By RUFUS RODRIGUEZ Representative, Cagayan de Oro, and chairmain, House Ad Hoc Committee  on the BBL (Here is the second and last part of Rep. Rufus Rodriguez’s sponsorship speech for House Bill 5811 in view of the controversy resulting from how he and his members in the House ad hoc committee on the BBL voted. –Editor-in-chief)   Second and last part I SPONSORED the substitute bill in separate meetings held by the two Committees last Tuesday, 26 May 2015. In the Committee Report we have submitted to the Plenary today for approval on Second Reading, we have appended the comments of these two (2) Committees. In these two Committees, it was clearly brought out by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) that only P37 billion will be given to the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in the first year upon the approval of this Law and not P75 billion as claimed by its detractors. Of the P37 billion, P27 billion (around P25 billion from the General Appropriations Act allocated to the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and P2 billion from the Internal Revenue taxes) are currently being received by the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao leaving and incremental increase of only P10 billion for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region. For the information of my esteemed colleagues and the public, let me enumerate in brief the objective and some of the key provisions of this substitute bill, namely: PURPOSE:
  • To establish a political entity, provide for its basic structure of government in