Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri on Friday hailed President Rodrigo Duterte for signing into law the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL), saying it is the legacy of the first Mindanaon president.

“It took a Mindanaon president to finally get this done, and this will be his administration’s legacy,” Zubiri said in a statement.

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“We thank President Duterte for signing the BOL as he promised. He closely followed our work. Now, the more difficult part begins,” he added.

Now that the BOL was signed by the President, the future of the law that will create the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) now lies in the hands of the people.

“The Bangsamoro stakeholders, including legislators should see to it that the preparatory measures are completed. We need a plebiscite to implement the law,” he said. “Majority should approve of this, otherwise the ARMM areas shall continue to be administered under the ARMM law.”

Zubiri has previously said that the plebiscite for the Bangsamoro will be held sometime in November this year.

He urged those of the “old” Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) to support the BOL, otherwise peace and economic growth in the region will be hindered.

“From experience, we had all learned that the old ARMM law has become deficient as a framework for peace and economic growth for the region. The old set up of the ARMM did not promote the peace and development that it had promised to do by lacking the political reform measures that are sorely needed to achieve those gains,” he said.

“From transparency and accountability, to political party system of governance to fiscal autonomy and strengthened self governance. The BOL will be able to achieve what ARMM failed to do. Which is to equally serve every Filipino living in the Bangsamoro area,” he added.

Zubiri vowed to follow through the next stages of the implementation of BOL from plebiscite to 2019 midterm elections.

“I’m sure the President will see to it that all government agencies concerned will be up to their respective tasks and that budget, personnel and other resources needed will be sufficient,” he said.

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According to him, the President’s signing of the BOL shows the national government’s seriousness in achieving peace and order in Mindanao. /muf

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