Palace leaves fate of Bangsomoro bill to Congress

Malacañang on Monday said it would leave it up to Congress to decide who would sponsor the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL).

“This is a matter of the legislative at this stage so we will have to defer to [Congress],” presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella said in a press briefing in Malacañang.

Abella said the BBL bill would also be discussed in the next Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (Ledac) meeting on Sept. 20.

“As far as I know, it will be touched on in the next Ledac,” he said.

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) on Saturday scored the Duterte administration for “noncompliance” with signed peace agreements, noting that no lawmaker has sponsored the proposed BBL.

It also pointed out that the draft BBL was also not listed among the Duterte administration’s priority bills during the Ledac meeting on Tuesday.

However, the MILF said it remained hopeful that President Duterte would keep his campaign promise to make the proposed Bangsamoro autonomous region a “template for federalism in this country.”

The BBL defines the basic structure of the proposed Bangsamoro autonomous state in Mindanao, a key feature of the federal form of government being pushed by Mr. Duterte and his allies.

Mr. Duterte earlier promised the Bangsamoro people that they would have a “homeland” of their own in Mindanao under his term.

“Let us talk about your legitimate aspiration—a homeland for the Moro people. Let’s do that,” Mr. Duterte said in June.

“The only way that we can achieve peace in Mindanao is we go for federalism. That is what Murad and Nur are asking,” he said, referring to MILF chair Murad Ebrahim and Moro National Liberation Front leader Nur Misuari.