Ahmet Salih Alacaci
05 January 2019•Update: 05 January 2019
By Zehra Ulucak
ANKARA
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte expressed confidence Friday that a plebiscite would pass on the ratification of a law expected to bring greater autonomy to the predominantly Muslim southern regions of the archipelago.
According to local reports, Duterte said in a speech there was “every reason” to believe the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) would pass.
Voting is set to begin on Jan. 21 in two cities, with a second round to be held on Feb. 6 in other areas in the neighboring region.
If it passes, it will afford greater legislative and economic autonomy to the Muslim-majority region, allowing for the establishment of shariah courts and joint administration of internal waters with the central government.
The law had previously been referred to the country’s top court on the grounds that some of its articles go against the current constitution.
“There could be a serious issue there in the Supreme Court, but I just hope that it would be resolved in favor of what is really right and just to everybody,” Duterte said in a speech on Jan. 3.
The chairman of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), Al Hajj Murad Ebrahim, also expressed hope that the law would pass, saying it had an 80 percent chance of making it through the plebiscite.
The MILF, the largest Moro rebel group in the Philippines, forged the Bangsamoro Law with government representatives as one of the requirements of the peace agreement it signed in 2014 with then-President Benigno Aquino III.
