BBL amendments ‘90% OK’ with ‘uneasy’ MILF

GIVING BBL A HAND Supporters of the Bangsamoro Basic Law in the House of Representatives signify their approval of some provisions with a show of hands during the second day of voting. Backing the controversial proposed law are (from left) Representatives Pangalian Balindong, Maryam Arbison and Sitti Djalia Turabin-Hataman. LYN RILLON

The amendments made by congressmen to the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) are making the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) “uneasy,” its chief peace negotiator, Mohagher Iqbal, said on Tuesday.

Iqbal described the proceedings in the House of Representatives as “90 percent OK,” but there were some amendments that took away “substantial” parts of the draft BBL.

He told the Inquirer by phone the changes were “watering down” the measure that would create a new Bangsamoro autonomous region, the centerpiece of the peace agreement signed between the government and MILF last year to end the decades-long war in Central Mindanao.

Asked if President Aquino’s meeting with select members of the House ad hoc committee before the proceedings in Congress was an assurance to the MILF that the government was keeping to its commitments, Iqbal replied: “To some extent, yes. But what is happening in the House… We are uneasy about it.”

By signing the peace agreement, the MILF offered to give up its separatist campaign and opt for a substate that would take over the existing Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

Iqbal, who was in Manila monitoring proceedings in the House, said among the amendments so far made to which the MILF did not “accept in principle” was the inclusion of the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act (Ipra) in the proposed Bangsamoro law. He said the Ipra was not part of the peace deal.

Melanio Ulama, a Teduray leader and member of the Bangsamoro Transition Commission, has said that the Bangsamoro Parliament would create a ministry or department specifically for the indigenous peoples.

Maguindanao Rep. Bai Sandra Sema moved for the retention of the original provisions in Article V discussing Powers of Government, including those for the indigenous peoples, but her motion lost, 22-8.

On its official website, the MILF expressed belief that “in the end… the BBL would be ours.”

The MILF said its optimism stemmed from the belief in the “collective wisdom of Congress that they will pass a good BBL; that the voices of reason and peace will eventually overpower the yelling of war freaks and deviants; that once President Aquino committed to something, he will fulfill it; and that Almighty God will hear the prayers of those who want the BBL to pass and peace to reign in our lands.”

In a separate statement on Tuesday, the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) said that its leader, Abul Khayr Alonto, had appealed at a Senate hearing not to dilute the proposed BBL.

Alonto said at the Senate hearing on Monday that a diluted and mangled BBL “would spell great injustice not just to the two negotiating panels that labored on the negotiating table for 17 years to reach this point but more importantly to the Bangsamoro people.”

“We now stand together with the MILF as one for the immediate passage of the Bangsamoro Basic Law based on the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro,” Alonto said.

The MNLF statement also quoted Undersecretary Jose Lorena of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process, as saying that the draft BBL “will not abrogate previous agreements with the MNLF” and would “instead build on gains of previous agreements… to achieve comprehensive, genuine and meaningful autonomy.”

On Day 2 of voting on the draft BBL, lawmakers in the minority waged a valiant but generally fruitless campaign to introduce major amendments to the Malacañang-approved working draft by the ad hoc panel.

By midday, only a few minor amendments survived the second round of voting, as administration allies and BBL supporters refused to accept most of the changes proposed by other members that were not already included in the version drafted in President Aquino’s company on Sunday.

Zamboanga City Rep. Celso Lobregat continued his tirade against the apparent numbers game, proposing one amendment after the other but losing almost every time.

“It’s really a sad day for Congress,” he said on Monday night after the first round of voting had allowed none but two amendments to the draft BBL.

“Others said, ‘You’d lose anyway, why not let the whole thing pass?’ And I said, you know, the whole world is watching. They expect that at least the salient points of the bill would be brought out, and I have been bringing out the salient points of the bill,” he said.

At the start of Tuesday’s meeting, Lobregat repeated this grievance by noting that even though the session on Monday had drawn the presence of 91 lawmakers, including non-members, the votes the minority could muster in favor of a particular amendment would not go over 20, while the majority vote never went over 40.

His question implied that with only fewer than 60 lawmakers actually voting, what were the others there for?

But Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, the chair of the 75-member committee, dismissed the question: “Many would come in and then go, so there aren’t really that many at any given time. Plurality is the rule in this committee,” he said.

North Cotabato Rep. Nancy Catamco was the first to succeed in pushing for an amendment to the working draft.

She proposed that the section protecting indigenous peoples (IP) be placed under concurrent powers, or those shared with the national government, rather than under the exclusive powers of the Bangsamoro government.

The second amendment that won the vote of the body came from an unexpected source: Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Zarate.

He had proposed the restoration of the provision in the original draft submitted by the executive to Congress granting exclusive powers over Bangsamoro settlements to the Bangsamoro government.

The lawmakers were expected to work well into the night to finish as many of the 109 pages of the draft law.

Lobregat played along when his minor amendments were approved, with applause from his colleagues. These included no longer mentioning the names of certain indigenous tribes (supposedly to avoid showing bias), having the one of two deputy chief ministers who is more senior of age to succeed in case of the chief minister’s death or resignation, and stating the salary grade instead of fixing the amount of salary for the Bangsamoro chief minister, deputy chief ministers and Cabinet secretaries.

Among his major amendments which were shot down would have done away with a Bangsamoro Electoral Code; expressly restricted the proposed Bangsamoro Parliament from redistricting the existing congressional districts; excluded civil and criminal law from the Sharia laws that the Bangsamoro parliament can enact; and stated that the transitional justice mechanism apply to non-Muslim settlers in the proposed Bangsamoro autonomous region.

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