Deles believes BBL will be passed before 2016 budget

Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Teresita Deles. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — Despite setbacks in the passage of the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), presidential adviser on the peace process Teresita Quintos-Deles believes that the measure will still be passed before it is eclipsed by budget deliberations in Congress.

“That is what we are working for and the political leadership remains committed to that,” Deles told the Philippine Daily Inquirer on the sidelines of a multisectoral dialogue on the BBL on Tuesday.

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. recently said that arriving at an agreed version of the BBL before plenary debates on the 2016 national budget was becoming “an impossible dream.”

Deles, in her keynote speech at the forum held in Miriam College, said the passage of the BBL “is a gift worthy of the season of giving.”

“We should continue to push for the timely passage of a robust BBL,” she said.

Deles also noted that she and government peace panel chair Miriam Coronel-Ferrer had been the subject of a “visual sexual vulgarity” because of their continued support for the peace agreement with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

Doubts were raised against the BBL in the aftermath of the Mamasapano debacle, where 44 members of the Special Action Force were killed in a clash with the MILF.

“Women are in it for the long haul. That’s what housekeeping and motherhood have taught us. When something goes wrong, we do not throw the thing away or pass the problem on to someone else. Whether the problem is housekeeping or shepherding a bill, we fix it,” Deles said.

“One good thing that has come out of the delayed deliberations on the BBL in the aftermath of Mamasapano is that there is now a deeper level of thinking, and hopefully of understanding, of what the stakes are in the BBL,” she said.

Issues on the form of government of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, the justice system, revenue sources and jurisdiction over natural resources are some of the contentious points of the BBL.

With proposed amendments in the House and Senate versions, advocates are calling for a BBL that is consistent with the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro signed by the government and the MILF. SFM