House scraps opt-in proviso in draft BBL

By: DJ Yap - 9 years ago

House majority leader Neptali Gonzales II. INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO

House Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II: Better chances

Leaders of the House of Representatives on Monday agreed to scrap the contentious opt-in provision in the draft Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) that would allow contiguous areas to join the proposed Moro substate in Mindanao.

House Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II said the decision was reached at a meeting of chamber and party leaders with Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. to boost the chances of the bill being passed into law.

“One of the most controversial provisions in the BBL would be the opt-in, and I think if it’s scrapped … many of those whose advocacy is to oppose the BBL simply because of fear, whether real or imaginary, that they may be included later in the [Bangsamoro] through the opt-in provision, their opposition will dissolve,” Gonzales said.

“At this point, if we are to approve any BBL, what matters is the vote … to make sure that the BBL has a chance in the House,” he said.

Speaking to reporters, Gonzales said Belmonte recommended the deletion of the opt-in provision after listening to his colleagues’ reservations about it.

Gonzales said removing the provision would put to rest fears by lawmakers from provinces near the envisioned Bangsamoro region, such as Palawan and Sarangani provinces.

10 percent

Under the House version of the proposed BBL, “any local government unit or geographical area outside the territorial jurisdiction of the Bangsamoro but which are contiguous to any of the component units of the Bangsamoro and within the area of autonomy identified in the 1976 Tripoli Agreement, may opt to be part of the Bangsamoro by filing a petition of at least 10 percent of the registered voters of the interested LGU or geographical area.”

Inclusion shall be effective when approved by a majority vote in a plebiscite of political units directly affected. But petitions may only be filed after the fifth and 10th year after the enactment of the Bangsamoro law.

This provision was added to the House version during a meeting with President Aquino on the eve of the committee voting in May when the ad hoc panel chaired by Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez was finalizing its working draft.

Curiously, Rodriguez had previously proposed removing the opt-in provision entirely before the new version was drafted in Malacañang. The last-minute inclusion of new clauses in the provision elicited alarm from a number of lawmakers who warned of the “creeping expansion” of the Bangsamoro.

Minority Leader Ronaldo Zamora said the reference to the Tripoli Agreement was particularly worrying as it implied the potential inclusion of provinces that had previously voted against joining the existing Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

The proposed BBL seeks to create the new Bangsamoro entity that will replace the ARMM under the peace agreement the Aquino administration signed with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) last year to end the decades-long separatist insurgency in Mindanao.

The proposed charter of the Bangsamoro substate hit a snag following widespread outrage over the massacre of 44 police commandos on Jan. 25 while on a mission to take out terrorists in the MILF-controlled area in Maguindanao province.

The concerns raised about the opt-in provision promoted disavowals from a number of lawmakers, including Rep. Manny Pacquiao of Sarangani, who said he was against the inclusion of his district in the Bangsamoro even though he supported the BBL.

Gonzales, however, said there was only a misunderstanding about the Tripoli clause, as the local government units still needed to satisfy the requirement of contiguity in order to join the Bangsamoro.

At the meeting, the chamber leaders also agreed unanimously to abandon the June 11 target to pass the draft BBL on third reading, and instead complete interpellation on Wednesday.

Based on this new timeline, the House will start the period of amendments after the President delivers his final State of the Nation Address (Sona) on July 27.

Gonzales said the removal of the opt-in provision could be done during this period, when lawmakers would be allowed to introduce amendments to the measure page by page. “I think one month for the period of amendments should be enough,” he said.

Other major issues

Gonzales, however, said the removal of the opt-in provision did not necessarily mean that passing the proposed BBL in the House was a sure thing. “There are other contentious provisions,” he said, citing sections on energy.

“If we settle the language on the energy provisions, I think a substantial number of members will be supportive. Even Celso says he’s not against BBL per se,” Gonzales said, referring to one of BBL’s staunchest critics, Zamboanga City Rep. Celso Lobregat.

Gonzales said the new target was to pass the measure within two months after the President’s Sona, as the chamber would have to prioritize the budget for 2016 sometime in the last weeks of September.

Senate leaders earlier set for October the target for passing the draft BBL.

Gonzales also said the decision to put off passing the proposed BBL after the close of the second regular session meant that the Bangsamoro elections could no longer be synchronized with the 2016 national elections.

The executive had been exerting pressure on Congress to pass the BBL before the Sona precisely to meet the target of synchronizing the elections.

But Gonzales said this was no longer possible.

Elections

“Say we finish by October, the plebiscite will be after three months, but you don’t have to immediately hold the elections… The [Bangsamoro] elections can be held after the election of next year, so the ones elected first shall serve up to June 30, 2019,” he said.

By 2019, the Bangsamoro elections can be synchronized with the national elections. “I see nothing wrong with that,” Gonzales said.

The proposed law will repeal Republic Act No. 9054, which created the 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.

Because of the delayed timetable, Senate President Franklin Drilon on Monday said in a TV interview the Senate would consult with the Commission on Elections on the possibility of moving the October deadline it had set for the filing of certificates of candidacy.

Under the law, the May 2016 national elections will be synchronized with the ARMM elections and thus, if Congress fails to pass the draft BBL by October, the ARMM elections will push through.—With a report from Christine O. Avendaño