Duterte supports BBL but asks Misuari to show up

COTABATO
CITY – Mayor Rodrigo Duterte of Davao City on Wednesday said here
he was supporting the passage of draft Bangsamoro Basic Law.
”I’m
here to show my support to BBL. I am with you in your desire for lasting peace,”
he said, adding that he would wait what will happen to the BBL before he will
talk about Federalism.
DXMS Radyo Bida reported that Duterte, during his speech at Cotabato City State Polytechnic College gymnasium, stressed he is working for the benefit of the next generation. I am doing this for the sake of the next generation so they will not experience the horrors of war in Mindanao, he said in Filipino.But the
Davao City mayor believed the Bangsamoro government will only succeed if Nur
Misuari is involved in the Mindanao peace process.
Misuari
who chairs the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) signed the Tripoli
Agreement with Manila in 1976 which was the basis of the 1996 Final Peace
Agreement that established ARMM and the BBL. ”We
just cannot disregard Misuari because of the Tripoli Agreement,” Duterte told reporters.
He
called on Misuari, now leader of one of the three factions of the MNLF, to
reach out to him and asked him to react on the proposed BBL.
Duterte,
who has been hopping around the country pushing for Federalism, said he would
personally talk to President Aquino to allow the MNLF founding chair speak
about the BBL.
Duterte,
who repeatedly denied he is running for president next year, said the draft BBL
must be carefully studied and acted upon by the Philippine Congress so it will
bring about peace and not more armed conflict in Mindanao.
In an interview by DXMS Radyo Bida after his talk at the CCSPC gym, Duterte stressed that he will continue push for Federal for of government while the BBL is still in the making. It is best if we have alternative to the BBL, he said.
He
said if the BBL fail, he would push for the creation of two Federal Moro states.
One for Muslims in Mainland Mindanao and
the other for Muslims in Western Mindanao.