BBL sponsor for scrapping of opt-in ‘creeping expansion’ provision

THE main sponsor of the proposed Bangsamoro basic law (BBL) said he would move to delete the controversial opt-in provision during the period of amendments at the plenary in a bid to ease stiff opposition to the bill.

In an interview Wednesday, Cagayan De Oro Representative Rufus Rodriguez, chairman of the ad hoc Bangsamoro committee, said representatives saw a “creeping territory” due to the provision that allows the expansion of the Bangsamoro core territory upon a ratified petition of registered voters.

“We’ve seen that many congressmen are against this. They see the opt-in provision [as a] creeping territorial expansion,” said Rodriguez, who chaired the committee which approved the BBL on first reading.

The opt-in provision could dramatically expand the Bangsamoro territory in the fifth or 10th year after the passage of the bill in a petition of voters under areas contiguous to the Bangsamoro core territory.

Under Article 3, Section 3, “any local government unit (LGU) or geographical area outside the territorial jurisdiction of the Bangsamoro, but which are contiguous to any of the component units of the Bangsamoro and within the area of autonomy identified in the 1976 Tripoli Agreement, may opt to be part of the Bangsamoro by filing a petition of at least 10 percent of the registered voters of the interested LGU or geographical area.”

The petition may be filed on the fifth or 10th year after the enactment of the Bangsamoro law. This is different from the original provision, which said contiguous or areas outside the Bangsamoro territory may apply to be part of the region at any time upon a petition of 10 percent of voters and approved in a plebiscite.

The draft bill is under the period of interpellations on the floor before it will be subjected to a period of amendments for second reading approval.

The chamber originally scheduled concluding the plenary debates today (Wednesday), or before Congress goes on sine die break, but Rodriguez said the interpellations would not be finished Wednesday with 25 solons still in line.

Rodriguez said he hoped the bill would be finished under the period of amendments from September 15 to October 15, or after the congressional budget deliberations, just in time before representatives will file their electoral bids in October.

But Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II said even amid the budget deliberations, the chamber could approve the BBL on final reading by August or September, or at the most two months after President Benigno Aquino III’s State of the Nation Address.

Gonzales said the House leadership wanted to conclude interpellations on Wednesday and proceed to the period of amendments after sine die break.

The BBL is expected to face rough passage due to supposedly unconstitutional provisions and the involvement of its main benefactor the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in the Mamasapano incident last Jan. 25.

The bill seeks to create a more politically autonomous Bangsamoro region to implement the government peace deal with the MILF.

Asked if he thinks the MILF will approve the different version of the BBL draft, Rodriguez said Congress needs to do its duty to craft a law that will be spared from constitutionality issues.

“I hope they will accept, that’s the best they can give. The BBL isn’t diluted but enhanced to conform to the Constitution,” Rodriguez said. AC