Understanding the BBL, a Talkshop series

COTABATO CITY
(Sept. 17/NDBC) – Come, listen, be informed and take part in healthy discussions on
the draft Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL).

Believing that peace can only be attained through understanding, the Notre Dame
University, Institute for Autonomy and Governance (IAG), Notre Dame
Broadcasting Corporation (NDBC) and the Kondrad Adenaur Stiftung (KAS),
commenced Thursday, Sept. 18, the first part of the 5-day Talkshop series,
dubbed as Understanding the Bangsamoro Basic Law,” that will define the future
of the Bangsamoro homeland.

On hand to
share their expertise on political autonomy and Bangsamoro government are
Lawyer Al Amin Julkipli, government peace panel legal counsel Prof. Abhoud
Syed Lingga, MILF peace panel member Pror. Edmund Tayao, LOGODEF executive director
and political analyst and Lawyer Randolph Parcasion, ARMM consultant.

Lawyer
Benedicto Bacani, IAG executive director, is there to facilitate the plenary discussions
which will start at 9 a.m. at NDU Tanghalang Michael Clark mini-auditorium.

Simultaneously,
it will be carried live over Radio Stations DXMS in Cotabato City and DXND in
Kidapawan City from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.

Participants
will be allowed to ask questions, raise point of clarification, discussion and
suggestions during the plenary.

Early in the
day, NDU President Fr. Charlie Inzon, OMI, will formally open and welcome the
participants of the Talkshop series, a joint project aimed at raising the level
of awareness of all stakeholders in the envisioned new political entity.

Fr. Jonathan
Domingo, OMI, NDBC and The Mindanao Cross chief executive officer, will close
the series.

Professor
Sheila G. Algabre will facilitate the whole program as master of ceremonies.

Bacani said
the organizers have designed programs for the discussion so it can be easily
understood even by ordinary folks in the proposed Bangsamoro territory.

It
should be discussed in the medium ordinary folks understand,” he said.

Basically,
this Talkshop series is to inform and educate the public about the BBL,” he
said, adding that mechanics are being developed where radio listeners could ask
and participate through text messages.

The Bangsamoro
bill includes sections on power-sharing and wealth-sharing arrangements between
the national government and the future Bangsamoro government.

The CAB and
the Bangsamoro bill envision establishing a Bangsamoro region by 2016 that will
replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), as a political
solution to the decades-old efforts to resolve the Bangsamoro aspiration for
genuine autonomy.

The CAB was
signed between the GPH and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) on March
27, 2014. (NDBC)