House panel chair confident of BBL passage on June 11

Video by Ryan Leagogo/INQUIRER.net

THE chairman of the House ad hoc committee on the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) expressed confidence that the lower chamber will be able to pass its amended version of the proposed law by June 11 or the last session day of the House of Representatives.

Cagayan De Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez issued this pronouncement as the panel votes on the draft law page by page.

“By June 11, the House of Representatives would have already approved the amended version of the BBL,” Rodriguez said during the sidelines of the ongoing hearing on the proposed law.

He said that after hurdling the committee level, the amended draft law will undergo deliberation in the Committee on Appropriations and Committee on Ways and Means before it will be tackled in the plenary.

“I believe that the hearings in the Ways and Means and in Appropriations will not be long because there are only seven provisions on Ways and Means and about eight provisions pertaining to the budget,” he said.

The lawmaker said that although the committee is expediting the passage of the BBL in the committee level, every lawmaker is given the chance to talk and participate.

“We have the time, we are giving everyone to speak and there’s the voting so there is a democratic process,” he added.

Rodriguez has earlier stated that the committee’s hearings on Tuesday and Wednesday will start at 9:30 a.m. and will last until 10 p.m.

The lawmaker reiterated that President Benigno Aquino III has no hand in the new working draft of the proposed law.

Meanwhile, ACT Teachers Rep. Antonio Tinio countered Rodriguez’s claim saying that after the House leaders’ meeting with Aquino over the weekend, administration allies have blocked amendments on the proposed law.

“The proposed draft is the marching order of Aquino. That is why the voting process remains the same throughout the hearing: the administration allies uphold the working draft and only a small number of amendments are being permitted,” Tinio said.

He slammed the decision of the body to thumb down amendments pushed by the Makabayan bloc such as the provision of agrarian reform and the shift in the responsibility of the Bangsamoro Police force on peace and order.

The lawmaker warned that a watered-down BBL will be the version to be deliberated upon in the plenary next week.

About 15 amendments have been carried in Tuesday’s hearing so far, which include the removal of the “wali” or the ceremonial leader of the Bangsamoro and the provision stating that 10 percent of the Bangsamoro Police Force should be composed of women.

As of 5:20 p.m., the committee has tackled 62 pages of the 109-page BBL draft. AC