Congress leaders agree to pass Bangsamoro law by December - Drilon

MANILA, Philippines - Senate President Franklin Drilon said Thursday that congressional leaders have agreed to pass by year-end the legislation that would hopefully pave the way for a lasting peace in Mindanao.

Drilon said leaders of Senate and the House of Representatives met on Thursday and all of them agreed that the enactment of the Bangsamoro Basic Law should be made by December 2014.

"[W]e will emphasize that our target is to have passed by the end of the year so that we can have the ratification in 2015," Drilon said. "Certainly, with the absolute deadline, we must be able to have this ratified and put in place before the end of the President's term."

Drilon said this in a press briefing with Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) chair Mohagher Iqbal and Sec. Teresita Deles, Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process.

Iqbal leads the Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC), the body tasked to complete the draft on the Bangsamoro Basic Law as part of the government's peace deal with the MILF.

Both sides signed last month the Annex on Normalization, the fourth and final annex to the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro, which envisioned the creation of the Bangsamoro government that will replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao in 2016.

The signing of the final annex would pave the way for the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro.

Congress will now have to enact the Bangsamoro Basic Law as the final peace agreement.

Iqbal said the BTC is expected to submit its first draft of the basic law by March 31, 2014.

The Office of the President and Deles' office will then discuss the law informally with all the sectors involved, according to Drilon.

He said the Senate will then wait for the administration’s version of the law, which is expected to be transmitted to the chamber by the first week of May.

Drilon said the lawmakers who have agreed to pass the basic law by year-end were House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte, House Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II, House Minority Leader Ronaldo Zamora, Senate President Pro-Tempore Ralph Recto, Senate Majority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano, Senate Minority Leader Juan Ponce Enrile, and Senate Deputy Minority Leader Vicente Sotto III.

No to Charter Change

Drilon also reminded the BTC that the Bansamoro Basic Law should be within the four corners of the Constitution.

"That is the commitment of the President to the people, that there will be no constitutional amendments necessary as a result of the basic law because that is precisely why the freewheels of the peace agreement did not need the approval of the Supreme Court," Drilon said.

Iqbal said so far, they have not encountered anything that requires amending the Constitution.