CDO Rep. Rodriguez suuports approval of draft BBL

COTABATO
CITY (Sept.8/NDBC) --- The president of the fledgling Centrist Democrat Party
(CDP) and local members convened here over the weekend and discussed the
prospects of the Mindanao peace process.

Cagayan
de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, who is CDP’s pioneer figurehead, assured his party
mates in the city and Maguindanao he will support the enactment of the draft
Basic Bangsamoro Law (BBL).

Rodriguez
was accompanied here by Peter Koeppinger, former representative to the
Philippines of the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS) of Germany.

The
BBL, once enacted into law and ratified via a plebiscite in selected southern
areas, shall pave the way for the
replacement of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao with a new Bangsamoro
entity, based on the March 27, 2014 Comprehensive Agreement on Bangsamoro (CAB)
between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

Rodriguez
announced here he is optimistic the BBL, which Malacañang may possibly endorse
to the House of Representatives anytime soon, will be enacted into law before
yearend.

Rodriguez
also discussed CDP concerns with senior party mates in Central Mindanao, among
them incumbent Maguindanao provincial board member Asnawi Sinsuat Limbona, and
peace activist Eliseo Mercado, Jr., director of the Institute for Autonomy and
Governance.

Limbona
said the two-year-old CDP is guided by principles strictly against traditional
turncoat practices” of politicians in the country.

It’s
all about loyalty to the constituents, love for peace and tranquility among all
people, regardless of religions and races,” Limbona said.

Mercado,
whose peace-building projects in the ARMM are supported by European
benefactors, helped establish the CDP in the autonomous region. (NDBC)