Central Mindanao embraces BOL to end decades-long Moro rebellion

YEARENDER

COTABATO CITY – It may have initially generated mixed reactions but the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) eventually emerged as a viable solution among the Bangsamoro constituencies in Central Mindanao to the decades-long Moro rebellion in Mindanao.

President Rodrigo Duterte's signing in July this year of the BOL was widely embraced by the Bangsamoro in Central Mindanao, as it signaled that the 7,000-strong adherents of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) may finally lay down their arms and live normal lives again.

President Duterte first announced the BOL's enactment into law during a speech on July 26 in Zamboanga City, which was immediately embraced by various sectors, particularly those from the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

The BOL, now officially known as the Organic Law for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (OLBARMM), seeks to abolish the old ARMM set up and expand its territory through a plebiscite early next year.

The measure is one of the promises made by the President during the campaign period, saying he wanted to address the "historical injustice" that gave birth to the Moro rebellion. The President said the BOL would address the Bangsamoro's struggle for ancestral land, which was made worse by the decades-old neglect by the central government.

“The main thing is that only President Duterte, being a Mindanawon himself, possesses that utmost determination and sincerity to end the decades of conflict in the troubled region,” Al Haj Murad Ebrahim, MILF chairman, said in one of the recent interviews by reporters.

MILF Vice Chairman Ghazali Jaafar, who also chairs the Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC), said they are “satisfied” with what the BOL could provide the Bangsamoro people.

“We were satisfied to the point that the areas we proposed to be included in the Bangsamoro political entity were approved by both the Senate and House of Representatives,” Jaafar said.

In one of his most noted statements, Mohagher Iqbal, MILF peace implementing panel chair, noted that “the BOL may not be a perfect law for us but at least we can have something to start with.”

Orlando Cardinal Quevedo, Mindanao’s first-ever Catholic cardinal, has also made public his support to the BOL, citing it as a vehicle for unity and prosperity of the people in the region.

“Dialogue is not mere intellectual discussion. It is first of all listening humbly and respectfully to ‘the other’, listening not only with one’s ears, but most importantly listening with one’s heart. This kind of listening transforms hostility and suspicion into understanding and trust,” he said in his message during the Mindanao Week of Peace on Nov. 30 this year.

The military here, through the Army’s 6th Infantry Division (ID), has also observed a diminishing trend in clashes between government and MILF forces since 2014, when the two parties signed the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) that incorporated the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro in 2012.

Both FAB and CAB served as the basis for the BBL draft.

“However, it was only during the time of President Duterte that there were zero clashes between government and MILF forces since 2016,” Maj. Gen. Cirilito Sobejana, 6th ID commander, noted.

Sobejana said MILF members are now working side-by-side with the military in central Mindanao in quelling the activities of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, a breakaway faction of the MILF that has pledged allegiance to the terror organization, Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.

On Dec. 10, an estimated 100, 000 BOL supporters from various parts of Mindanao gathered in this city for the launching of the campaign period for the BOL ratification. A plebiscite is scheduled on Jan. 21 next year for the BOL ratification.

The new law, once ratified, paves the way for the creation of the BARMM, which would cover the old ARMM area components of Sulu, Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Tawi-Tawi and Basilan provinces, and the cities of Marawi and Lamitan.

The areas proposed for inclusion in the BARMM are the 39 villages in North Cotabato; six municipalities in Lanao del Norte; and the cities of Cotabato and Isabela in Basilan, among others.

“The inclusive BARMM is the result of decades-long peace negotiations between the MILF, other Moro rebel groups in Mindanao, and the national government,” Ebrahim said. (PNA)