KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak expressed optimism that the Bangsamoro peace process will be completed before President Aquino steps down from office in June 2016.
Najib paid tribute to Aquino and outgoing Myanmar President Thein Sein as they bade farewell to the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) on Sunday.
Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma said that during the closing of the 27th Asean Summit in Kuala Lumpur, Najib “expressed optimism about Bangsamoro peace process that he believes will be an enduring legacy of President Aquino.”
There have been many threats to the passage of the controversial Bangsamoro Basic Law or the peace pact with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. One of which was the killing of 44 elite policemen allegedly by Moro armed groups, including the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
In his speech at the 7th Asean-United Nations summit, Aquino boasted that Filipinos, as well as the Asean countries, saw the “change” he promised to the people when he assumed as president of the Philippines in 2010.
“Hopefully this (change) has redounded to being a partner to all of you. But as many of us may have experienced, pushing for genuine transformation involves disturbing a lot of rice bowls,” said Aquino.
While striving to achieve genuine transformation, Aquino said there will be those who “will continue to resist the steady march of the Philippines towards empowerment.”
In his previous speeches, Aquino blasted critics who are discouraging the people from supporting the continuation of his administration’s “daang matuwid” (straight path).
“I do believe that my countrymen, having witnessed what we have already achieved, will themselves ensure that good governance becomes an enduring and irreversible mainstream in the Philippines, and Asean in turn will find a stronger brother-nation with the wherewithal to do its share in establishing an inclusive, harmonious, and prosperous region,” he said.
