Former SC justice finds BBL constitutional

The proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) was free of constitutional infirmities, a retired Supreme Court (SC) justice said on Tuesday.

Justice Adolf Azcuna told the fifth Senate hearing on the proposed law that the BBL bills in the Senate had addressed the infirmities that made previous versions constitutionally suspect.

“I was pleasantly surprised when I went over four Senate bills to precisely look at possible constitutional infirmities and I could not find any,” Azcuna told the Senate subcommittee on the BBL.

“I used to find a lot in the earlier versions,” he added.

The proposed BBL was drawn up by the Bangsamoro Transition Commission, whose members come from the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. —Philip C. Tubeza