Lawmakers urged to attend session for BBL vote

SPEAKER Feliciano Belmonte Jr. on Wednesday urged his colleagues to attend sessions so that they could reach a decision on the proposed Bangsamoro basic law (BBL) by December.

In an interview at the sidelines of the proposed 2016 budget plenary debates, Belmonte said he would rather have the BBL voted upon on the floor instead of telling off the members to approve the controversial bill.

“Ang appeal ko, let’s give everybody a chance to vote on it and amend it because it would still pass period of amendments. In whatever form we can get it through to the stage of being voted on second reading, ang pakiusap ko, let’s go there,” Belmonte said.

“I’m not going to talk to everybody to say you vote this way, that way. Let everybody vote the way he wants to have it voted. As for me, I want it to reach that point a decision was done by this body not just dribbling it around,” he added.

Belmonte admitted that President Benigno Aquino III would be disappointed if the BBL, which seeks to implement a government peace deal with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), fails to pass.

“He will be disappointed, of course. I’m not even talking about approval because from my point of view, I just want it to reach the floor and be voted on,” Belmonte said.

Congress has set the December deadline to pass the BBL after it fails to pass the bill before it would go on break in October, because it would focus on passing the proposed 2016 national budget.

The BBL seeks to create a more politically autonomous Bangsamoro region to end decades of Muslim secessionist movement in the area.