Patricio Diaz
GENERAL Santos City--What will happen to Draft BBL? The question appears simple; but, for Bangsamoro, it is destiny-bound – to paraphrase a classical question, Bangsamoro, quo vadis?
Media reports quoting or citing Dureza said that BBL will be “junked.” Lead paragraphs of two national newspapers online state:
Inquirer.net, July 19, 2016: “President Duterte has junked the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) and approved an inclusive peace road map where an all-Moro body would be tasked to draft ‘a new enabling law’ to replace the BBL (Duterte’s peace road map to clear way for federalism – Dureza, by Nestor Corrales.)
The Philippine Star, July 20, 2016: “The Duterte administration has junked the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) as the President approved a ‘Roadmap for Peace’ on Monday evening. (Duterte junks BBL, approves ‘Roadmap for Peace’, by Christina Mendez and Jose Rodel Clapano)”
It should be noted, however, that “junked” is not in the agreements of the two parties in Kuala Lumpur; neither is it in the “apparent briefing guide” we received. Is the word just mere media usage or that of Dureza in his media interviews but not in his other briefings?
Yet it should be asked: Does drafting a new enabling law mean “junking” the BBL?
The enabling law must be CAB-compliant. Draft BBL is CAB-compliant. What will be junked? Will it be the title “BBL” and the entire content, or, just the title and enhance the content as MILF Chairman Murad Ebrahim would want it?
The enabling law must be the convergence of the CAB, 1996 FPA, R.A. No. 9054, Ipra and relevant provisions of other laws and agreements. Draft BBL has incorporated significant provisions of R,A. No. 9054 which are essentially provisions of the FPA; CAB has the same principles of ancestral domain as those in IPRA. Will Draft BBL be completely junked and craft BEL starting from clean slate or will it keep the BBL content to be enriched through convergence?
These issues can complicate the transition of BBL to BEL, delay its submission to the Congress and upset the timetable for the establishment of Bangsamoro. Another setback in the fulfillment of the Bangsamoro dream will be too disenchanting for the Moros.
The transition of BBL to BEL is now facing time constraint. More complications will enhance the constraint. According to the roadmap as cited in media reports, BEL must be submitted to the Congress by July 2017. That will allow less than a year to pass BEL and to have it ratified so that the BTA (Bangsamoro Transition Authority) can have one year to entrench Bangsamoro before the election of its regular officials in the May 2019.
With the July 2017 time target, BTC has six months to craft BEL, counting from January 2017. Can it start real work in December?
According to media reports on Nov. 5, 2016, President Duterte was set to issue the EO creating the New BTC on Monday, Nov. 7. If it can start the convergence and drafting processes in December, it will have, at the longest, seven months to finish crafting BEL.
Tall order! It took the first BTC 16 months to draft the original BBL even if in drafting, it only had to transform the agreements and annexes in the CAB into legal form and style – in some instances, according to the BTC chairman, copy-pasting CAB provisions on the draft. It took another four months for the Office of the President, the Peace Panels and BTC to review, revise and refine the original BBL into Draft BBL for approval of the President and the MILF Chairman.
How can the new BTC beat the time constraint? Can there be more constraint? (to be continued)
