Davide offers ‘play of terminologies’ to resolve contested BBL provisions

FORMER Chief Justice Hilario Davide, a member of the Peace Council, pitched in solutions before lawmakers to plug in the constitutional loopholes in the proposed Bangsamoro basic law (BBL).

During the ad hoc Bangsamoro committee hearing on Monday, Davide gave his responses to questions from panel chairman Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez who challenged certain provisions in the bill for being unconstitutional.

Rodriguez wanted to delete such provisions for the creation of the Bangsamoro Human Rights Commission, Bangsamoro Auditing Body, Bangsamoro Civil Service Office and Bangsamoro Electoral Office.
Rodriguez said these offices usurp the mandate of the existing national bodies formed under the Constitution.
“We cannot dilute the powers given by the Constitution to these bodies,” Rodriguez said.
But Davide, the legal luminary who had served as the country’s highest magistrate, told lawmakers that the BBL may be fixed by rewording the questionable provisions.
In the case of the Bangsamoro commissions, Davide said the word commission may be changed to remove the impression that the bodies are separate and independent from the constitutional bodies.

He added that the spirit of the law intends to make the Bangsamoro committees supplemental to constitutional commissions and not to supplant these established bodies.

“We should probably get another name but not commissions… In other words, the Bangsamoro committee can merely adjust the provision such that you can reconcile with the existing power and authority and duty of the constitutional commissions,” Davide said.

Atty. Christian Monsod, a former Commission on Elections chairman and a member of the Constitutional Commission which drafted the 1987 charter, said the word commission may be replaced with the term “regional body.”

“So if the Bangsamoro audit group is a regional body under the jurisdiction of the central Commission on Audit (COA), the exclusive and primary responsibility is not violated because they’re part of COA,” Monsod said.

Rodriguez also noted the BBL provision that grants the Bangsamoro government the primary duty to discipline its members. This usurps the power of the Office of the Ombudsman and Civil Service Commission (CSC) to discipline errant public officials, he said.

Davide said the provision may be fixed by clarifying that this mandate by the Bangsamoro government does not prejudice the powers of the Ombudsman and CSC.

“It is proposed that the phrase ‘without prejudice to powers of the Ombudsman and CSC’ be inserted to address Ombudsman’s concern that the section diminishes the Ombudsman’s mandate,” Davide said.

“It’s just a play of terminologies,” Davide added when pressed on that the bill clearly gives the Bangsamoro government primary duty to discipline its members.

“At the end of the day, it’s not really primary,” he said.

The House panel conducted its last public hearing over the bill Monday. It is set to vote for its passage May 11 to 12.

President Benigno Aquino III called for the creation of the peace council, composed of Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle, former Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr., Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, Howard Dee and Muslim Princess Bai Rohaniza Sumndad-Usman.

The council of leaders from seven sectors would help the public understand the peace process, and consequently the Bangsamoro bill, which seeks to implement the peace deal with the MILF to create a more politically autonomous Bangsamoro entity. AC