Iqbal can only wish for BBL passage before June 11

KIDAPAWAN CITY – A top official of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) can only hope and wish that the deliberations of the two houses of Congress on the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) will finally be completed before they adjourn on June 11. After all, MILF panel chair Mohaqher Iqbal said the draft law has been given to the legislators for their analysis and examination, nine months following the signing of the Comprehensive Agreement on Bangsamoro (CAB) in Malacanang. The CAB becomes the basis of the Bangsamoro Transition Commission for drafting BBL. Iqbal is also chair of the BTC. Alam ng mga mambabatas na kailangan ito’ng ipasa sa lalong madaling panahon.Matagal na ito.Lahat na ng anggulo sa BBL na-discuss na nila(Our legislators knew that this law should be passed soon.This is long overdue.They had already discussed all the angles on the BBL),” he said. Stumbling block Iqbal believed the Mamasapano incident is still the primary ‘stumbling block’ to the passage of the BBL. The bloody encounter on January 25 between the operatives of the Special Action Force (SAF) and the MILF rebels in Barangay Tukanalipao in Mamasapano led to the death of 44 government troopers, 17 rebels, and five civilians. But the incident, Iqbal said, is ‘separate’ from the BBL. It was a tragic incident that no one wanted to happen.BBL is bigger than that,” he said. Amidst this, Iqbal has asked legislators to decide on reason” and not based on their emotions.” Indeed, there are legitimate concerns about producing a good BBL.But I saw somebody deliberately obstructing the flow of the debates.I don’t want to name names.There is someone who would always raise a motion but was always outvoted,” the MILF official said. Normalization needs no legislation Iqbal and his panel met their counterpart in the Philippine government in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Friday to discuss the normalization process, which will take place once the Bangsamoro bill becomes a law. He said there are still issues and concerns on normalization and decommissioning that need to be reconciled or set right. The issues include the socio-economic development aspect the symbolic decommissioning plebiscite and the normalization fund. Iqbal has clarified that the normalization process and the decommissioning can be done without legislation.Primarily, these issues are more operational in character rather than a legal matter.