EU reps to hold exploratory mission as Bangsamoro plebiscite monitor

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) is conducting an exploratory mission this month in response to the Philippine government’s invitation to serve as an election observer during the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) plebiscite in January. In a statement, the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) said EU representatives met on Tuesday with Secretary Jesus G. Dureza to discuss “the EU’s possible participation as an election monitoring body for the plebiscite on the Bangsamoro Organic Law on January 21, 2019.” The BOL, passed and approved in July this year, will be the subject of a referendum within the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and several neighboring areas. The BOL will create a new Bangsamoro ARMM (BARMM) territory and government structure. Mr. Dureza, who has also been recently appointed as special envoy to EU by President Rodrigo R. Duterte, along with Moro Islamic Liberation Front Chair Al Haj Murad Ebrahim, had recommended the EU to the Commission on Elections as election monitor for the plebiscite.