Aquino fails to see dream of BBL passage before his last SONA

Filipino Muslims pray during an interfaith rally to call for unity and peace in southern Philippines Friday, March 6, 2015 at a park in Quezon city, northeast of Manila, Philippines. AP

PRESIDENT Benigno Aquino III had wanted the Bangsamoro region to be established before his term ends in 2016. He had asked the House of Representatives and Senate to pass the law that would implement the peace deal with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) before he would deliver his last State of the Nation Address (SONA) in 2015.

It did not happen.

Delay is the operative word to describe the status of the BBL in the legislative mill. In his 2013 SONA, Aquino had asked Congress to pass the BBL before 2014 ends, in order to give time for the Bangsamoro Transition Authority to prepare for the establishment of the Bangsamoro region before he steps down in 2016.

“Umaasa po ako sa pakikiambag ng bawat Pilipino sa layunin natin para sa Bangsamoro. Ipakita po natin sa kanilang hindi sila nagkamali sa pagpili sa direksyon ng kapayapaan … Maipasa po sana ninyo ito bago matapos ang 2014. Sa gayong paraan, may sapat tayong panahon para makapaghanda sa paghalal ng bagong pamahalaang Bangsamoro sa 2016,” Aquino said in his 2013 SONA. This also did not happen.

Malacañang is partly to be blamed for the delay, as it was able to submit the draft bill only in September 2014. In his SONA in July 2014, Aquino appealed to Congress for understanding: “Mahalaga pong maging masusi ang paghimay natin ng bawat probisyong ilalatag. Sa abot ng ating makakaya, isusulong natin ang isang panukalang batas na makatwiran, makatarungan, at katanggap-tanggap sa lahat.”

But the bill suffered delay not only because of failure to meet deadlines. It also suffered setback due to questions over sincerity for peace.

Just when Congress is set to finish its committee deliberations on the landmark legislation, some MILF fighters and other Muslim rebels opened fire at a contingent of the police special Action Force (SAF) on January 25 this year in a mission to hunt down two most wanted terrorists in Mamasapano, Maguindanao. In an instant, Congress doubted the MILF’s sincerity in the peace process.

“Certainly, the deaths (of elite cops) set back everything…There has to be an evaluation of the peace process, and even this bill here. That would be something that will douse the enthusiasm of the people…(The MILF) has to clarify its role. They are our partners for peace,” ad hoc Bangsamoro committee chair Cagayan De Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez said on Jan. 26, or a day after the tragic incident.

An enactment of the government peace deal would have been Aquino’s legacy – an attempt to pass a law that could end the decades-long Muslim insurgency by inviting them in the fold of the law, and institutionalizing a new Moro government before he steps down.

More than a year since the comprehensive peace agreement was signed in March 2014, Aquino’s dream remains unfulfilled.

The BBL hurdled the committee level in a vote of 50-17 on May 20, amid allegations of railroading by some lawmakers who approved the Malacañang version of the bill. It would be interpellated by at least 30 congressmen. It is eyed to be passed on second and on third reading by September this year.

Critics questioned the constitutionality of the so-called opt-in provision in the proposed BBL that would allow provinces contiguous to the Bangsamoro core territory to join the new autonomous region in a voters’ plebiscite, raising fears this would make Mindanao representatives lose their constituencies to the new Moro government.

Mandaluyong Rep. Neptali Gonzales II, the majority leader whose mandate is to ensure attendance of majority members for the passage of priority bills, admitted the difficulty in approving the controversial bill, especially in the House of Representatives with each of their own local interests.

He said the opt-in provision would be deleted in the period of amendments to ease the stiff opposition on the floor.

Passing the controversial legislation in Congress is a possibility, especially for priority bills agreed upon by both Houses of Congress. This was the case of the Reproductive Health bill, which was passed by Congress in December 2012. An endorsement by the President quelled all criticisms against the RH bill.

But not all bills have the convenience of speedy legislation. Instead, despite its apparent significance to the ordinary Filipinos, these continue to languish in Congress.

FOI

The freedom of information (FOI) bill is priority legislation in Congress. It was approved by the public information committee in November 2014, after a year of committee deliberations. It was approved by the appropriations committee for funding in May 2015.

The plenary debate is the next step before the FOI sees the light of day in Congress. But the BBL trumped all other debates on the floor, including the FOI, when it reached the plenary in June 2015. Gonzales said this is just the natural order of things in Congress, which focuses on its most important bills first.

“Yung FOI, syempre, nakapila ’yan. [But] the BBL comes first,” Gonzales said in a radio interview on July 19. (The Senate has approved its version of FOI as early as March 2014).

Cebu City Rep. Raul Del Mar said the FOI bill has been languishing in Congress for 28 years. He said he first saw the FOI in the 8th Congress during his first stint as representative. The FOI had its first taste of luck under the 14th Congress in 2010 when it reached bicameral conference, but it was killed due to lack of quorum.

“It’s been in Congress for some 28 years. Every Congress had an FOI bill filed,” Del Mar said in press conference on May 27.

The passage of the FOI would have institutionalized a culture of transparency in the government about its transactions. But critics have said the approved bill was adopted from Malacañang’s version of the bill studded with several exemptions to the general rule of transparency.

Anti-political dynasty bill

Another bill stalled in the House was the measure prohibiting the proliferation of political dynasties. The measure intends to put a dynasty cap of one relative per politician.

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., who himself has relatives in elective positions, wanted the bill to be amended to allow at least two relatives in public office. He also said the bill that would be passed would allow politicians’ relatives to run in other jurisdictions and get away with it.

The original dynasty cap of one family member in an elective position was criticized on the floor, for it would mean laying off at least 180 members of the 290-strong chamber. Meanwhile, a dynasty cap of at least two family members in politics would affect only 60 of 290 members.

The bill hurdled the suffrage and electoral reforms committee in November 2013. It reached the plenary for debates on May 2014.

Speaker Belmonte has said he wanted the bill to be passed on second reading before the congressional break on June 10, but it failed to get through amid a reported walkout by lawmakers to avoid a quorum.

Now, the anti-political dynasty bill would remain in a coma until other priority bills are finished. Gonzales said the challenge in the controversial bill is the opposition from congressmen who came from political clans themselves.

“The mere fact na itong anti political dynasty, for the first time in the history of Congress ay lumabas at natalakay at umabot sa individual amendments…Sa bandang huli, political reality sets in,” Gonzales said.

Belmonte has said the bill has chances of passing only if it’s watered down.

“Perhaps it’s not the perfect anti-dynasty bill, but at least we have an anti-dynasty law and not a situation where the 1987 Constitution says Congress should pass an anti-dynasty law , and after so many years, we haven’t passed [one], and we’re even scared to talk about it… It’s not the ideal thing but at least we have a start,” Belmonte said in a June 10 interview

Economic bills

If Congress has to be lauded for its credit, it is for the passage of important economic bills that would improve market competition and demolish economic cartels hindering economic growth.

President Aquino has signed into law the Philippine Competition Act and the Liberalized Cabotage Law on July 21.

The Philippine Competition bill, which seeks to demolish economic monopolies to boost market competition, was approved on third reading by the House in May 2015. The bill had been languishing in Congress for three decades.

The chamber approved the amendment to the Cabotage law on third reading in May 2015. The signed law, which had languished in Congress since the 11th Congress, seeks to lower import and export costs by allowing foreign vessels from a foreign port to carry foreign cargo for import and export to their domestic port of final destination.

But these are bills not directly affecting the masses. What the House passed that can directly be felt by the people is the bill that seeks to increase the tax exemption cap for bonuses, which was approved on third reading in September 2014 and signed into law in February 2015.

Still a long way to go

These are just among the pertinent pieces of legislation passed and are still in limbo in the Aquino administration. Those in the priority list passed into law are the Marina law amendments, the Sandiganbayan law which increases the divisions from five to seven, the Iskolar ng Bayan Act, the mandatory PhilHealth coverage for all senior citizens, the Act strengthening the anti-illegal drugs law, among others.

There are other bills that have received the support of the majority – the anti-discrimination bill, for one, that would prohibit discrimination based on race and gender in the work place and other venues, and which hurdled the committee in February 2015. There is also the bill that would lower the income tax rate on ordinary workers, and which was approved by the technical working group. Another is the bill that would extend the issuance of land coverages to farmers, which were not issued before the expiry of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program, as it faced stiff opposition from landlord lawmakers.

There is one year left for Congress to tackle these until the next 17th Congress and under a different presidency. Majority Leader Gonzales has said the chamber would try its best.

“There are really instances when bills take several congresses before these are passed. That’s why the support of the people is needed, so that these bills have another shot in the next Congress,” Gonzales said in Filipino.

There is certainly a long way to go.