‘BBL passage deadline not set in stone’

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet—Senate President Franklin Drilon said the deadline he set for the passage of the controversial Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) in June was not set in stone, given too many discussions about its supposedly unconstitutional provisions.

“We will have to improve the language [of the BBL, as presented under House Bill No. 4994 and Senate Bill No. 2408] in the course of the debates,” Drilon said.

He said Congress “will not be necessarily bound by the exact language of BBL [proponents] if we determine that it may be declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.”

Some lawmakers have challenged the BBL provisions that run counter to the Constitution, among them a supposed plan to form Bangsamoro offices on audit, elections, civil service and human rights that would not operate under the supervision of their national agency counterparts.

But the BBL needs to be passed by yearend, Drilon said yesterday on the sidelines of the Benguet State University commencement exercises here where he was the speaker.

He said the BBL must be in place this year because a future Bangsamoro autonomous government “can be the foundation for investment and job generation” in Mindanao.

“The target is still June, but let me emphasize that this is a target and we will see if we can do it,” he said. “We will make adjustments along the way. What we can assure the people is that we will work and have this passed because we believe that this is necessary for peace and stability in Mindanao.”

He said the consensus in the Senate was that it would not agree to a BBL that could be challenged in court, like the proposed Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD), an agreement brokered in Malaysia between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

The MOA-AD would have expanded the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao under the stewardship of a Bangsamoro Juridical Entity, but it was struck down as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.

“We can’t allow the BBL [to be struck down by the SC]. That would be a waste,” Drilon said.