Commander Bravo inclusion in BTA good for ending revolution: PRRD

FILE: President Rodrigo Roa Duterte delivers his speech during the 9th anniversary of the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) and the 25th anniversary of the Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA) at the SMX Convention Center in Davao City on February 19, 2019. RENE LUMAWAG/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO

MANILA — President Rodrigo R. Duterte said Friday the inclusion of Moro Islamic Liberation Front commander Abdullah Macapaar, better known as Commander Bravo, in the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) will help end the revolution in Mindanao.

“Well, he is a revolutionary. We are talking here of ending a revolution. So you should talk to a revolutionary or a warrior of that war,” Duterte said in an interview with reporters after the ceremonial confirmation of the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) plebiscite canvass results and oath-taking of the BTA members in Malacañan Palace.

Duterte said Macapaar “took the brunt” in the Moro people’s previous armed struggle.

“The burden was there. Kagaya ng Army ko, Armed Forces ko, Police ko (Just like my men in the Army, Armed Forces, Police). They do the dying. They do the talking,” he said.

The National Bureau of Investigation reportedly cleared Macapaar, once a feared warrior, of involvement in any criminal case that could be a legal ground for Duterte not to appoint him as BTA member.

The BTA will govern the new Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) until elections in 2022.

The President announced the appointment of MILF Chairman Al Haj Murad Ebrahim as Interim Chief Minister of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority.

The BOL, considered as one of Duterte’s biggest legislative achievements, is expected to give the Moro people the basic legal tools to chart their own destiny within the country’s Constitutional framework.