Even without Mamasapano, BBL still doomed in Congress – lawmakers

MANILA — Even without the public fallout from the deaths of 44 elite troopers in Mamasapano, the Bangsamoro Basic Law would not have passed Congress because its proponents insisted on a flawed draft and decided to exclude other interest groups and experts in crafting it.

Senatorial bet and Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez said that from the start, the BBL was “diametrically opposed to our Constitution,” which made it tough to swallow for members of Congress. Even when Congress tried to refine it to hammer out a more palatable deal, Romualdez said that the peace panel was shoving the original version to lawmakers.

“The BBL is diametrically opposed to the Constitution and lawmakers will not approve a half-baked peace bill that will soon be questioned before the Supreme Court and declared unconstitutional. Even without the Mamasapano incident, the BBL was doomed,” said Romualdez.

Romualdez cited the irony of the situation. “Where else will you find a Romualdez defending an Aquino Constitution? I am serving and defending the Constitution drafted and passed during the term of then President Cory Aquino. Under the BBL, there were assaults to it (Constitution) by this administration led by the son of the former president,” said Romualdez in a press conference.

Romualdez said that if at all, the January 25 Mamasapano carnage merely galvanized the public’s adverse sentiment against the BBL whose construction and execution were flawed from the start.

Buhay Rep. Lito Atienza said that the BBL failed not because of Mamasapano but because the President made the wrong choices when he appointed Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Teresita Deles and Philippine Peace Panel Head Miriam Coronel-Ferrer who were so “arrogant and self-confident” that they thought a small clique of like-minded proponents could get away with a BBL draft that would affect the entire nation but was full of provisions against the basic law of the land.

He said Deles and Ferrer chose to exclude experts and other Moro groups in the consultation process believing that they could use the President’s popularity to railroad the BBL in Congress. House and Senate leaders have already given up on approving the BBL in the 16th Congress.  SFM