Bangsamoro’s promise

President Aquino has just handed over to Congress the draft Bangsamoro Basic Law. This law, a child borne of countless hours of deep thought and discussion, is now in the hands of legislators whose duty is to study, deliberate and act upon all matters related to the advancement and welfare of the Bangsamoro people, and make the Bangsamoro Basic Law the basis of lasting peace and prosperity in Mindanao.

This, our esteemed legislators know very well, is a daunting task. The future of a people who for centuries have fought for self-determination now lies in their hands. This law is for the children who wish to run across school grounds instead of running for their lives. This law is for families who want to put life into the earth through crops and produce, not to dig graves for their fathers and sons who have fallen in war. This law is what will help them realize their wishes and dreams.

Our government has been hard at work preparing for the outcome of this law. We started with the teachers, who will be there to guide our youth as they grow, hopefully in lasting peace, with the knowledge that they, the legislators of the 16th Congress, helped lay down the law that allows them to do so. We have been building roads so that the farthest locations can be reached by the progress that this law will bring. And we will, to our last day in office, carry on with the transparency and good governance that have turned the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao toward a better future. It is this future that we will hand over to the Bangsamoro.

The Bangsamoro is not the end of the ARMM. It is the beginning of peace and progress, the groundwork for which was prepared by the ARMM. Far from being a failed experiment, the ARMM is living proof that good governance can lead only to success, and that success is what will fuel the Bangsamoro’s continuing quest for peace, progress and the right to self-rule.

—MUJIV S. HATAMAN, governor,

Autonomous Region

in Muslim Mindanao