Rephrasing provisions not enough to make BBL constitutional, say lawmakers

MANILA, Philippines — Lawmakers in the House of Representatives said rephrasing the unconstitutional provisions of the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) is not enough for the proposed measure to pass the scrutiny of Congress.

The lawmakers were reacting to a statement by government peace panel chair Miriam Coronel-Ferrer who urged Congress to “rephrase” the provisions instead of weeding it out to make the bill constitutional.

“Ayusin lang ang language to avoid that kind of interpretation that it is usurping powers of the Constitution, but not entirely remove it. May purpose din ‘yan eh,” Ferrer told reporters during a seminar on conflict reporting organized by the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines on Sunday.

Ferrer said this constitutional glitch may be fixed by calling the bodies with other terms.

“If you call the Commission on Audit confusing for the Bangsamoro, call it something else. Bakit hindi auditing body or an auditor? Hindi naman ata mali (It’s not wrong at all),”Ferrer said.

The ad hoc Bangsamoro committee removed the following provisions for being unconstitutional: the creation of the Bangsamoro’s own audit committee, Ombudsman, civil service, human rights commission and elections commission.

Committee chair Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez has said the aforementioned provisions usurp the powers of the already existing constitutional bodies.

In a phone interview, Rodriguez said rephrasing the said provisions is not enough to make constitutional the bill, which seeks to implement the government peace deal with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to create a more politically autonomous Bangsamoro entity.

“No rephrasing will make it constitutional. The unconstitutional provisions cannot be rephrased,” Rodriguez said.

He said the panel again amended their deadline for committee approval on May 18, and for plenary discussions until the first week of June before it is approved in the House on third and final reading.

Meanwhile, the bill once it is ratified with the Senate version is targeted to be signed by the President June 30, Rodriguez said.

Asked if the government is pressuring Congress to railroad the bill, Rodriguez said the committee has been tackling the bill since September last year and is therefore not rushing to pass the bill.

“Malacanang is not imposing anything. It has never imposed anything to us. September pa kami nag-umpisa dito, committee hearings for six months, and another three months (before final approval). That is a very sufficient time for the bill,” Rodriguez said.

Zamboanga city Rep. Celso Lobregat said the government peace panel in defending the unconstitutional provisions seems to be speaking as “lawyers” of the MILF.

He said such provisions only cause confusion between the powers of the Bangsamoro bodies and of the constitutional bodies already in place.

“Bakit mo pa i-re-rephrase? I think they have to accept that their mandate is to make sure the negotiations are within the Constitution. They went more on the flexibilities. Why go the risk of legal acrobatics?” Lobregat said.

“The panel is supposed to represent the interests of the Philippine government. But they are now becoming spokespersons and attorneys of the MILF,” he added.

Davao city Rep. Karlo Nograles said it would be better to weed out the unconstitutional provisions to avoid the risk of it being struck down by the Supreme Court.

“We have reasons why it may not be acceptable to us because it risks the possibility of being struck down as unconstitutional,” he said.

Nograles said the creation of the Bangsamoro bodies with similar functions as the national bodies will pose problems on constitutionality.

“These are constitutional bodies under the 1987 Constitution and if you’re creating these bodies again separate and distinct, then we will have a problem on constitutionality,” he said.

The Bangsamoro committee also struck down the provision granting the chief minister primary control over the Bangsamoro police force, saying the latter should be under the supervision of the Philippine National Police.

Rodriguez said such control over the Bangsamoro police is controversial especially in light of the Mamasapano tragedy, the Jan. 25 operational disaster meant to take down two terrorists in Maguindanao, which ended in the deaths of 44 Special Action Force (SAF) cops at the hands of the MILF.

The incident rocked congressional support on the MILF, and subsequently on the BBL.

Rodriguez also said the panel struck down as unconstitutional the provision allowing contiguous areas to be placed under the Bangsamoro entity upon a petition of at least 10 percent of its registered voters.
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