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| Southeast Asia | ||
| Bill giving wider autonomy to Philippine Muslims now in Congress | ||
| 2014-09-11 | ||
| What could go wrong? [ARABNEWS] The president of the majority Christian Philippines proposed Wednesday to give Moslems in the south the ability to run their own government under their own flag, part of a peace plan aimed at ending a four-decade rebellion that has killed 150,000 people.
The autonomous region in the southern island of Mindanao, to be called Bangsamoro, would get its own 60-member parliament that would wield exclusive power over such areas as agriculture, trade, tourism and education.
But at least three smaller Moslem rebel groups in the southern Philippines oppose the autonomy deal and have vowed to continue fighting for a separate Moslem homeland. The autonomous zone, which generally covers five provinces, would replace an existing one, seen as a dismal failure. The new plan grants much more autonomy to the region, and Aquino's government also has promised to pour 17 billion pesos ($389 million) in special development funds over the next five years into the region, which has been stunted economically by the long-drawn conflict. The new region will also get larger revenue shares, including 75 percent of national taxes, fees and charges collected by the government in Bangsamoro. The current Moslem region gets 70 percent of those taxes. The rebels have been fighting since the 1970s for Moslem self-rule in Mindanao in an insurrection that has killed about 150,000 combatants and civilians. The peace accord and the draft law came after 13 years of tough negotiations. "This is the farthest distance we have reached in our peace journey with the MILF," presidential adviser Teresita Deles said in a statement. "Every word, line, and provision shall be subjected to the sunshine of democratic debate, where all voices will be heard, with our constitution as the guiding light." | ||
| Posted by:Fred |