MANILA – A plebiscite will be held on Jan. 21 next year for the ratification of the Bangsamoro Organic Law, the Commission on Elections said.
It will cover Northern Mindanao, Soccsksargen and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, the Comelec said in a memo dated Aug. 31.
The plebiscite period will be from Dec. 7, 2018 to Feb. 5, 2019, or “45 days before and 15 days after the said plebiscite,” stated the Comelec memo.
On the other hand the campaign period will be from Dec. 7, 2018 to Jan. 19, 2019, or “45 days until two days before the plebiscite,” the memo, released on Tuesday, stated.
The Comelec en banc decided on the date of the plebiscite in a meeting on Aug. 29.
A special voter registration will be held in Bangsamoro core territories from Sept. 11 to 13 this year.
President Rodrigo Duterte signed the law late July, paving the way for wider self-rule to the Muslim minority in the south.
The Bangsamoro Organic Law is one of the requirements under a 2014 peace agreement between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the country’s largest Muslim rebel group.
It will install a Bangsamoro political entity in place of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and is envisioned to grant wider self-rule to predominantly Muslim provinces and cities.
It outlines the process to set up a self-administered territory encompassing mountains, islands and jungles that is home to at least 4 million people, mostly Muslims.
The peace deal was aimed at ending nearly 50 years of conflict that has killed more than 120,000 people and displaced 2 million.
Duterte was banking on the bill’s passage to heal “historical injustices” suffered by the Moros. (ABS-CBN and GMA News/PN)
