MEMBERS of the House of Representatives are set to discuss during a closed door meeting on Monday, May 21, the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL).
House Majority Leader Rodolfo Fariñas announced this in a text message to reporters on Sunday, May 20. The lower chamber of Congress is eyeing to approve the bill by May 30.
Fariñas last week said they need to hold a caucus "to sift through different conflicting provisions (of the BBL)."
"Pag-usapan na natin ng maaga, mag-debate (We'll talk and debate about this early). All members will be there and vote on provisions para sa plenary mabilis na (to speed up approval during the plenary),” he said.
Fariñas assured that parties that have assailed some provisions of the bill will be heard during the caucus.
The House committee on local government, committee on muslim affairs and the special committee on peace, unity and reconciliation approved the committee report on the proposed BBL Tuesday, May 15.
The committees adopted as its version of the BBL the bill filed by House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez. Among those who dissented were Zamboanga 1st District Rep. Celso Lobregat, Lanao del Norte 1st District Rep. Mohammad Khalid Dimaporo and 2nd District Rep. Abdullah Dimaporo.
Alvarez's bill is also the same as the BBL version submitted by the Bangsamoro Transition Commission to the Congress.
The draft BBL, crafted by the 21-man transition commission, was submitted to Duterte on July 27, 2017 and forwarded to Congress in August the same year.
The proposed Moro law aims to create a new Bangsamoro entity that will replace the current Autonomous Region on the Muslim Mindanao and "solve the root causes of the Moro rebellion and address the historical injustice suffered by the Bangsamoro over generations."
It is part of the implementation process of the Comprehensive Agreement on Bangsamoro (CAB) signed between the Aquino administration and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in March 2014. (SunStar Philippines)