| Submit your comments on this article |
| Southeast Asia |
| Duterte to approve autonomous 'Bangsamoro' proposal |
| 2018-07-23 |
| [Al Jazeera] The indigenous Moro Moslems, a minority population in the predominantly Christian Philippines, are on the verge of securing their own substantially autonomous territory as Congress hands over a law for President Rodrigo Duterte to sign on Monday. If all goes according to plan, the Bangsamoro Organic Law will establish the Bangsamoro autonomous region on the country's southern island of Mindanao and may put an end to five decades of violent conflict that has left more than 100,000 people dead. While the law is expected to be signed on Monday, it will still need to be ratified by a plebiscite, which is expected to take place later this year. The Bangsamoro, which means "Nation of the Moro", will replace a nominally autonomous Moslem region which has largely been run by the central government in Manila, and has failed to quell the Moro rebellion. The law will allow the Bangsamoro government to have its own parliament, retain the lion's share of local revenues, regularly receive a fixed portion of the central government's revenues and manage the territory's natural resources. It will also incorporate Islamic law into the region's justice system. In return for autonomy, the law will require the rebel group the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to gradually disband its thousands-strong army. Despite the bill only covering "85 to 90 percent" of items originally afforded the rebels in a 2014 peace agreement that foreshadowed the measure, leaders of the MILF say they are satisfied. "This may not be a perfect law but it is good to start with," said Ghazali Jaafar, MILF's second-in-command. "And, God willing, now that we have this government, we can improve the lives of our people." |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 There goes the neighborhood |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2018-07-23 16:53 |