Senate approves BBL on final reading

The Senate on Thursday unanimously approved on third and final reading its version of the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), following marathon deliberations that started Wednesday afternoon prior to the closing of the Second Regular Session of the 17th Congress.

The Senate’s approval came a day after the House of Representatives ratified its own version on second and third reading with 227 affirmative votes, 11 negative votes, and two abstentions.

The senators will return to the plenary on July 23 for the opening of the 3rd Regular Session, the same day Congress would convene at the House of Representatives in Quezon City to hear President Rodrigo Duterte’s third State of the Nation Address (SONA).

Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III formally announced the session’s adjournment around 2 am after nearly ten hours of deliberation on Senate Bill No. 1717 or the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law, with a unanimous 21-0 vote.

Only Senators Manny Pacquiao and Leila de Lima, who is currently detained, were not present during the final deliberations and thus were not part of the voting.

After approval on third and final reading, the bill will go through bicameral conference committee meetings to reconcile the conflicting provisions of the two legislative chambers.

The final version of the bill will then be ratified in plenary by both chambers before being sent to the Office of the President for President Rodrigo Duterte’s signature. The bicameral conference committee is expected to tackle the conflicting versions during the six-week recess with the aim of ratifying the final version of the BBL in time for the President’s SONA.

Once enacted, the BBL will serve as the enabling law of the 2014 landmark peace deal between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro aims to grant greater autonomy to the Bangsamoro region.

The proposed Act will establish a new autonomous political entity known as the Autonomous Region of the Bangsamoro that would replace the current Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

The approval of both chambers of Congress came after Mr. Duterte certified the measure as urgent.

The President’s certification was vital in the proposed bill’s passage as it removed the usual three-day waiting period between the second and third readings before it gets passed.

Senate President Vicente Sotto III also appointed Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri, who sponsored the BBL in the chamber, to head the Senate panel at the bicameral conference committee.

Other members appointed to the bicam were Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon, Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto, as well as Senators Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III and Francis Escudero.

At the House of Representatives, Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez dismissed claims by opposition lawmakers describing the BBL as unconstitutional. Alvarez maintains that every legislation that the House passes is constitutionally sound.

He, however, said that it would not prevent anyone from questioning the BBL’s constitutionality before the Supreme Court.

“We believe what we are doing here is constitutional. Kaya (So) nobody can stop anyone from filing or questioning the constitutionality of a law,” Alvarez said.

Before the adjournment, the senators also ratified the bicameral conference committee reports for SBN 1762, or the proposed Retirement Law of the Office of the Ombudsman which seeks to increase the retirement benefits of the officials and employees of the Office of the Ombudsman, and SBN 1459 or the proposed Personal Property Security Act, which seeks to provide entrepreneurs with expanded access to loans.

Earlier this week, the Senate passed six bills converting the Land Transportation Office extension offices into regular centers, along with 11 local bills establishing, converting, or renaming high schools and colleges nationwide.

It also ratified the bicameral conference report for SBN 1738, or the proposed Philippine Identification System Act of 2018, and adopted two resolutions – SRN 746 which lauded the heroism of soldiers and police officers who served in the Marawi crisis, and SRN 748 which confirmed AECOM as the winning architectural firm to design the new Senate building in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig.

The bills and resolutions were the latest legislative achievements of the Senate in the 2nd Regular Session, which started on July 24, 2017.

This year alone, the Senate has enacted pro-consumer legislations, such as the proposed Lifetime Cellphone Number Act (SBN 1636), Recoverable Systems Loss Act (SBN 1623), the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Act of 2017 (SBN 1531); pro-Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) bill, the Handbook for OFWs Act of 2016 (SBN 192); pro-health legislation, the Pagkaing Pinoy para sa batang Pinoy Act (SBN 1279); and pro-worker legislation, like the proposed Magna Carta for Scientists (SBN 1534) and the Reservist Employment Rights Act (SBN 1698), among others.

Earlier, Sotto said that the Senate would tackle pending legislation when they return to work in July including the continuing proposals for Charter Change, the proposed Universal Health Package bill and the proposed amendments to the Public Service Act.