NEWS




24September
IN PHOTO- Majority Floor Leader Rodolfo Fariñas representing Ilocos Norte

Moro CSO Leader skeptical on the enactment of BBL despite Pres. Duterte’s certifying it as urgent

COTABATO CITY-(September 24, 2017)-. Majority Floor Leader Rep. Rodolfo Farinas of the House of Representatives informed reporters thru text message that the house leadership will file the version of BBL drafted by the Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC) next week with President Rodrigo Duterte telling lawmakers that the final version of the BBL is left to the wisdom of Congress.

But Abdullah P. Salik, Jr., President of the Federation of Bangsamoro Civil Society Organizations, Inc. based in Cotabato City with 140 member-organizations thru out Mindanao, and three-termer Municipal Vice Mayor of Upi, Maguindanao have different take on the recent development. 

He told Luwaran that, " When the bill is certified urgent by the President , the process for it to be passed as a law becomes faster because it will now be exempted from " three reading principle " as embodied by the Constitution. 

Normally, before a bill or an ordinance as in the ‘Sanggunian’ or local councils becomes a law it passes the " three reading principles " unless certified urgent by the executive. Meaning, this does not guarantee that the bill will automatically become a law. What is guaranteed under those circumstances is the processes becomes faster.      

"The President should influence by getting grip to the leadership of both hamber of Congress to pass the BBL that will serve as legacy to the Bangsamoro people who are victims of historical injustices. Certifying a bill as urgent is not enough to make it a law", Salik added.    

In his First State of Nation Address (SONA), the President urged the 17th Congress to pass the Bangsamoro Basic Law without provisions deemed to violate the Constitution.  He argued that the passage of the bill coupled with government shift to federalism is the only way to proceed with the bid to solve the conflict in Mindanao.      

" The only way we can address this...iyong BBL, ibigay na natin , minus the things na you do not want ," the president told Congress during his speech.      

"Iyong constitutional issues, tanggalin muna yan. Ibigay q iyong area...nandiyan na iyan eh. So, I ask you...Pass it minus the Constitutional issues that are contentious ", Pres. Duterte also said during his first SONA.      

" Ibigay na natin ang BBL and when the Federal system comes, isali mo na sa package. Thats the solution in Mindanao...nothing else. Please sleep on it because that's the way to proceed. "

The highlight of the peace deal of the government with the MILF is the passage of BBL to pave way for the Bangsamoro Political Entity that would replace ARMM. And when all agreements are complied with by the two parties, it is only then, the GPH-MILF Peace Implementing Panels sign the ‘exit document’.