Jul 072014
 

GPH panel chair Miriam Coronel-Ferrer. AFP FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — With the filing of the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) before Congress stalled, the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) will meet again in Malaysia to discuss problems faced during Malacañang’s ongoing review.

Government peace panel chairperson Miriam Coronel-Ferrer on Monday announced that the Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC) voted to elevate the matter to the peace panels “for clarification, discussion and resolution of issues that may have been affected by the proposed revisions in the proposed BBL.”

“Together with the MILF Panel, Malaysian Facilitator Tengku Ghafar and the members of the International Contact Group, we will be meeting in Kuala Lumpur this week in a workshop that would thresh out the various substantive matters that have arisen from the BTC submission and the subsequent OP (Office of the President) review,” Ferrer said in a statement.

She assured the public that there is “no backtracking on either side.”

“If we are going through this difficulty now, it is because we want the next stages to be less difficult not only between the government and the MILF, but among all the institutions and actors that will be or have been playing a role in the process,” Ferrer added.

The BBL, drafted by the Bangsamoro Transition Commission, is supposed to pave the way for the creation of the Bangsamoro political entity, which will replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

It was submitted to Malacañang on April 14 and was supposed to be forwarded to Congress on May 5. Until now, the Malacañang has refused to divulge the particular provisions that are said to have posed problems for the government.

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