PRESS STATEMENT
Cayetano welcomes Bangsamoro Framework Agreement

I welcome the framework agreement between the government and Moro secessionists that seeks to end the conflict in the Southern Mindanao and push economic growth to the ailing region.

I hope this is the start of a lasting peace in the troubled Muslim Mindanao. The 40 year lingering war has displaced hundreds of thousands, killed at least more than 120,000 people and impoverished millions due to undeveloped economy.

The momentum and goodwill created by this initial agreement should spur government to deliver quality education, job opportunities and equal political and social rights to the people of Mindanao and prevent them from going back to armed rebellion as these are the fundamental rights that our countrymen have long been deprived of.

I would also like to laud the Aquino administration for ensuring that this agreement went through the proper consultation process, for unlike the way the Arroyo administration handled the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD), it has been transparent about the terms of the Agreement.