Palace wants solons to study, reconsider BBL opt-in provision

Malacañang is still optimistic that lawmakers would reconsider the controversial “opt-in provision” of the draft Bangsamoro Basic Law.

The opt-in provision allows contiguous areas to join the proposed Bangsamoro political entity, which is a product of the peace pact between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

It was deleted from the draft of the House of Representatives as lawmakers argue that it will boost the chance of the bill’s passage.

READ: House scraps opt-in proviso in draft BBL | Senate president: No to ‘opt-in’ provision of BBL

“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,” House Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II said in an earlier interview.

This week, Congress adjourned as it failed to meet its earlier target of passing the BBL on third and final reading.

“The time that they will adjourn can be used to study the provision more carefully, and then we can continue consultations,” Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Abigail Valte said over state-run radio.

She explained that lawmakers can still conduct public consultations despite the session break.

“And I hope, we do hope, that our legislators take the time also—to take this time while they are not in session to study again carefully, more carefully, the provision in question,” she said.

Under the proposed bill, “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.”

Territories may be included if a majority vote is reached during the plebiscite.

READ: BBL sponsor for scrapping of opt-in ‘creeping expansion’ provision

As for Senator Bongbong Marcos’ substitute bill, Valte said will have to “defer comment” since they have yet to be given a copy of it.

Marcos earlier said the present form of the BBL “will not bring us any closer to peace” and will instead “lead us to perdition.”

READ: Marcos: BBL will lead us to perdition | Bongbong Marcos: My BBL will be based on logic

Valte said the proposed Bangsamoro should not be compared with the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, which some claim to have been a failure.

“The Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro, and the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro, as well as all the negotiations had the past in mind—how to avoid the mistakes of the past, how to make sure that we avoid the pitfalls of the past,” she said.