Duterte hopes plebiscite on BOL will be successful

January 4, 2019

President Rodrigo Duterte hopes people in Mindanao will vote in a plebiscite to support the Bangsamoro Organic Law.

  "I hope and I pray that something good will come out of the BOL. Though the plebiscite is forthcoming, we have every reason to believe that it would pass the people’s will and I hope that we can have peace because if not, it will be hard for us," Duterte said in a speech in Tagaytay City Thursday night.

  If the law doesn't pass, Duterte said his last three years in office will only be dedicated to address violence. 

Duterte made the appeal after two persons died while 32 were wounded as a homemade bomb exploded in Cotabato City. A plebiscite on the Bangsamoro Organic Law is set on Jan. 21 an another one in different areas will be on Feb. 6.

  Duterte said they need to find a solution so Mindanao, which he called the country's source of food, can be developed.

  "We cannot develop the source of our food, the food of our children in the years to come. And worst of all, we might be passing the serious problem of violence in this country," he said.

  "So it is needed (BOL) and I would need the help of everybody," Duterte added.

  The plebiscite will be held in the  areas comprising the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM); as well as Isabela City in Basilan, and Cotabato City. The Feb 6. plebiscite is set in the province of Lanao del Norte, except Iligan City; the municipalities of Aleosan, Carmen, Kabacan, Midsayap, Pikit, and Pigkawayan in North Cotabato; and all other areas contiguous to any of the Bangsamoro core areas.

Once ratified, the BOL will pave the way for the replacement of the ARMM with an MILF-led Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. Ella Dionisio/DMS