THE chair of the Ad Hoc Committee on the Bangsamoro Basic Law (AHCBBL) was supposed to deliver his sponsorship speech Wednesday afternoon on what his committee now refers to as the “Basic Law of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region” but it was reset for Monday, the same day the plenary debates begin.
“The sponsorship and plenary debates have been moved to Monday (June 1), upon the request of some representatives to have more time to study the substitute bill,” Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez said.
The 88-page substitute bill, HB 4994, was approved by the Committee on May 20, by a vote of 50 in favor, 17 against and one abstention.
What used to be an 18-Article, 242-section draft has been reduced to 17 Articles and 238 sections. The Committee deleted an entire Article on the Wali, a ceremonial head of the parliamentary system of government that the Bangsamoro is adopting.
After the voting last week, Rodriguez said the substitute bill would be forwarded to the Committee on Ways and Means and Appropriations, that he would deliver his sponsorship speech on Wednesday, May 27 and plenary debates would be held June 1 to 3 and 8 to 10. Earlier, he said they were willing to work from morning till midnight, even including Thursdays.
Rodriguez said they remain confident the House will pass the BBL before Congress adjourns sine die on June 11.
It’s a different story at the Senate.
Senate President Franklin Drilon on Wednesday said they will try but can’t be sure if they can pass the BBL by June 11.
“We will try, but we cannot be certain that this will be passed by the plenary by June 11, because Senator (Ferdinand) Marcos (Jr.) still has a public hearing on June 1],” Drilon said in an interview with DzBB.
Marcos’s last public hearing is actually scheduled on June 3, with the governors and mayors of the proposed core territory and adjacent areas.
Drilon said he hopes Marcos’s Committee on Local Governments can finish its hearings and submit its report as soon as possible so the senators can be given time to study the report and committee’s proposed amendments.
He said he is confident that Senators will support it if they see that the Basic Law conforms with the 1987 Constitution, sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country. Mindanews
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