Congress eyes BBL passage before PNoy's final SONA

The chairman of the House panel deliberating on the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) has assured the measure will be passed by both chambers of Congress before President Benigno Aquino III gives his sixth and final State of the Nation Address (SONA) on July 27.

 

According to Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, Aquino has vowed to certify the Bangsamoro bill as urgent after the House ad hoc committee on the BBL passes its version of the measure and comes up with a draft committee report.

 

“Ang sini-certify as urgent ng president based on practice is the approved committee report. The president has promised that once we have already the approved BBL draft of the committee, it will be certified by him as urgent,” he told dzBB radio in an interview Sunday.

Special sessions, if needed

 

While both the House and Senate have agreed to pass the Bangsamoro bill by June 11, the last day of session before Congress adjourns sine die, Rodriguez said Senate President Franklin Drilon has expressed openness to holding special sessions to ensure the measure is passed before Aquino delivers his final SONA.

 

However, the lawmaker said he will have to get House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr.’s approval to hold special sessions after Congress adjourns. 

 

“We have to get the Speaker on the special session-- that was the agreement between me and Senator Drilon. I have also talked to Senator Bongbong Marcos on the provisions [of the Bangsamoro bill]. In case by June 11 [deliberations are] not yet finished in the bicam, the Senate president will not oppose but in fact will push for the special session so that by June 30, the agreement of both Houses [to pass the bill] will be fulfilled and the President will be able to sign it,” he said.

 

Marcos chairs the Senate committee on local government discussing the BBL.

 

Peace council

 

The Bangsamoro bill, a product of the peace agreement signed by the government and Moro Islamic Liberation Front in 2014, seeks to create a new political entity that will replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

 

On Monday, Rodriguez’s committee is set to hold its final public hearing on the Bangsamoro bill, otherwise known as House Bill 4994, with members of the Peace Council and other civil society leaders as resource persons.

 

“We want to hear them (peace council) for the last time because they were only able to sign their recommendations last  Friday… We’re going to distribute their recommendations, which we think are very important because we want to be inclusive. Their recommendations will be an additional consideration. It will help the congressmen in voting on the specific provisions of the BBL,” he said. 

 

The Peace Council is comprised of Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle, former Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr., businessman Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, former Philippine Ambassador to the Holy See and Malta Howard Dee, and Bai Rohaniza Sumndad-Usman.

 

The council was convened by President Benigno Aquino III last month to review the Bangsamoro bill.

 

Aside from the peace council members, among other citizen leaders who will be invited to the hearing are Atty. Christian Monsod and Dr. Wilfrido Villacorta, members of the 1986 Constitutional Commission, Ayala Foundation consultant Vicky Garchitorena, and Archbishops Orlando Cardinal Quevedo of Cotabato and Antonio Ledesma of Cagayan de Oro.

 

Dialogue with MILF 

 

After the public hearings end, Rodriguez said he will request a meeting with a representative of the MILF through the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process to discuss the amendments his committee plans to introduce to the Bangsamoro bill.

 

The House committee on BBL is eyeing to delete at least seven provisions which it believes are unconstitutional, as well as the one authorizing the conduct of a plebiscite in any territory contiguous to the Bangsamoro region where 10 percent of residents want to join the new political entity because members of the panel see it as a form of “creeping territorial expansion.”

 

Rodriguez said lawmakers would want to dialogue with the MILF to explain their reasons for proposing the removal of certain provisions in the measure. 

 

“We would want to sit down with them (MILF) and explain because we want more cooperation and unity here… [The dialogue will be] more of explaining to them because there’s already quite a consensus about our provision,” he said.

 

The lawmaker said they might consider further refining the amendments after the dialogue with the MILF since House members, after all, “do not have the monopoly of right or correct ideas.”

 

Committee voting on May 11, 12

 

While the MILF has warned against the passage of a “diluted” version of the proposed BBL, Rodriguez remains optimistic the group will accept the amended measure the House will pass.

 

“While the MILF seeks the maximum position that they want in negotiations —  which is to have no changes made to the BBL — they also know that legislators will really scrutinize the bill. I believe in the final analysis, when this BBL is passed without the eight provisions they wanted to have, they (MILF) will still accept it,” he said. 

 

Rodriguez’s panel is set to vote on the HB 4994 section by section on May 11 and 12. — Xianne Arcangel/JDS, GMA News