Bangsamoro is not an “Islamic State”: BTC member

June 23, 2018

ZAMBOANGA CITY - Bangsamoro, which will soon replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), is not a “Islamic State.”

Commissioner Jose Lorena of the Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC) said Bangsamoro is a “secular state” where residents are comprised of Muslims, Christians and Highlanders or the Lumads.

Lorena made this remark here on Saturday during a media forum entitled “Understanding the Bangsamoro Peace Process” organized by the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP).

The other resource speaker in the forum is OPAPP Undersecretary Nabil Tan, the chairperson of the government implementing panel for the Bangsamoro Peace Accords.

Lorena made the clarification since persons feel once a place will be named Bangsamoro, it is for or dominated by Muslims.

He said the region’s name will be changed to Bangsamoro since the ARMM (Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao) is “more confusing.”

“Because if you talk of Muslim Mindanao, the impression is that the residents are all Muslims,” he added.   

Lorena allayed fears of non-Muslims saying the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), which is up for approval, provides equal rights to all the Bangsamoro residents.

“In fact, you can be a chief minister even if you are a non-Muslim, even if your are a christian,” he said.

“Bangsamoro is not a Muslim political entity,” he added. “This is part of the over-all campaign of the Duterte administration to resolve the decades-old problem of armed conflict in Mindanao.”

Lorena spoke on understanding the BBL while Tan dwelt on the peace and development agenda of the Duterte administration and updates on the Bangsamor Peace Process.  DMS