National peace summit meant to look at BBL with ‘fresh eyes’ –Palace

President Benigno Aquino III called for the convening of a national peace summit to have an avenue for stakeholders to look at the controversial Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) with "fresh eyes,” Malacañang said Monday.

At a press conference, Aquino’s spokesman, Secretary Edwin Lacierda, said the summit will “complement” Congress deliberations on the BBL, which faced public skepticism following the deadly January 25 Mamasapano operation.

“This is just part of the entire process of looking at the peace process from the prism of all the stakeholders,” Lacierda said. “Certainly, it has been affected by Mamasapano but we need to look at eyes from the prism of all stakeholders involved.”

“It should be a complementary way at viewing the peace process, not only from the eyes of the Congress people, but also stakeholders who are involved, as we are all stakeholders in the peace process,” he added.

In a public address last Friday, Aquino announced that he enlisted the help of citizen leaders to dissect and promote further understanding on the BBL.

The citizen leaders who will convene the peace summit include Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Tagle, businessman Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, civil society leader Howard Dee, and peace advocate Bai Rohaniza Sumndad-Usman.

Congressional deliberations on the BBL were halted following the controversial Jan. 25 Mamasapano operation, which left over 60 people dead, including 44 police commandos.

Seventeen Moro Islamic Liberation Front and at least three civilians were also killed in the clash, which erupted despite a peace deal between the Philippine government and the MILF. The BBL embodies this peace deal.

Two weeks ago, a Pulse Asia survey showed that 44 percent of Filipinos opposed the BBL's passage after the Mamasapano incident.

‘Congress still has final say’

During the same briefing, the Philippine government’s chief peace negotiator Miriam Coronel-Ferrer described the peace summit as a “citizen’s forum” where issues or concerns on the BBL can be discussed and clarified.

“Ang added value niya is the fact that it is another avenue for that kind of articulation or even an avenue for broader discussion for citizens of the Philippines,” Ferrer said.

She stressed that the summit is not meant to take away Congress’ authority to deliberate on the BBL, and will not affect lawmakers’ timeline on the passage of the proposed law.

“They are not taking any power away from Congress. Congress pa rin ang magtatanda ng schedule nila, ng pacing nila at saka kung ano ang introduce nilang pagbabago rito sa panukalang-batas,” Ferrer said. —KBK, GMA News