THE FIRST in a series of pro-Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) rallies planned in the island provinces of Basilan, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi was held Saturday with high-level officials making the pitch for the new law that is up for referendum on Jan. 21. “I did not expect this crowd today… I am very pleased to see everybody here,” said Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) Chair Al Haj Murad Ebrahim at the gathering held at the Notre Dame of Jolo College in Sulu. The BOL is grounded on the peace deal signed by the MILF with the government in 2014. “The BOL is not a victory of the MILF but it is the victory of the entire Bangsamoro people… Inshallah, we will win in Sulu,” he said. Sulu is considered a contentious area for the plebiscite after Sulu Gov. Abdusakar A. Tan II filed a case before the Supreme Court questioning the BOL and seeking a temporary restraining order against its implementation. Other officials who spoke at the rally were Presidential Peace Adviser Carlito G. Galvez Jr.; Undersectrary Nabil A. Tan, chair of the government implementing peace panel and his MILF counterpart Mohagher Iqbal; and Adzfar Usman, who represented Moro National Liberation Front Chair Yusoph Jikiri. In a statement released Sunday, the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) said among the “thousands” who attended were former Sulu governor Benjamin T. Loong, former congresswoman Maryam Arbison, former and incumbent mayors, and members of the Bangsamoro Transition Commission. — Tajallih S. Basman

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