Aquino acts to plug gap during BBL transition

President Aquino has issued Executive Order No. 187, amending EO 120, which he signed on Dec. 17, 2012, creating the 15-member Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC) tasked to draft the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL).

In his directive dated Aug. 20, the President said that “if the BBL is enacted and ratified, there may be a gap in the intervening period between enactment and ratification within which neither the BTC and the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) shall exist to address the issues relevant to the BBL and to the Bangsamoro as a whole.”

Which is why, he said, “there is a need to further strengthen and expand the functions of the BTC to address the foreseen gap during the intervening period between the enactment and the ratification of the BBL.”

“Whereas, extending the duration of the BTC until such time that the BBL is ratified and vesting additional functions in such commission can better facilitate an efficient transition upon the ratification of the proposed BBL,” he said.

In amending Section 3(e) of EO 120, called for the “preparation and drafting of a Code of Parliamentary Procedures for the future Bangsamoro Parliament and a Bangsamoro Administrative Code for the consideration of the BTA.”

Section 5 of EO 120 was also amended, to say “the commission shall cease to operate upon ratification of the BBL in a plebiscite called for such purpose.”

Under the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB), the BTC shall cease to operate upon enactment of the BBL by Congress.

Under the CAB, the BTA will be created only upon the promulgation and ratification of the BBL.

Earlier, Miriam Coronel-Ferrer, chair of the government’s peace panel, explained that the tasks of the BTC were separate from the process involving the crafting of the CAB.

Of the 15 BTC members, eight were selected by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, while seven were chosen by the government.

Both parties met several times since the signing of the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro in October 2012 to draft the annexes to the power and wealth sharing, normalizations and other provisions that completed the CAB.

The BBL is being deliberated upon in the Senate and the House of Representatives.

The President had endorsed the bill as one of his administration’s priority measures, along with the Fiscal Incentives Rationalization Act, the Uniformed Personnel Pension Reform Act, the antidynasty law and the 2016 General Appropriations Act, among others.