeo Saliga, Hatimil Hassan, lawyer  Firdausi Ismail Y. Abbas, lawyer Omar Yasser C. Sema, Abdulraof Abdul Macacua, Ibrahim D. Ali, Haron M. Abas, lawyer Raissa H. Jajurie, Said M. Shiek, Hussein P. Muñoz, Melanio U. Ulama, Gafur A. Kanain and Ammal D. Solaiman.    

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Under the EO, the consultative body will be chaired by the MILF with 11 members, while the government nominates 10 members, including three members from the Moro National Liberation Front.

Government implementation panel chairman Irene Santiago said the members were chosen because of their capacity to listen and their extensive knowledge in Mindanao.

“It is expected that the new members of the BTC will hit the ground running. Their role is vital for us to reach a CAB-compliant enabling law,” she said.

The government has set a deadline for the BTC to submit the draft to Congress by July for deliberations and ratification.    

Earlier, Secretary Dureza said the old Bangsamoro Basic Law, which failed to be enacted as a law last Congress, will probably be the basic document, among other pertinent legislations, of the new enabling law.  

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