Raps vs BBL proponents premature, says lawmaker

Akbayan Representative Ibarra “Barry” M. Gutierrez III. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO/www.congress.gov.ph

Premature is how a militant lawmaker described the criminal complaints filed against members of the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front panels who support the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law or BBL.

Akbayan Representative Ibarra Gutierrez said Congress hasn’t arrived yet with a decision on the proposed BBL because it is scheduled to be tackled at the plenary level after it passed the ad hoc committee.

Gutierrez, who is a member of the said committee, said instead of helping in discussing the details of the proposed BBL, Buhay Partylist Representative Lito Atienza, Abakada Representative Jonathan Dela Cruz and lawyer Jeremy Gatdula are muddling the issue.

Gutierrez said he couldn’t see any reason to question the proposal and file raps against the parties concerned because the bill is still being deliberated upon in Congress.

The complaints of inciting to sedition and treason are among the first filed against officials and members of the government peace panel and the MILF negotiating panel. Both sides are determined to establish a new political entity to be called the Bangsamoro, which will replace the current Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao or ARMM.

Mired by corruption and abuses by past its leaders, ARMM was once described by President Benigno Aquino III as a failed experiment.