Cautious jubilation greets BBL versions

By Carolyn O. Arguillas
Mindanews .

NO fanfare greeted the passage of the two versions of what is supposed to be a historic legislation, the Bangsamoro Basic Law — just words of caution from Al Haj Murad Ebrahim, chair of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

The two houses of Congress passed on Wednesday afternoon and in the early hours of Thursday their versions of the BBL to pave the way for the abolition of the 28-year old Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (Armm) in favor of a new political entity.

The Lower House of Representatives wants to call it “Autonomous Region in the Bangsamoro” while the Senate wants to name it “Autonomous Region of the Bangsamoro.”

“We celebrate today the shared victory of the Bangsamoro and the Filipino people,” Murad said on that day in 2014, noting that the CAB “finally brings with it the restoration of the identity, powers and resources of the Bangsamoro. These three things which have been ours since time immemorial, unjustly taken through colonization and occupation, are now returned to us.”

How much of what was returned to them through the peace agreement — the “restoration of the identity, powers and resources of the Bangsamoro” — was lost in the approved BBL versions?

Murad acknowledged that substantive provisions have either been amended or deleted.

“The struggle is not yet over. We are still hoping to correct those substantial issues either amended or deleted by both houses. We are still hoping improvements could still be done during the Bicam (Bicameral Conference Committee deliberations),” he said.

In the Senate version, there is no reference at all to “right to self determination,” the essence of the Bangsamoro struggle, as this was deleted from the preamble. Also deleted were what the Moro have been fighting for and supposedly have won through the  2014 Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB): “asymmetrical political relationship,” and “principles of subsidiarity and parity of esteem.”

The two versions provide for the abolition of the Armm upon the ratification of the BBL in a plebiscite likely before the end of the year.

Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri, principal author of SB 1717, told ANC’s Headstart that the plebiscite would likely be held this November or December.

Zubiri is principal author of SB 1646 which was drafted by the Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC).

All 21 senators present, from the majority and minority blocs, voted in favor of the BBL. Sen. Emmanuel Pacquiao was reportedly abroad while Sen. Leila de Lima remains in detention.

The Lower House passed on second and third reading the amended HB 6475, the substitute bill to the BTC-drafted BBL bearing the same number, at around 5 pm Wednesday, some eight hours earlier than the Senate, with 226 voting yes, 11 voting no and two abstentions.

The 11 who voted against it were party-list Reps. Arlene Brosas, Ariel Casilao, France Castro, Emmi de Jesus, Sarah Elago, Antonio Tinio, and Carlos Isagani Zarate, and and Reps. Edcel Lagman of Albay, Maximo Rodriguez of Cagayan de Oro, Manuel Jose Dalipe of Zamboanga City,and Isagani Amatong of Zamboanga del Norte.

They claimed the House version has substantially changed the essence of autonomy and self-determination with the deletion or amendment of key provisions.

Reps. Abdullah Dimaporo of Lanao del Norte and Celso Lobregat of Zamboanga City expressed major reservations about the measure and introduced several amendments to the bill.

Under House rules, those who vote “No” cannot be part of the House contingent to the Bicameral Conference Committee that would meet during the break to reconcile the House and Senate versions.

The two houses are supposed to ratify the Bicameral Conference Committee report when they resume sessions on July 23, 2018 before handing this over to President Duterte for signing delivering his third State of the Nation Address on the same day.

As early as Tuesday night, the deletion or amendment of substantive provisions during the page-by-page, line-by-line deliberations on the Senate floor generated adverse reactions that the BBL was “massacred,” “heavily watered down,” “slaughtered,” “chop-chopped.”

Zubiri himself acknowledged that they were “heavily amending” the bill and that this is the reason why he is confident that “it will stand the test of constitutionality.” He explained that the senators inserted several times phrases like “within the framework of the Constitution” or “within the laws and decrees” of the country.

But in the Lower House, Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez told reporters on Wednesday that he shared Lagman’s view that the BBL is unconstitutional because mere legislation cannot abolish the Armm, a creation of the Constitution.

“I share that doubt,” said Alvarez, principal author of the bill, adding Congress should let the Supreme Court decide on the BBL’s constitutionality.

“We can salvage lost ground at the right time. God willing,” said Mohagher Iqbal, currently chair of the MILF Peace Implementing Panel and concurrent member of the BTC.

“There is still the bicameral conference,” Iqbal said.

“Our struggle will continue in the Bicameral,” Ghazali Jaafar, MILF 1st vice chair and concurrent chair of the BTC.

Murad said they “do not want to conclude for now” as he explained that “the struggle is not yet over,” that they still hope the substantial issues deleted or amended be corrected, and that “improvements” could still be done during the Bicam.

“The process is not over,” Jaafar said.

Iqbal’s initial assessment is it is “definitely more than Armm,” that “both versions are not bad” but added, “we have to wait for the final version before we can fully evaluate.” (to be concluded)