Speaker eyes Plan B if Congress junks Bangsamoro Basic Law

MANILA, Philippines—A “Plan B” is needed in case the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) is defeated in Congress, according to Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr.

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte. GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE/PDI

The leader of the House of Representatives acknowledged on Thursday the very real prospect of the BBL being rejected amid the fallout from the Jan. 25 Mamasapano debacle in which 44 Special Action Force commandos on the hunt for suspected terrorists were killed by Moro rebels in Maguindanao.

“Always a possibility. And politics is the art of the possible,” he said via text message when asked if he was prepared for the defeat of the BBL after a Pulse Asia survey showed 44 percent of Filipinos were against BBL and only 21 percent were in favor.

The March 1-7 poll, the results of which were released on Thursday, showed that 36 percent of Filipinos were still undecided on the measure.

The BBL seeks to flesh out the peace agreement signed last year between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

But support for the bill has appeared to crumble in the aftermath of the bloody clash between police Special Action Force (SAF) commandos and fighters from the MILF and breakaway groups such as the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters and the United Justice for Islamic Movement during a counterterrorism operation.

Some 44 SAF troopers, 18 MILF guerrillas and five civilians were killed, sparking outrage and complicating the peace process with the rebel group.

“[I] hope, too, that there’s a Plan B,” Belmonte said when asked if the government had a contingency plan should Congress thumb down the BBL.

But he added that there was still hope for the BBL, noting that “such moral authorities as (Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio) Cardinal Tagle has spoken in favor” of the bill.

The 75-member ad hoc committee on the BBL is poised to resume discussions on the bill in April.

But a sizeable number of lawmakers are pushing for the House to set aside the BBL deliberations for now, and instead to resume the congressional probe on Mamasapano.

READ: House probe on Mamasapano reset to April

“We’re firm in our decision that we do not proceed [with BBL] unless certain things are clarified first,” Minority Leader Ronaldo Zamora said on Wednesday.

He said a petition for the resumption of the congressional Mamasapano probe was gaining ground in the House with 120 signatures collected, most of them from the majority coalition.

More than 100 who signed were majority lawmakers, and more than 50 were regular or ex-officio members of the ad hoc committee, Zamora said.

He reiterated his call for the committees on public order and safety, and peace, unity and reconciliation to continue the aborted hearings, in spite of the apparent reluctance of the House leadership to give it the green light.

The joint inquiry was aborted after only one hearing in February as committee leaders failed to control the scene-grabbing antics of lawmakers.