THE passage of the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) at the House of Representatives on Wednesday, May 30, failed to impress a Moro group who said the measure falls flat on its promise to recognize the Moro people’s right to self-determination.
“This newly-passed BBL does not inspire hope in our hearts that we of the Bangsamoro will receive justice to set right all the injustices committed against our people,” said Jerome Succor Aba, national chairperson of Suara Bangsamoro.
Legislators voted 227-11 favoring the approval of the bill, with two abstentions.
Last Tuesday, May 29, President Rodrigo Duterte had declared the passage of the BBL as urgent.
Aba said “there can be no trust where justice is not an option. We cannot simply forget the price of lives and blood we have paid simply to exist as Moros in a land where we are seen as inconvenience and a problem.”
“We seek true autonomy not the sham we are being offered now with a mangled and watered-down ghost of the (BBL), which (Duterte) initially did not want as urgent, after all, the House and Senate versions of this law that was passed at the 11th hour on third and final reading were so disparate,” he added.
Duterte’s last-minute turnaround to certify the BBL as an urgent measure, Aba said, does not inspire the group’s trust.
“Not especially when his BBL sweeps aside our claims for justice for the victims of the Marawi Siege and Martial Law, the recent massacre of the nine MILF combatants and myriad other human rights violations resulting from the continuing operations of the United States-led ‘war on terror’ within Bangsamoro territory,” he said.
“The oppression of the people of the Bangsamoro continues and this badly-done BBL is proof positive of that. Not recognizing the right to self-determination and to decide on our fate within Bangsamoro territory shows just how little trust and faith the government has in us,” he added.
Aba said the BBL version passed by Congress is not going to answer the Moro problem.
“This milquetoast that they’re passing off as BBL leaves the Bangsamoro with no control over the resources of the area they define as our autonomous areas. Just like in the ARMM, this BBL appoints the new Bangsamoro political entity to facilitate the wholesale selling of our territories and natural resources to foreign corporations under the guise of bringing growth and development to Bangsamoro areas,” he said.