Joint House panels OK committee report for Duterte-backed BBL proposal

Three joint committees of the House of Representatives on Tuesday approved the committee report on the bill on the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) that President Rodrigo Duterte wants to implement for a lasting peace in Mindanao.

The Committee on Local Government, voting 32-3, the Committee on Muslim Affairs, voting 27-3, and the Special Committee on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity, voting 27-3, granted the motion of Quezon City Representative Jose Christopher Belmonte to approve the committee report for House Bill 6475 without amendments.

Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez introduced House Bill 6475 to the House of Representatives, based on the proposal of the Bangsamoro Transition Commission to Duterte.

The bill seeks to establish a political entity, provide for a basic structure of government to recognize the justness and legitimacy of the cause of the Bangsamoro people and their desire to chart their own political future through a democratic process securing their identity and allowing self-governance.

The committee report for House Bill 6475 was approved despite the local government panel's earlier vote to reject the measure.

Three other bills for the same purpose have also been filed: House Bills 92, 6121 and 6263 authored by Maguindanao Representative Bai Sandra Sema, Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and Lanao Del Norte Representative Mohamad Khalid Dimaporo, respectively. —KBK, GMA News