Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. has said the House of Representatives will work on the Palace-backed Bangsamoro Basic Law during its nine remaining session days before the election campaign period starts in February.
Belmonte said the House will firm up amendments to the BBL, embodied in substituted House Bill 4994, or An Act Providing Basic Law for Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, to set the stage for its either second reading or third reading approval before Congress adjourns again on Feb. 6.
Congress will resume session on Jan. 18 after a month-long Christmas break.
“We have to plan very carefully the remaining few days in January and February of 2016 [to enable Congress to pass a Constitution-compliant BBL],” Belmonte said.
The House failed to pass the BBL when it adjourned session last December due to persisting quorum problem.
In the remaining session days of Congress before the election campaign period sets in, Belmonte said he is hopeful that the BBL will finally have its way at least in the Lower House.
But he maintained the House could not pass the BBL as earlier proposed.
The proposed peace pact seeks to abolish the current Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao by creating a new Bangsamoro region which will be given additional autonomy.
The BBL’s passage is provided in the peace agreement signed by the Aquino government with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in March last year.
The “opt-in” provision is among the controversial provisions in the proposed BBL which allows neighboring territories to propose their inclusion in the proposed autonomous region through a petition of at least 10 percent of the residents and approval by a majority of qualified voters in the city or province in a separate plebiscite.
Belmonte said the House Ad Hoc committee on the BBL, chaired by Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, had already introduced at least 50 amendments to the measure to ensure that it will pass the test of constitutionality.
Belmonte said even the opt-in provision had already been removed.
Apart from the BBL, Belmonte said the House is also poised to pass several pending measures on its legislative plate.
These include the Resolution of Both Houses No. 1 or the so-called “Economic Charter Change,” which he principally authored.
RBH No. 1 seeks to amend economic provisions on the 60-40 rule that limits foreign ownership of certain activities in the Philippines. The resolution is current pending for third and final reading approval.
He also said the proposed Freedom of Information bill is still on the legislative mill that has to be acted upon by the 16th Congress.
Similarly, Belmonte said the remaining three-week session days of Congress before it adjourned on Feb. 6 to make way for election campaign period will be devoted to passing measures that will promote “competitiveness-raising, job generation and more sustainable development” for the Filipino people.
These include the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act; the Amendments to the BSP Law; amendments to the Social Security Act of 1996; creation of the Coco Levy Trust Fund; bill creating the Department of Information and Communications Technology; bill regulating the practice of nutrition and dietetics in the country, among others.