Senators sign BBL report; debates start next week

Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO/RYAN LEAGOGO

The Senate will start tackling on the floor next week its much awaited version of the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) after 17 senators signed the committee report of Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Monday.

Marcos told reporters he will sponsor his substitute bill on the BBL on the floor on Wednesday.

Plenary debates on the substitute bill are expected to begin on Aug. 17, according to Senate President Franklin Drilon.

The approval of the committee report came after senators who are members of the Senate committees on local government and on peace, unification and reconciliation met in a caucus that lasted less than an hour on Monday.

Just like the House-approved version, Senate Bill No. 2894 refers to the BBL as the “Basic Law for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region,” which will replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

Marcos said one of the main features of his substitute bill is “its inclusiveness.”

“It includes all the stakeholders, sectors that should be included in a peace agreement,” he told reporters after the caucus called by Drilon.

Marcos said the senators signed the committee report but “made qualifications” on it such as that they intended to propose amendments or interpellations during the plenary deliberations.

“This was just so that (the report) could be brought to the floor. That was the agreement,” Marcos said.

Seventeen senators signed the 100-page committee report and the lone dissenter who signed was Majority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano.

Cayetano said he opted to vote “no” on the substitute bill because “as of now there are objectionable provisions that remain there.”

He said one of these objectionable provisions is the block grant.

Among the other things discussed in the caucus was the use of the term “Bangsamoro” when not all the people in Muslim Mindanao represent the Bangsamoro people.

“This was discussed and will be discussed on the floor,” Cayetano said.

Cayetano said that during the caucus they also discussed the priority bills they will be pushing because the Senate will be using 70 to 80 percent of its time scrutinizing the BBL and the proposed 2016 national budget.

As shown in the three-page signature page of the bill, 14 senators (Teofisto Guingona III, Aquilino Pimentel III, Antonio Trillanes IV, Pia Cayetano, Paulo Benigno Aquino IV, Loren Legarda, Sonny Angara, Nancy Binay, Gregorio Honasan II, Grace Poe, Joseph Victor Ejercito, Vicente Sotto III and Ralph Recto) signed with reservations, amendments and interpellations in mind.

Only Marcos and Sen. Lito Lapid signed without any comments.

Sen. Cynthia Villar, on the other hand, said she “signed (the report) to allow this bill to go to plenary.”

“This is not a yes to the bill,” Villar said.

As for Alan Cayetano, he said he voted “no” and “yes to strengthening the autonomous region that will result in a just, inclusive, lasting peace.”