THE Congress' failure to complete its deliberation on the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) could increase the risk of young people becoming attracted to violent extremism, Third Party Monitoring Team (TPMT) said on Friday.
In its third public report, TPMT, a group tasked to monitor the implementation of all signed agreements between the Government and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) said Friday that failure of the BBL meant that confidence in the peace process among a wider Moro community has taken a knock.
"This setback, with its attendant frustration, could increase the risk that some young people may become more attracted to violent extremism- against which risk the most effective vaccination is the successful conclusion to the peace process," TPMT chair Alistair Macdonald said.
Macdonald said that although the past year has been difficult with the tragic event in the Mamasapano and the failure to complete the Congress' deliberations on BBL, there are still significant progress attained in a number of areas.
One of the progress was the successful completion of the first ceremonial stage of decommissioning on June 16 or the completion of the work of the Transitional Justice and Reconciliation Commission.
Macdonald also noted that there has been an upwelling domestic and international support for the peace process. He also said that both parties have remained fully engaged in the peace process.
Macdonald said that the TPTM remains confident that peace will be attained since no administration can afford to ignore the costs of conflicts in Mindanao.
He then hopes that the next administration will bring the BBL into completion.
"It will be the responsibility of the next administration and the next congress to bring this process to a successful conclusion," Macdonald said.
In the Framework of the Agreement of Bangsamoro (FAB) signed on October 12, 2012 by the government and the MILF, one provision called for a creation of a TPTM to monitor the implementation of all signed agreements between the parties.
TPMT is tasked with monitoring, reviewing and assessing the implementation of all signed agreements.
The third public report of the TPMT, covered the period of February 2015 to February 2016. (Sunnex)
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