Duterte: Nothing wrong with Iqbal using an alias

By Funny Pearl A. Gajunera
Mayor Rodrigo Duterte does not find anything wrong with Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) chief negotiator Mohagher Iqbal using an alias.
“That is not fictitious in a sense that he is unknown. The identity is very clear but the name may be different,” the mayor said.
Duterte said since Iqbal is a revolutionary, it is normal for him to use an alias.
“Syempre you are always wanted by the law gamit gamitin mo talaga ang ibat-ibang pangalan (Of course if you are wanted by the law then you will really go by different names),” he said.
Meanwhile, Duterte said he cannot blame the MILF if it does not want to renegotiate the provisions of the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) with government.
Duterte’s statement came a day after Central Committee MILF Vice Chair Ghazali Jaafar said his group will not renegotiate the eight provisions of the BBL that Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez had said were “unconstitutional.”
Duterte said that he cannot blame the MILF if it has already lost trust in the government.
“They already lost trust in the government, that’s clear. They (MILF) think government cannot deliver,” the mayor said.
On Sunday, Jaafar said that the negotiations of the MILF and the Government of the Philippines has already been made through the Comprehensive Agreement of the Bangsamoro.
He also said Malacañang has already approved the agreement.
In a press conference, Sunday afternoon at Waterfront Insular Hotel, Jaafar said the negotiations of the MILF and the Government of the Philippines had already been made through the Comprehensive Agreement of the Bangsamoro.
He also said Malacañang has also approved the agreement.
“We have already signed an agreement, and the negotiation is already finished. We do not intend to renegotiate what we have negotiated for many many years,” Jaafar said.
Rodriguez, who chairs the 75-member ad hoc committee scrutinizing the draft BBL, said in a television interview last Saturday that eight provisions in the BBL are “unconstitutional.”
“Eight of these provisions are against the Constitution, while the ninth is not acceptable to most members from Mindanao,” Rodriguez said.
He said among the provisions that Congress finds unconstitutional is the creation of a separate Commission on Audit (COA), Commission on Elections (Comelec), Civil Service Commission, Commission on Human Rights, and Office of the Ombudsman for the Bangsamoro.
Rodriguez said that the provisions are unconstitutional because Congress cannot pass a law that will interfere with the functions and operations of independent constitutional commissions like the COA, Comelec, and the Ombudsman.
Jaafar, however, said the function of the House of Representative is to pass laws and not to identify whether a law is unconstitutional or not.
He said Congress should let the Supreme Court decide whether the BBL is constitutional or not.
He said the MILF’s opinion is that Congress should legislate or enact the BBL into law “and let the Supreme Court decide whether there is unconstitutionality there.”
Jaafar also said if the nation’s leaders do not want the BBL to pass, they should find an alternative solution to stop the war in Mindanao.