BBL becomes reality

“The BBL went the hard, contentious route.

The bicameral conference committee led by Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri and House counterpart Ilocos Norte Rep. Rodolfo Fariñas and 27 members of both chambers deserves a pat on the back for passing the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL).

The achievement finds significance in that the bill or a similar version was perennially stuck in the legislative mill of past administrations.

The delay in the passage of the bill, which is the product of a peace agreement between government and the main Muslim rebel group Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), raised uncertainties in some Mindanao regions.

The five-month Islamic State (IS)-inspired siege of Marawi City last year gave the sense of urgency for Congress to pass the bill which President Rody Duterte hopes will provide the desired autonomy of Filipino Muslims.

The main hurdle of the BBL was the conformity of its provisions to the Constitution. The bicameral panel needed to strike out most of the provisions under the Comprehensive Agreement of the Bangsamoro (CAB) that former President Noynoy Aquino signed with the MILF to ensure its legal integrity.

The final version of the measure, to be named the Bangsamoro Organic Law, will be sent back for ratification to both chambers before being submitted to Rody for signature.

Fariñas is confident of the BBL’s constitutionality that he is even encouraging that it be challenged before the Supreme Court (SC).

“We want them to bring it to the SC so it would pass the test of constitutionality. All the better,” he said.

Fariñas noted the long debates legislators had with the members of the Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC) who wanted to retain most of the BBL terms and provisions that were considered in conflict with the Constitution.

“In fairness to them, they accepted the efforts to make the BBL constitutional,” Fariñas said.

The BBL went the hard, contentious route and it took Rody to break a deadlock in the bicameral committee over the opt-in provision for territories to join the Bangsamoro region.

He urged the bicameral conference committee to adopt the provision requiring the approval of the mother units before areas in Lanao del Norte and North Cotabato are included in the proposed Bangsamoro region as contained in the House BBL version.

Involved in the impasse were six municipalities of Lanao del Norte and the 39 barangays of North Cotabato.

The basis of the resolution of the stalemate was the Umali v Comelec case that Fariñas brought up during the crucial BBL meeting at Malacañang.

The Supreme Court ruled in the case that in the conversion of Cabanatuan City into a highly urbanized city, voters of the whole province of Nueva Ecija had to participate in its ratification as the province is directly affected by such conversion.

“In two years, the administration of Rody achieved what previous administrations failed to do.

The BBL is now in the final stretch of making history as both chambers are expected to ratify the reconciled measure and Rody to sign it in time for his State of the Nation Address (SoNA).

In two years, the administration of Rody achieved what previous administrations failed to do through the BBL’s imminent passage.

The achievement is significant since it promises to give the country long-term peace which had eluded Mindanao and had long restricted the region’s economic potential.

The key to Rody’s persuasive power to the diverse parties involved in the BBL discussion was his being a long-time student of the problems confronting Mindanao and as a peace maker as Davao City mayor.

Rody has chalked up unprecedented achievements in two years: Ending the crime wave and the drug crisis on Year 1 and attaining long-term peace for Mindanao for Year 2.

Year 3, thus, will prove to be more promising.

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