Opposition to BBL growing as plenary debates start, says House leader

Rep. Eleandro Jesus Madrona with Rep. Rufus Rodriguez (R), chairman of the House ad hoc panel on the Bangsamoro Basic Law, during the second day of voting on the BBL in Congress.  INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/LYN RILLON

THE proposed law creating a new Bangsamoro region in Mindanao has finally reached the plenary of the House of Representatives, but hopes appear to have dimmed on its prospect of being enacted before the adjournment of Congress in two weeks.

Deliberation on the 91-page House Bill 5811 formally began at 5 p.m. with sponsorship speeches delivered by Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, who chaired the 75-member ad hoc panel on the bill, and other committee members.

“It has been a very long, demanding and difficult journey, after eight months of hearings and debates … I am very proud this afternoon to present to the plenary committee report 747 submitted by the ad hoc committee,” he told the body.

“This measure took years in the making, paid for by the blood and tears of our people,” he said, citing the sizeable contributions of Mindanao to the country.

Rodriguez also sought to assuage fears that the new Bangsamoro entity would become a substate that could declare independence. “It’s a mere region of our country under one republic, one flag and one national government,” he said.

But even as the plenary deliberation began on the bill, a House leader expressed doubt about the chances of the measure being approved before the adjournment sine die of Congress on June 11.

Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II said opposition to the proposed Bangsamoro basic law (BBL) had mounted to a point that he could no longer say when it would be passed, much less if it could be done within two weeks.

“We all know that many are opposed to the BBL … I’m not exactly aware of the true number, but it’s a number that, as a majority floor leader, is a cause for concern,” he told reporters on Monday.

He said there would be no problem if only two or three lawmakers were opposed to the measure, as each of them would take at most only three hours to finish interpellation.

“But if you’re talking of 70 or so, then that’s a number that, in a parliamentary setting, is a cause for concern. The deliberation is not just going to be finished so easily,” Gonzales said.

Congress leaders earlier set a self-imposed target of passing the bill into law by June 11, in time for signing by the President before the State of the Nation Address in July, but a series of delays had prompted adjustments.

Gonzales cited the case of another contentious measure, the Reproductive Health (RH) bill, which took almost two decades to pass into law, including two years of interpellation in the 15th Congress.

Unlike the BBL, which was submitted to Congress in September, he said the RH bill enjoyed a bigger window of time in the previous Congress to be discussed on the floor.

This early, some lawmakers have threatened to question the quorum, Gonzales said. “We will see. That’s the story of our life in the next few days,” he said.

The bill, now reduced to 91 pages after committee amendments, is still some way from enactment at the House. After plenary debates, it will be put to a final vote on third reading by the 289-strong chamber.

The proposed law will repeal Republic Act 9054, which created the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), giving more funds and political rights to the Bangsamoro government.

It defines the Bangsamoro people and geographical area, identifies its exclusive rights as well as those shared with the national government, and provides for a parliamentary form of government for its leaders.

The House version approved by the Rodriguez panel was largely unchanged from the draft submitted by the executive based on a peace deal signed last year with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

But some notable amendments made it, including a substantial change in the wording of the controversial “opt-in” provision allowing contiguous areas to join the new Bangsamoro area through a plebiscite in the fifth and 10th year upon passage of the law.

The bill previously called the Bangsamoro Basic Law has been renamed the Basic Law of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region.

The House bill further adds a definition of the “asymmetric relationship” between the national and Bangsamoro government, based on the constitutional definition of autonomous regions that are granted “more powers and less intervention” than other political subdivisions.

President Aquino’s allies and a bloc of Mindanao lawmakers had blocked most of the proposed changes introduced by the members of the Rodriguez panel. SFM/ABC

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