Congress leaders to meet with Duterte over proposed BBL

Congress leaders are set to meet with President Rodrigo Duterte to discuss the still-unresolved contentious provisions of the measure seeking to provide for the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL).

House Majority Leader Rodolfo Fariñas made the pronouncement following an all-House member caucus that tackled House Bill 6475, or the Duterte-backed version of the BBL proposal.

House members earlier held a caucus to discuss the contentious provisions and amendments to the bill, but the leadership ought to discuss them with the Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC), whose version of the bill was adopted in House Bill 6475.

Fariñas said the BTC agreed with several of the amendments proposed by the lawmakers.

"[Pero] yung mga contentious portion, we agreed na kung sino yung mga affected areas or persons, dadalhin namin kay Presidente mamaya para makausap namin si Presidente," he said.

Aside from the BTC, the House leadership has also consulted as regards the BBL proposal the government peace negotiating (GRP) panel which, Fariñas said, is "executive" and not "legislative" in nature.

"So nag-usap-usap ang BTC and the GRP, eto yung kanilang draft. May mga counter-proposals so we would want to hear directly from the President kung ano yung final position," Fariñas said.

"And then the President would be meeting with us, the Speaker, myself and the Senate President and our counterparts para pag-usapan itong BBL mamayang hapon," he added.

Senate President Vicente Sotto III said he will ask the President if he will certify the bill as urgent.

"I will ask him if he is inclined to give us the certificate. Kapag may certification, siguradong maipapasa sa Miyerkules. Wednesday ng tanghali kailangan hawak ko na 'yun," Sotto told reporters.

With the certification, Congress can do away with the three-day rule and immediately approve the bill after it passed the second reading.

Amendments

Among the amendments that the BTC has agreed on is the retention of the Bangsamoro police and military under the national government, Fariñas said.

"They agreed na all the defense, police, coast guard will be retained under the national government. Magkakaroon ng police region in Bangsamoro pero under the PNP pa rin," he explained.

These forces, however, will still be composed of members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and Moro National Liberation Front.

Fariñas is aiming to have the BBL proposal subsequently approved on second and third reading on Tuesday.

"As we agreed, once we meet with the President on these contentious issues, if the President certifies it as urgent after our meeting tonight, we will approve it on second and third reading tomorrow," he said.

'Don't fast track approval'

Opposition lawmakers, however, are urging their colleagues not to hasten the approval of such important legislation.

"It will be a problem if the House leadership will fast track the approval of the BBL because there will be inadequate and insufficient deliberations for a very important issue," Albay Representative Edcel Lagman said.

"We are urging the House leadership to give opportunity to all those who would like to debate on the measure and not to fast-track the measure at the expense of a serious and deliberate consideration of the measure," he added.

Magdalo party-list Representative Gary Alejano made the same call.

"I ask that we carefully develop a BBL that would result to such without, of course, unreasonably delaying the process. We do not want to compromise the quality of this measure for the sake of beating the deadline,” he said. — with Amita Legaspi/RSJ, GMA News