Gov’t exudes confidence on BBL: There’s no plan B

COTABATO CITY—No plan B.

This is how confident the government peace panel in talks with Moro rebels is about the passage of the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), which President Aquino is expected to submit to Congress today (Wednesday).

“The President is a popular President,” said professor Miriam Coronel-Ferrer, head of the panel that negotiated a peace agreement with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

“He enjoys much support from most members of Congress,” she added.

Speaking at a forum here yesterday, Ferrer said the government panel did not craft an alternative measure because it was confident of the BBL’s passage with the endorsement of President Benigno Aquino III.

“We have no plan B for that,” she said.

Ferrer said the support of the President’s allies in Congress made the panel confident of the passage of the measure.

Aquino would personally submit today the proposed BBL to Congress in rites to be held in Malacañang to be attended by the leaders of Congress—Senate President Franklin Drilon and House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr.

A meeting last week between Aquino and Murad Ebrahim, MILF chair, proved to be the breakthrough for the much-awaited submission of the draft law to Congress, according to Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr.

“There is a sense of urgency,” said Coloma. “That’s why they took the opportunity to meet face-to-face,” he added.

He said “all of the concerns were sufficiently resolved to the satisfaction of both sides.” He refused to elaborate, however, saying the President stopped short of revealing the details. Aquino is certifying the BBL as an urgent measure.

But the meeting, according to Coloma, “strengthened the ties between the President and chair Murad.”

According to Ferrer, the draft BBL contains provisions in the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro, the peace agreement signed in Malacañang, and more details on governance, starting with the formation of a Bangsamoro Transition Authority.

Should Congress reject the BBL, however, Ferrer said, the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), which Aquino administration officials described as a failed experiment in autonomy, would remain in place.

“This is a repealing law,” Ferrer said. “And if it cannot repeal the existing law, then it’s still the ARMM,” she said.

According to Coloma, the draft BBL that would be submitted today is the “agreed version” after the MILF in June protested revisions made by the legal team of the Office of the President in an earlier draft.

The MILF had said the revisions watered down the original draft. Nikko Dizon in Manila, with a report from Nash B. Maulana, Inquirer Mindanao