BANGSAMORO NEWS UPDATES

MAGUINDANAO – The once warring forces are now allies for one purpose – to maintain peace and order.Even while the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) remains stalled in Congress, selected personnel from the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), the Philippine National Police (PNP), and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front's Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (MILF-BIAF) graduated yesterday, December 6, from an 11-day training for the Joint Peace and Security Teams (JPST) that started on November 25 at the Old Provincial Capitol in Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao.

QUEZON CITY – Civil society leaders asked the Ombudsman yesterday to intercede and make members of the House of Representatives attend congressional sessions, in particular to ensure deliberations on the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL).

BULUAN, Maguindanao – Political leaders from Maguindanao have called on members of the House of Representatives and the Senate to pass a basic law for the Bangsamoro that faithfully complies with the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bansgsamoro (CAB) and not the one that will result to a government that is even less than the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).”In a petition signed by mayors of the different municipalities of Maguindanao and their representatives during the Peace Dialogue with Maguindanao Political Leaders conducted at BBGM Restaurant, Buluan, Maguindanao yesterday,

MANILA-- As Congress resumes session Tuesday, youth groups reiterated calls for the immediate passage of the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) for a peaceful and progressive future of the children of the Bangsamoro and the next generation of Filipinos. We call on our lawmakers to exercise the highest level of statemanship and pass a BBL that addresses the call of the Bangsamoro for permanent peace.

MANILA – In anticipation of tomorrow’s resumption of Congress, Government of the Philippines chief negotiator Miriam Coronel-Ferrer once again appealed to legislators to work towards the passage of the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), which President Benigno Simeon Aquino III highlighted as his top legislative priority in his last face-to-face guesting with the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines (FOCAP) last week. Prior to recess, our Congress has been plagued by a lack of quorum and absenteeism.

MANILA – Malacanang renewed on Sunday the call for early passage of the 2016 national budget and the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) as the Senate and the House of Representatives resume session on Tuesday.In an interview with Radyo ng Bayan, Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda said the Aquino administration has five successful enactments of the budget since 2011.”We have no reenacted (budget).

MANILA -- A senior member of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) peace panel on Tuesday asked the Supreme Court (SC) to dismiss the petitions against the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro (FAB) and the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB).MILF peace panel senior member and former lawmaker Datu Michael Mastura filed an urgent omnibus motion for leave to intervene before the SC in favor of the FAB and the CAB.In his 82-page petition, Mastura asked the SC to dismiss the petitions opposing the FAB and the CAB for lack of merit.The assailed petitions were filed by the Philipp

MANILA -- The peace panel chairs of the Government of the Philippines (GPH) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) remain optimistic with the passage of the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) when the Congress resumes sessions in November. There is still hope. However, this matter depends on the senators and congressmen. They should let national interest rule over them, rather than personal or group interest,” MILF peace panel chair Mohagher Iqbal said in Filipino through a phone interview at the Kapihan sa Media ng Bayan” at the Philippine Information Agency (PIA) Bldg.

COTABATO
CITY – A lawyer and elected delegate to the 1971 Constitutional Convention will
file on October 27 an urgent motion for leave to intervene and to admit attached comment-in-intervention before the Supreme Court in defense of the
Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro (FAB) and the Comprehensive Agreement on
the Bangsamoro (CAB) which have been questioned before the highest court of the land.

The 1987 Constitution mandates the passage of an organic act for Muslim Mindanao providing itgenuine autonomywithin 18 months of the first Congress (Sec. 19, Art. X). Now in the 16thCongress, 27 years after the passage of the Constitution, the legislators have yet to pass the necessary legislation. The creation of autonomous regions in Muslim Mindanao and in the Cordilleras, which is peculiar to the 1987 Constitution,contemplates the grant of political autonomy, not just administrative authority over these regions.” (Cordillera Broad Coalition vs. COA, GR.