True to their promise to President Rodrigo Duterte, congressmen on Wednesday approved on final reading the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law.
Voting 226-11-2, the House of Representatives, presided over by Deputy Speaker and Batangas Rep. Raneo Abu, passed House Bill 6475 that was certified as urgent by Duterte.
Reps. Celso Lobregat of Zamboanga City and Abdullah Dimaporo of Lanao del Norte abstained from the voting.
Before the third and final-reading approval, lawmakers voted overwhelmingly on the measure via voice voting.
Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon introduced several amendments to the Senate version of the proposed BBL to ensure that the measure will not suffer the same fate as the Memorandum of Agreement on the Ancestral Domain, which the Supreme Court declared unconstitutional.
Senator Migz Zubiri, chairman of the Sub-Committee on the Bangsamoro Basic Law, said they were on track with the BBL.
He said the landmark measure was being forged by senators across party lines. He said among the amendments tackled were.
But Ozamis Archbishop Martin Jumoad on Wednesday said the proposed BBL was bound to fail if only one group would benefit from it.
He urged Congress to hold consultations with the different sectors of society.
“The BBL must not be exclusive and must give equal opportunities to everybody because a government that is exclusive is not a good government,” Jumoad said.
“A government is for the people and for the people and when you only choose a sector, then it is destined to be a failure.”
HB 6475, principally authored by Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, was sponsored in the plenary Tuesday night by Representatives Pedro Acharon of South Cotabato, chairman of the committee on local government; Mauyag Papandayan of Lanao del Sur, head of the committee on Muslim affairs; and Ruby Sahali of Tawi-Tawi, head of panel on peace, reconciliation and unity.
Alvarez said Duterte was expected to have the BBL bill signed into law before his State of the Nation Address on July 23.
House majority leader and Ilocos Norte Rep. Rodolfo Fariñas said the senators and congressmen will hold bicameral meetings during the break “in collaboration with the Executive Department and the Bangsamoro Transition Commission” to come up with a final version of the BBL that is acceptable to all stakeholders.
Congress adjourns sine die on June 1 to end the second regular session of the 17th Congress. It will resume session on July 23 during the State of the Nation Address and to mark the opening of the third regular session.
Fariñas said the bicameral report on the BBL will be submitted for ratification by the House and the Senate in their plenary sessions in the morning of July 23, with the President expected to have it signed into law in time for his Sona at 4 pm that same day.