Philippine Lawmakers Receive Proposed Bangsamoro Law

By Roy Ramos ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (AA) - A proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) drafted by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) was transmitted to the office of the Senate and Congress, the official website of the MILF published Friday. "We trust in the collective wisdom of both houses of Congress should they deem proper to refine the draft in the course of the regular legislative mill," according to a copy of the one-page letter dated Aug. 14 on the Luwaran website. The proposal presented last month to President Rodrigo Duterte and was part of a peace agreement signed between the government and the MILF in 2014 but derailed in January the following year by a fighting in central Mindanao that killed 44 policemen, 17 rebel fighters and a number of civilians.Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC) Chairman Ghazali Jaafar and other commissioners were briefed last month on the proposal. The "urgent" BBL bill, according to Duterte, proposes an autonomous Bangsamoro region that replaces the existing Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. "I will support and husband this instrument as it goes in the legislation for its consideration," Duterte said last month after receiving a copy of the proposal. "There shall be a Bangsamoro country in the Philippine." -