Senate ‘can’t finish BBL’ but bill not ‘dead’ – Drilon

SENATE President Franklin Drilon said the Senate will adjourn this Wednesday without passing the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL).

“We cannot finish the Bangsamoro Basic Law by the time we adjourn on Wednesday, but that does not mean that the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro is dead,” Drilon told reporters on Monday.

“I think it is to the national interest that whoever is the next president should pursue the peace process,” he said.

Drilon said the proposed measure was still in the agenda of the Senate this week but Senate Minority Leader Juan Ponce Enrile is still in the period of interpellation.

“Insofar as the legislature is concerned, the non-passage of the BBL by the time we will adjourn would result in the bill being considered as no longer existing,” he said.

But the Senate leader said the proposed measure could be refiled in the 17th Congress and the testimonies of the resource persons and documents submitted during this 16th Congress could still be used by the appropriate committees.

“In other words, the chair of the committee has the discretion not to call each and every witness. But of course that is subject to any member of the committee to request that certain resource persons be recalled because wala sila dito noon,” he said.

“But that procedure and the process of incorporating by reference the proceedings in the 16^th Congress in the 17^th Congress is allowed under the rules, so that hindi na po kailangan balikan ang lahat ng mga resource persons.”

Asked if the non-passage of the BBL would reflect on President Benigno Aquino III, Drilon said: “The President tried his best to have it passed. But the circumstances, as I have explained, did not favor the passage of the law on time.”