The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) lauded Monday President Rodrigo Duterte’s “seriousness to correct historical injustices against the Moro people,” following his speech to Arab businessmen during his week-long trip to the Middle East.
In a statement posted on its website, the MILF said the President “understood the political clamor of the Moro people for self-determination.”
“It is really good to hear this promise again and again from the President. It gives us more strength and energy to fast-track the GPH-MILF peace process and the drafting of a new Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) compliant to the Comprehensive Agreement on Bangsamoro (CAB),” it said.
On Saturday, President Duterte, who was on the last leg of his state visit in three Middle Eastern countries, told potential Qatari investors in Doha that the Philippines is open for business as the government is exerting all efforts to address the country’s problem on insurgencies.
President Duterte emphasized that his administration is working closely with the Moro fronts that have signed peace deals with the government.
“There is a lot of Muslims in my Cabinet. We are trying to work out something now…We hope to succeed in our peace talks. We are ready to reconfigure the land. We are ready to concede what was lost from them,” the President told the participants during the business forum.
In saying the government “is ready to concede what was lost from them,” the President was apparently referring to the colonial years when the country was under the Spanish government and the American rule.
Currently, the 21-member Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC) is working on a self-imposed deadline to come up with the draft BBL that will be submitted to the President on May 18, to give him time to review before submitting it to Congress in June for deliberation.
Congress was expected to pass the BBL, which will serve as the legal foundation for the creation of a new Bangsamoro government to replace the current Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).
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