Duterte wants BBL signed to law before Congress takes June break

President Rodrigo Duterte wants the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) to be signed into law before Congress adjourns sine die on June 1.

This was disclosed in a letter dated April 2 from Secretary Adelino Sitoy, head of the Presidential Legislative Liaison Office, to Senate President Aqulino “Koko” Pimentel III.

In the letter, Sitoy stated that the President  has directed  him to “to urge the Congress to hasten the passage of the Bangsamoro bill so it can be ready for his (Duterte) signature before the next recess of Congress which will commence on June 2, 2018.”

READ: Duterte: I’m racing against time to have BBL passed

Congress  has been on break since March 23  and would resume  its sessions on May 14. It will  adjourn  sine  die on June 1.

Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri, who leads the  hearings  on  the  BBL as chair of the Senate local  government subcommittee,  said he  would try  to get the chamber’s approval  of the measure  by May 23 or one week before the June 1 adjournment.

The  last week  of session in May,  he said, would allow the Senate and the House of Representatives  to reconcile  their  BBL versions  in a  bicameral  conference  committee  and have it  ratified  before the sine die.

“I will end the period of interpellations by 21st and start the amendments both individual and committee by the 22nd. Approve it on third and final reading the day after if it is ratified,”  Zubiri said in a statement.

“So i appeal to my colleagues the need to focus on the BBL as peace is needed in our part of the country. The BBL is the final push that is needed for that elusive peace,” he said.    /muf