Akbayan Rep. Tom Villarin (File photo from Philippine Daily Inquirer)
An opposition lawmaker believes that the hasty passage of the “watered-down” Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), being criticized by some groups as unconstitutional, was a diversion to push for a shift to federal type of government.
Akbayan Rep. Tom Villarin noted that even House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez himself has expressed doubts that the BBL would be the constitutional way to replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).
Rep. Edcel Lagman also earlier dismissed the BBL as unconstitutional because it cannot supersede the establishment of ARMM under the 1987 Constitution.
READ: Alvarez doubts BBL consistent with 1987 Constitution
“From the start ‘yun naman ang agenda ng Duterte administration, federalism no,” Villarin said in a media forum on Thursday.
“Ang nangyari sa BBL, because takot sila na may SONA (State of the Nation Address) tapos walang mai-report si Duterte, kailangan nila na merong major promise na meireport si Duterte,” he added.
“But point is, ‘yung Duterte admin ba may political will ba to let BBL happen or be implemented or will it just resort to federalism?” Villarin said.
On Wednesday, the House overwhelmingly approved on final reading House Bill 6475 or the chamber’s version of the BBL. The Senate also did the same with Senate Bill 1717.
READ: House approves BBL on third and final reading / Senate OKs proposed BBL on final reading
However, Villarin claimed that this was “a much different version compared to the proposal of the Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC).”
“In short it is ‘watered-down’ version of the original BTC proposal,” he said.
Although he alleged that the BBL passed by the lower House was “watered-down,” Villarin said he still voted for its passage to “give peace a chance even if inch by inch na ating makamit yung kapayapaan.”
“Kung hindi ma-address ang root cause ng historical injustices paulit-ulit lang ‘yung problema sa Bangsamoro,” he also noted.
Amendments
The still unnumbered substitute bill contained the amendments which lawmakers would tackle at the bicameral conference committee during the break.
Under the proposed measure, there would only be one plebiscite which would be held between 90 and 120 days upon the BBL’s effectivity. This is contrary to HB 6475’s original version mandating a plebiscite every five years for a period of 25 years after the creation of the Bangsamoro.
The Commission on Elections will manage the plebiscite.
Uniformed services in the Bangsamoro would still be under the Philippine National Police, and independent constitutional bodies such as the Commission on Audit would still be under the national government.
The Bangsamoro’s block grant would be reduced from 6 percent to 5 percent of the national revenue from the collections of the Bureau of Internal Revenue and Bureau of Customs.
The block grant is the automatically-appropriated annual budget or development fund for the Bangsamoro. /vvp