Duterte ‘ready to concede’ BBL sans unconstitutional provisions
President Rodrigo Duterte (INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/EDWIN BACASMAS)
President Rodrigo Duterte is “ready to concede” the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) to achieve lasting peace in the conflict-stricken Mindanao.
But the BBL should be free from unconstitutional provisions, Duterte said.
“For the people who want peace, we will go out. Ako, I’m ready to concede BBL minus the constitutional (infirmities)” Duterte said in his speech on Friday before the troops of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division in Maguindanao.
BBL is the enabling law of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB), an agreement signed by the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) on March 27, 2014.
The BBL, however, failed to be passed under the administration of former President Benigno Aquino III.
Duterte said the present form of the BBL has unconstitutional provisions.
“Hindi ko maibigay yan kasi yung constitution natin ngayon, hinahawakan natin, hindi pwede (I cannot give that because we are holding on to the Constitution),” he said.
Among the provisions Duterte do not agree with was the creation of a separate police force by the Bangsamoro government apart from the Philippine National Police (PNP).
“Kagaya niyang Regional Armed Forces pati Regional Police, you break the chain of command, commander in chief kung sino man yan, wag kang magliko nang ganun, diretso yan. In other words, the country will always—isang tao lang magcontrol whoever [he is],” he said.
(For example, by creating the Regional Armed Forces and Regional Police, you break the chain of command, commander in chief whoever he is, it should be direct. In other words, the country will always be controlled by a single person whoever he is.)
The President said he was open to give authority to whoever would manage resources in the Bangsamoro area.
“We are ready. Yung area? Sige. If the constitution would allow that there is a certain…kami magbigay muna ng authority kung sino ang gusto nila na mag manage sa resources (We are ready. The area? If the constitution would allow that there is a certain [person whom they would want to manage resources in the Bangsamoro area], we would give the authority). There’s enough land, there’s enough oil,” he said. RAM
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