There may be ‘slim’ chance BBL could be saved in 16th Congress—Marcos
Sen. Bongbong Marcos Jr. announces. NESTOR CORRALES/INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO
There may still be a “slim” chance that the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) could be saved in the 16th Congress and one solution is for the House of Representatives to adopt the version of the Senate or vice versa, Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said on Friday.
READ: BBL is dead, says Bongbong Marcos
Congress adjourned last Wednesday without passing the BBL. It will resume its session next month.
“Even if the Senate and the House manage to pass the measure, a big hurdle remains as it may prove difficult for the Bicameral Conference Committee to reconcile the differing provisions given the limited time,” Marcos, chairman of the Senate committee on local government, said.
“In the Senate, we are discussing the substitute bill I filed but in the House they are essentially deliberating on the so-called Palace version. A possible solution may be for the House to adopt the Senate version or the Senate to adopt the House version to speed up the process,” he said.
READ: Drilon vows Senate OK of BBL
Marcos earlier expressed fears that Congress might run out of time to pass the proposed BBL since there are just a few session days left next year for the legislature to act on it.
However, the senator said he has not given up and will try to find possible means to save the measure up to the last minute.
“In our version, if we finish the period of interpellation I think we can find a compromise so we no longer have to debate on the proposed amendments in the plenary,” he said.
Marcos said the suggestion is for the senators to send him all their proposed amendments, agree on what they could, and let his committee propose the amendments to speed up the process.
“But I don’t know how things will go in the House of Representatives. The House terminated the debates on their own version of the bill before adjourning for the Christmas break,” he said.
The senator said it may be difficult for the House to muster a quorum when they resume sessions in January because most of the congressmen would already be busy then for their own campaign.
In the Senate, he said, there is no time limit for senators to ask their questions on a proposed measure.
Marcos said the Senate will also have to rule whether or not the BBL is a bill of local application and thus they would need to await the House version before voting on the measure.
Marcos stressed that he remains committed to the search for peace in Muslim Mindanao and that the quest for peace must continue even if the proposed BBL fails to pass under the present Congress. RAM
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