Minority bloc gets committee support to postpone Bangsamoro law hearings

MANILA, Philippines—The minority bloc was able to get the support of majority of the ad hoc Bangsamoro committee to suspend the deliberations over the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) which was set to be tackled during the Holy Week break.

“We already have more than 50 members of the 98 members (including regular and ex-officio members) of the ad hoc committee. In short we have a majority of the ad hoc committee,” minority leader Ronaldo Zamora said in a press conference on Wednesday.

The minority bloc is calling for the suspension of the hearings on the Bangsamoro basic bill as it pushes for the resumption of the probe on the Mamasapano debacle that left 67 persons, including Special Action Force commandos, Moro fighters and civilians, dead in a botched antiterror raid.

The botched operation that involved Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in the attack dampened congressional support on the bill that sought to implement the government peace deal with MILF and create a Bangsamoro entity.

Zamora however denied that the bloc was holding hostage the passage of the bill.

“We are not holding anything hostage. We are not in a position to hold anything hostage. We are less than 10 percent in the House,” Zamora said of the bill Congress sought to pass by June.

The ad hoc Bangsamoro committee suspended its deliberations pending the investigation results of the police board of inquiry and the Senate on the debacle.

Now that the two reports are out, the Bangsamoro committee is set to conduct executive sessions on the security and defense provisions of the bill during the Holy Week break.

Panel chair Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez has said the committee was almost 90 percent in deliberating on the bill sans the security provisions.

The committee is set to approve the bill by April for third reading approval in the plenary by June. The President is eyeing to sign the bill into law on June 30.