Belmonte pushes for BBL passage before end of 16th Congress
Speaker Feliciano “Sonny” Belmonte Jr. on Monday urged Congress to pass the proposed Bangsamoro basic law (BBL) before the end of the third regular session of the 16th Congress.
Gavels were banged as the third regular session of Congress opened on Monday six hours before President Benigno Aquino III delivers his last State of the Nation Address (Sona).
The House of Representatives opened its session as it faces the challenge of passing the proposed Bangsamoro basic law (BBL) amid stiff opposition from solons who questioned the sincerity for peace of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
“To the end of achieving peace, we are committed to passing the BBL,” Belmonte said in his opening speech.
He said the Mamasapano incident should prompt Congress to make the peace deal a priority and move for the reopening of the peace negotiations even with the Communist Party of the Philippines-National Democratic Front (CPP-NDF).
The deliberations over the BBL were stalled following the Mamasapano incident, when a group of elite cops of the Special Action Force (SAF) were fired upon by some MILF fighters in the latter’s mission to hunt down international terrorist Zulkifli Bin Hir alias Marwan and his Filipino deputy Basit Usman.
READ: BBL timeline moved anew over delay in release of Mamasapano probe report
At least 44 SAF troops, 18 MILF and five civilians were killed in the Jan. 25 incident at Mamasapano town in Maguindanao.
The incident, downplayed as “misencounter,” dampened Congress’ support for the landmark bill that seeks to establish a politically autonomous Bangsamoro region in implementing the peace deal with the MILF.
“After the Mamasapano (incident), we should work toward achieving real and lasting peace in Mindanao. We must also have the courage to finally come to peace with one another and with ourselves by exploring all avenues for peace including the possibility of reopening the peace negotiations with the CPP-NDF,” Belmonte said.
But Belmonte said the bill must be honed to a clear and decisive language to weed out the supposedly unconstitutional provisions for the bill to benefit both the Muslims and non-Muslims.
READ: BBL ‘may need constitutional surgery’
“We must address the long-standing grievances of the Bangsamoro people by empowering them to fully provide for self-expression and commitment. But this has to be complemented by clear and decisive legislative language to accommodate and empower not just the new majority of Muslims in the Bangsamoro but also other groups whose lives, family and work are located in this regionally autonomous area of the Bangsamoro,” Belmonte said.
President Aquino in his 2013 Sona asked Congress to pass the BBL by 2014, to give time for the Bangsamoro Transition Authority in implementing the new Bangsamoro region and for the plebiscite in ratifying the bill. But Congress failed to do so.
Aquino had also wanted Congress to pass the bill in time for his last Sona, but the Mamasapano incident prevented this from happening.
The House of Representatives aims to pass the bill on final reading by September. Should it be approved, the bill would have to go through a voters’ plebiscite. IDL
