House urged to suspend BBL hearings

MANILA, Philippines - Party-list representatives urged the House leadership yesterday to suspend hearings and discussions on the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) until those who killed 44 policemen in Mamasapano, Maguindanao on Jan. 25 are identified and charged.

In a statement read by Ako Bicol Rep. Rodel Batocabe, the Coalition of Party-list Representatives said consideration of the proposed law that would create a new autonomous Bangsamoro region should be suspended “until such time we are able to determine the culpability of groups involved in the policemen’s killing.”

They said justice should be served to the fallen members of the Philippine National Police-Special Action Force (PNP-SAF) and their families.The coalition is composed of 39 party-list representatives.

Batocabe said lawmakers could not talk about bringing peace to Mindanao through the BBL without the killers of the 44 SAF men being identified and charged.

“We can never talk peace without justice. Justice should be served first,” he said.

Questions sent

At the House of Representatives, the ad hoc committee that is deliberating on the proposed BBL has sent lists of questions to various agencies investigating the Mamasapano incident that it said will help in drafting the final version of the BBL.

The panel, chaired by Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, sent letters to the leadership of the PNP, Armed Forces, Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) with an exhaustive list of questions and to remind them of the Feb. 9 deadline to submit their respective reports on the incident.

The committee was supposed to vote on Monday on whether or not to continue with the deliberations on the BBL after it gave the PNP, the Armed Forces, the OPAPP and the ARMM until 5 p.m. of that day. – With Evelyn Macairan, Jose Rodel Clapano, Paolo Romero