DAVAO CITY, Philippines — The Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process publicized Friday the list of the members of the new Bangsamoro Transition Committee that will draft the Bangsamoro enabling law.
The list of the members was supposed to be out last month, as announced by Presidential Peace Adviser Jesus Dureza.
But Dureza explained that the President has just released the appointment papers of the members of the BTC.
“President Rodrigo Roa Duterte has just released the appointment papers of the 21-member Bangsamoro Transition Commission. This will signal the start of the work to come up with an inclusive Bangsamoro law that will truly reflect and address the clamor for a genuine political autonomy for the Bangsamoro people in Mindanao,” Dureza said in a statement Friday.
Under the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro signed between the government and MILF on March 2014, the BTC will draft an enabling law that will establish and operationalize the envisioned Bangsamoro political entity that will replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
The new members of the expanded BTC are the following:
• Atty. Jose I. Lorena
• Atty. Maisara Dandamun-Latiph
• Samira Gutoc-Tomawis
• Datu Mussolini Sinsuat Lidasan
• Dr. Susana Salvador-Anayatin
• Atty. Hussin Amin
• Romeo Saliga
• Hatimil Hassan
• Atty. Firdausi Ismail Y. Abbas
• Atty. Omar Yasser C. Sema
• Ghadzali Jaafar
• Mohagher M. Iqbal
• Abdulraof Abdul Macacua
• Ibrahim D. Ali
• Haron M. Abas
• Atty. Raissa H. Jajurie
• Said M. Shiek
• Hussein P. Muñoz
• Melanio U. Ulama
• Gafur A. Kanain
• Ammal D. Solaiman, J.D.
In an interview with Davao Today, Irene M. Santiago, chair of the Government Panel Implementing the Bangsamoro Accords, said the new BTC will be chaired by MILF Vice Chairperson Ghadzali Jaafar.
She said the team will still have to take their oath. “We are hoping that the arrangements can be made very soon,” she said.
“But already they have been working. The nominees knew they have been nominated already,” Santiago said, adding that while they were waiting for appointments, they were already meeting and working.
She said the members were chosen because of their capacity to listen and their extensive knowledge in Mindanao.
“It is expected that the new members of the BTC will hit the ground running. Their role is vital for us to reach a CAB-compliant enabling law,” she said.
With only six months left, Santiago said they are confident to meet the deadline for the BTC to come up with a draft by July, in time for the resumption of the Congressional session and the President’s second State of the Nation Address.
“We have studied the timeline. We have started to form ourselves into groups that will tackle (different issues). We are not starting from scratch,” she said.
Santiago said there are already drafts sent to Congress that they will put together.
“At the same time we are looking at what MNLF Misuari faction has on the table, ilalagay na namin lahat yan,” Santiago said.
The number of the members was expanded from 15 to 21 after Duterte signed an Executive Order (EO) No. 8 on November 7.
The increase of membership aims to make a “more inclusive” representation of key sectors, Dureza said previously.
Under the EO, the consultative body will be chaired by the MILF with 11 members, while the government nominates 10 members, including three members from the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) headed by Muslimin Sema.
The government’s roadmap envisions the “consolidation and/or convergence of the various peace agreements already entered into like the Moro Islamic Liberation Front’s Comprehensive Agreement of the Bangsamoro (CAB) and the Moro National Liberation Front’s 1996 Final Peace Agreement (FPA), including relevant provisions of the Republic Act No. 9054 (or the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao Law) and the Indigenous People’s Rights Act (IPRA).” (davaotoday.com)
