Original Bangsamoro draft law has no chance at House, Senate
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BusinessWorld Online
DAVAO CITY -- The Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) is practically dead, Senator Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. said on Thursday, adding that the proposed legislation creating an autonomous homeland for Moros in Mindanao will no longer be discussed by both chambers of Congress.
“We have stopped talking about the draft BBL. It has no chance of passing the House of Representatives and Senate,” said Mr. Marcos, chair of the Senate committee on local government, during the Hermes Club Insulares Media Forum at the Waterfront Hotel here yesterday.
What is now on the table is the substitute draft he submitted under Senate Bill 2894 which carries the title Basic Law for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, said Mr. Marcos, who heads the Senate committee on local government.
The first part of the legislators’ job now is to make sure that the substitute bill is constitutional and legal, he added.
“Around 80% of the provisions had amendments in one way or another, some very minor like a coma or a word while some were completely deleted or changed,” he said.
Mr. Marcos reiterated that he could not give a timetable for the approval of the Bangsamoro law, but reassured that there will be proper representation from all sectors.
“The substitute Basic Law is much more inclusive and has included in the deliberations the issues raised by the other stakeholders during the hearings conducted among various sectors all over the country,” he said.
In a separate statement sent to media, Mr. Marcos also agreed with Speaker Feliciano R. Belmonte, Jr.’s assertion to reject requests to restore deleted provisions in the proposed BBL.
Mr. Marcos expressed these sentiments after the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) asked the House of Representatives to restore the 28 provisions deleted from the draft law.
In a statement, Mr. Marcos said he “backed the position of Mr. Belmonte who balked against the MILF’s demand,” adding that “the agreements do not bind the Congress. Neither do they bind the Supreme Court, much less the entire country,” Mr. Marcos said.
In a letter dated July 29 sent to Mr. Belmonte that was signed by Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC) Chairman Mohagher Q. Iqbal, it was stated that there are 28 “substantial amendments” by the House ad hoc committee that run counter to the peace pacts signed by the government and the MILF.
Besides changing the name of the measure, several provisions -- including those that give the Bangsamoro region its own police and military forces and an opt-in provision -- were also taken out by the House ad hoc committee.
The opt-in provision would have allowed nearby areas to join the Bangsamoro region during its fifth and tenth year of establishment, provided that at least 10% of residents agree to the proposal. In the Senate’s version, the opt-in provision will only be allowed once.
The BTC wants Congress to adopt the original 2014 draft law that it gave to the Aquino administration.
House Bill No. 5811 is undergoing plenary debates in the chamber, which have been delayed because of the lack of quorum in recent sessions.
Interpellations on Senate Bill No. 2948 are expected to start on Monday, a week after its initial scheduled start after lawmakers sought more time to study the Senate’s substitute bill. -- Carmencita A. Carillo and Elizabeth E. Escaño