Duterte signs Bangsamoro law

MARAWI CITY, Lanao del Sur: Malacañang on Thursday confirmed that President Rodrigo R. Duterte finally signed the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL).

The long awaited law will allow Muslims in the south to start moving towards self-rule by 2022.

"This is to announce that the President has just signed the BOL into law,” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in a text message to Palace reporters.

During the ‘69th Araw ng Ipil’ celebration in Zamboanga Sibugay, Duterte said “the BBL has been signed”, referring to Bangsamoro Basic Law which has been renamed into BOL.

“The BBL has been signed but I’m still going back because I have a ceremony with Jaafar and Murad,” said Duterte, referring to Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) first vice chair Ghazali Jaafar and vice chairman for military affairs Al Haj Murad.

Duterte said he would like also to talk to Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) founding chairman Nur Misuari “so that we can have it by the end of the year”.

The President was supposed to sign the BOL before his third State of the Nation Address (SONA) last Monday but change of leadership in the House of Representatives delayed the ratification of the bicameral conference committee version of the bill.

The House, under the leadership of new House Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, ratified the BOL a day after the SONA. Arroyo replaced Pantaleon Alvarez.

The Senate unanimously approved the bicam report on Monday during the opening of the third regular session of the 17th Congress.

The BOL seeks to establish a new Bangsamoro political entity that would replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

The new entity will comprise the present ARMM's territory and a numbers of towns and barangays who will be asked in a plebiscite whether to join or not in the new autonomous region. - With report from PNA and other agencies/RSP