MANILA: Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr yesterday vowed swift action on the proposed Bangsamoro law that President Aquino has promised to submit soon to Congress.
Belmonte told reporters that he expects no serious opposition to the creation of a Bangsamoro entity to replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).
He said he was sure that government negotiators could fully explain the proposed law and the various agreements they have forged with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), including the wealth sharing agreement between the proposed Bangsamoro region and the national government.
“As usual, there will be pros and cons. But I am very confident that as long it can be shown to us to be a reasonable thing and that it would finally end decades of conflict, which is really one of the things holding back the development of our country, I am confident that the House will carry it,” he said.
Belmonte expressed his opinion that the creation of the Bangsamoro entity would not require an amendment of the Constitution.
Newly elected ARMM Governor Mujiv Hataman has said he would step down the moment the officers of the new Bangsamoro region are chosen under the law that Congress would enact.
Hataman’s wife Sitti Djalia Turabin, representative of the party-list group Anak Mindanao, said she has no doubt that members of the House, both Muslim and non-Muslim, would support the passage of the Bangsamoro law.
Turabin said Aquino’s endorsement of the creation of the new region in his fourth address to the nation on Monday “is proof of his commitment to the attainment of elusive peace in Mindanao.”
The Philippine star
