THE Manila City Prosecutor’s Office has endorsed to the Ombudsman the treason case filed against the government peace panel for the proposed Bangsamoro basic law (BBL), a lawmaker said.
Party-list Rep. Lito Atienza of Buhay, one of the complainants, said the Manila City Prosecutor’s Office found the complaint to be sufficient in form and substance, and opted to endorse the same to the Office of the Ombudsman for further proceedings.
The Ombudsman also ordered the respondents, government peace panel Chairman Miriam Coronel-Ferrer, Senen C. Bacani, Yasmin Busran-Lao, Teresita Quintos-Deles and 19 others, to file their comments, for treason and inciting to sedition, he said.
“We welcome this development and thank the Manila City Prosecutor’s Office for finding our case meritorious enough to be endorsed to the Office of the Ombudsman for corresponding action,” Atienza said.
On May 28, 2015, Atienza and Party-list Rep. Jonathan dela Cruz of Abakada together with Former Ambassador Jose Romero Jr. and lawyer Jeremy Gatdula filed a treason case with the Manila Prosecutor’s Office against the government peace panel for crafting and pushing for the enactment of the BBL.
According to Atienza, from the time BBL was framed, even its congressional sponsors reformed the original BBL into what is now the basic law for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region (BLBar), virtually conceding that the BBL and some of its unconstitutional provisions were unacceptable.
“This strengthens our stand that the original framework, which the government peace panel agreed on, was detrimental to our peace and national security. But the BLBar still failed to be passed before Congress adjourned for the campaign season because even this new version was still not acceptable to a great number of congressmen,” Atienza added.
In their 34-page complaint, the complainants said that the “acts of the respondents, in executing the Framework Agreement [on the Bangsamoro] and in proposing the BBL, also effectively aided the MILF armed forces to successfully assert their existence as a separate and independent state. Therefore, the respondents must be held liable for the crime of treason…”
They added that what the government should be doing “is strengthening the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao [ARMM], as provided for in the Constitution, instead of approving the BBL which is fraught with unconstitutional provisions.
“The Framework Agreement [on the Bangsamoro] they signed is one-sided. That is tantamount to treason. How about the indigenous peoples’ and other sectors opposing the BBL? This is inciting to sedition. The administration should not have committed the government, Senate, Congress and the Filipino people on the questionable provisions,” Atienza said.
The Palace-backed proposed BLBar is now dead at the House of Representatives as the lower chamber went on break in February without approving it.
The BLBar, which aims to create the new Bangsamoro juridical entity replacing the ARMM, is currently under plenary deliberations at the House of Representatives.
The Congress has been under intense pressure to approve the BLBar following the Mamasapano encounter between National Police-Special Action Force (SAF) commandos and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) gunmen in January last year.
SAF commandos were in Mamasapano, Maguindanao, to serve warrants of arrest on Basit Usman and Zulkifli Bin Hir, alias Marwan, both with alleged links to the terrorist group Jema’ah Islamiyah.
2 comments
Mukhang UNFAIR at politically motivated ang TREASON case filed vs Government Peace panel.. Ang tanong ng marami, bakit si Ferrer, Delez at iba pa, bakit hindi nila i-diretso kay Nonoy Aquino ang Treason cased ?
Ang reality, ginamit lang ng mga oposition (Marcos cayetano Escudero Atienza) politically ang anti-BBL and anti-Peace process to weakened Nonoy Aquino administration…
The real target of the political opposition (escudero marcos cayetano Atienza) is Noynoy Aquino not Delez and Ferrer..
Treason case is only a part of 2016 election campaign, a simple political battle between opoosition and administration….
Teka lang, diba constitutional naman ang ginagawa ng GPH panel sa trabaho nila? Gusto lang nilang mabigay yung karapatan ng mga nasa Bangsamoro. Tsaka hintayin na lang natin kaya yung sasabihin ng Ombudsman, no?