CONGRESS leaders will personally discuss with President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday, July 11, the contentious issues in the Senate and the House of Representatives' respective versions of the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL).
House Majority Leader Rodolfo Fariñas confirmed this on Wednesday morning.
"The leaders of Congress will discuss personally with the President (since it is inappropriate for us to let him attend our BiCam meeting), about the security implications of certain matters in the CAB (Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro) since such was entered into by the Executive Department," Fariñas said.
The Bicameral Conference Committee chaired by Fariñas and Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri is on its third day of deliberations on Senate Bill 1717 and House Bill 5475.
Fariñas earlier said that the Senate has dropped the anti-political dynasty provision in its version of the BBL after members of the House of Representatives cited the flaws of the provision that violates the equal protection clause of the Constitution.
Section 15, Article VII, of Senate Bill 1717, states that no party representative should be related within the second (2nd) civil degree of consanguinity or affinity to a District Representative or another Party Representative in the same Parliament.
Fariñas said it was dropped as it applies only to a party representative but not to a district representative. It applies only to elective officials of the proposed region to the exclusion of all other elective officials of the country.
Fariñas also said the provision will "disqualify the 2nd civil degree relatives by affinity of a (Muslims are allowed to have 4 spouses) of a party representative but not the same people with whom such party representative is cohabiting or living in without the benefit of marriage."
The Bicameral Conference Committee has been broken up into smaller groups to tackle other contentious provisions of the proposed bill such as taxes, public order and national security, justice system and territory and plebiscite.
The 29-member committee targets to produce a final version of the bill either Thursday, July 12, or Monday, July 16.
The Congress earlier vowed to rarify the measure which seeks to abolish the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao before the President delivers his State of the Nation Address on July 23. (Keith A. Calayag/SunStar Philippines)