OPAPP announces new members of the expanded Bangsamoro Transition Commission

February 10, 2017

The Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) on Friday announced the new members of the expanded Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC), a body that will draft the new Bangsamoro enabling law.

The crafting of the law is part of the implementation process of the southern peace pact or the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro signed between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) on March 2014, a statement said.

“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,” Secretary Jesus Dureza, the presidential adviser on the peace process, said.

The creation of the expanded BTC from 15 to 21 was made after President Rodrigo Duterte signed an Executive Order (EO) No. 8 on November 7.

The executive order was one of the agreements reached during the August meeting between the implementing panels of the government and the MILF, where they discussed the new peace and development roadmap for the implementation of the signed peace agreements.

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).

The new members of the expanded BTC are: Jose Lorena,  Maisara Dandamun-Latiph,  Samira Gutoc-Tomawis, Datu Mussolini Sinsuat Lidasan, Susana Salvador-Anayatin, Hussin Amin, Romeo Saliga, Hatimil Hassan, Firdausi Ismail Abbas, Omar Yasser C. Sema, Ghadzali Jaafar,  Mohagher M. Iqbal, Abdulraof Abdul Macacua,  Ibrahim d. Ali,      Haron M. Abas, Raissa H. Jajurie, Said M. Shiek, Hussein P. Muñoz, Melanio U. Ulama,      Gafur A. Kanain, Ammal D. Solaiman.

Irene Santiago, the chair of the Government Panel Implementing the Bangsamoro Accords, 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.

Earlier, Dureza said the old Bangsamoro Basic Law, which failed to be enacted as a law last Congress, will probably be the basic document, among other pertinent legislations, of the new enabling law.  DMS