THE Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace Process (Opapp) is now in the process of naming all the nominees for inclusion in the Bangsamoro Transition Commission that will craft the enabling law of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB).
Irene Santiago, chair of the implementing panel of the Bangsamoro Peace Accords, in a media interview at the sidelines of the launching of Women in Mindanao Peace Table, Monday, said they are now in the process of naming the nominees.
Earlier, President Rodrigo Duterte signed the executive order that increased the membership of the BTC from 15 to 21.
“As we speak, the process is ongoing for them to take their seats as soon as possible because they are supposed to draft the enabling law between January and July,” Santiago said.
There is a process to follow, however, for the nominees to become part of the BTC.
“There is a whole vetting process because in effect they are being appointed by the president,” she added.
Santiago said that while this is ongoing they are running peace tables where dialogues can happen between people about the peace talks.
“So while they are doing that, we have been running all these peace tables so that the people will have a sense of involvement,” she said.
She added that aside from the government forming tables, various civil society organizations and non-government organizations are partnering with them.
“This is the way that the CSOs and NGOs are involved," she added.
Santiago said they want to avoid what happened to the country of Columbia where a peace agreement was crafted, but was rejected by the people.
“It is important that they know what Comprehensive Agreement in Bangsamoro is about and aside from that they also should know what they can do for peace, “she said.
She said that people are part of the peace making process.
“We want to make sure that people will understand each other, that is also why in the women’s peace panel we have a two day training on how to conduct public consultation for people to understand," she said.
She also said that the seminar trainers were from Conflict Resolution Group, who are experts on training on mediation on value based approach through negotiation and dialogue.
On Nur Misuari
“We are having a separate panel for him but of course there is going to be convergence at a certain point,” she said.
She added that the separate panel will still work closely with the Oppap.
“The panel is going to be headed by Oppap Undersecretary Nabil Tan, who has been involved in the negotiations with Moro National Liberation Front for a long time,” she said.
Tan was involved in such negotiations since 1996, and was also the one who headed the tripartite review.
She said that she will be working closely with Tan as her mandate is to implement the Bangsamoro Peace Accords.