COTABATO CITY – Members of the House of Representatives reiterated their support to the passage of the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) and have vowed to stand for its enactment in the resumption of the deliberations this July.
“BBL does not violate any provision in the Constitution and it is the country’s best chance for peace in Southern Mindanao,” said Cagayan de Oro 2nd District Representative Rufus Rodriguez, a Constitutionalist and former dean of the San Beda College of Law.
“Our committee has made sure that the BBL, now called Basic Law for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region is constitutional. We have made amendments and deletions to ensure that it is constitutional and consistent with the aspirations of the Bangsamoro,” Rodriguez pointed out.
He also underscored that his committee made the refinements to the draft BBL after various consultations with different stakeholders.
Another lawmaker and member of the Ad Hoc Committee, Akbayan Party-list Rep. Ibarra Gutierrez also expressed his continued support to House Bill No. 5811, the Lower House’s version of the BBL.
“If you listen to the explanations of some members of Congress who voted against the BBL, they were not talking about the substance of the law at all. They were talking about Mamasapano, they were insisting on tying the passage of BBL into some kind of a resolution of the Mamasapano issue like return of firearms, filing of cases by the Department of Justice, or ambiguous standards like the MILF showing sincerity as the government’s peace partner,” Gutierrez said.
He is confident that the BBL will pass constitutional review.
He also pointed out that many of the provisions that are allegedly Constitutionally questionable in the draft BBL were already found in Republic Act 9054 or the Expanded ARMM (Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao) Law.
“The BBL discussions have to go back to RA 9054 and the paranoia to its Constitutionality makes us revisit the ARMM law. What is written on the BBL is a reiteration of what is in the ARMM with additional provisions that ensure genuine autonomy.” (davaotoday.com)
