Tough fight seen as House starts plenary debates on BBL approval

ILIGAN CITY – The fight to have the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) enacted by Congress reopens as the House of Representatives begins plenary debates on the measure Monday.

Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, chair of the House ad hoc committee on the BBL, is set to deliver a sponsorship speech that will formally bring the measure to the plenary.

On May 20, Rodriguez’s committee successfully hammered a revised version from the original draft, revving up the momentum for its passage nine months after it was submitted for legislative action by Malacaῆang in September last year.

When eventually enacted and ratified by voters in the affected localities, the BBL will create a new autonomous entity that will replace and have far greater powers than the current Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

It will also set off the implementation of the parallel commitment of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to gradually decommission its armed wing in keeping with agreed program of normalization which is a component of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) it forged with government March last year.

Further improvements

But unlike prevalent expectations, the BBL debate will not only figure those whose general stance is either for or against the measure among members of the House. The debate will also be raging outside the halls of Congress, among groups advocating specific adjustments in the BBL version forged at the House ad hoc committee. And it may also pit advocates, on one hand, and legislators, on the other.

“While civil society organizations generally laud the ad hoc committee for coming up with a BBL version, many still want to see further improvements,” said Samsodin Amella, co-chair of nongovernment group Mindanao Peoples Caucus (MPC).

MPC is among the groups involved in the conduct of public consultations which results were fed into the process of drafting the BBL by the Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC).

“On our part, we reviewed the ad hoc committee’s version (of the BBL) and compared its provisions with the expectations of grassroots communities with respect to major issues. From there, we came up with a set of recommendations that we intend to lobby to House members in the hope that these will be reflected as adjustments,” Amella explained.

Degree of control

Among the major issues, according to Amella, is on the degree of control by the Bangsamoro government over inland waters, particularly as it relates to Lake Lanao.

The ad hoc version seems to have watered down the Bangsamoro government’s authority over inland waters when such resource is used for generating power for the Mindanao grid, Amella said.

“This does not sit well with the Maranao communities,” he added.

Another issue is on how to effectively provide assurance that indigenous peoples’ rights will be fully respected by the Bangsamoro government, particularly the question of delineating their ancestral domains.

This issue even divides BBL advocates.

One school of thought is inserting the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA) into the BBL. One camp of advocates held that the IPRA should be the standard that the future Bangsamoro government should adhere to.

Another camp holds that the Bangsamoro parliament be given the liberty to craft an enabling legislation on such subject, taking into account the framework of IPRA but not necessarily bound by its inherent limitations.

Interest of peace

However the debates turn out, advocates are hoping the House will eventually live up to their expectations that legislators will call to mind the interest of peace when considering the draft BBL.

“Our Bangsamoro sisters and brothers have been calling for peace, justice, and development in Mindanao for so long,” said Jasmin Nario-Galace, co-convenor of WE ACT 1325 and Executive Director of the Miriam College Center for Peace Education.

“Let us not deprive them of these any further,” Galace added.

Meanwhile, three House members have urged colleagues to “heed the call of the Bangsamoro people and vote for the BBL in the plenary.”

“We seek the affirmative votes of our fellow members of the House of Representatives when the Bangsamoro bill is submitted to a vote,” Rep. Djalia Turabin-Hataman of the Anak Mindanao party-list said in a news release.

“This is a historic opportunity to approve a law that would have the most meaningful impact on the peace and order situation in Mindanao, and thus boost the country’s security, and usher in an era of peace that could trigger economic progress to finally happen and improve the lives of poor Mindanaoans, especially in the Bangsamoro,” Hataman pointed out.

“The approval of the draft by the House Ad Hoc Committee (on the BBL) is a positive development already. We are hoping for even more positive developments once this bill reaches the plenary,” she added.