Palace: Any BBL will do

MANILA, Philippines - President Aquino will accept any version of the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) that Congress will come up with despite a veiled threat from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) that it should be the original version or nothing.

Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said yesterday the executive branch acknowledges the power and role of the Senate and the House of Representatives in crafting laws, especially the proposed law that will create the Bangsamoro autonomous region in Mindanao.

“We understand that the legislative process involves the process of review, the process of proposing amendments, which is part of the dynamics of political process in creating any law,” he explained.

Coloma also reminded the MILF and the government peace panels that there are other stakeholders in the peace process.

But he reiterated that the Aquino administration is sincere and wants to implement its peace agreement with the MILF. The BBL has been a priority of the Aquino administration because the measure is seen to end decades of insurgency and poverty in Mindanao.

Coloma said that what is important at this point is the cooperation between the executive and legislative branches in passing the BBL.

He made the statement after House leaders announced yesterday that the Congress would try to come up with its own version of the BBL and it would be up to the MILF to accept or reject it.

Eastern Samar Rep. Ben Evardone, House appropriations committee vice chairman, said the MILF should not “blackmail or stampede” the legislature into approving the BBL as drafted by the government and MILF peace panels because it is Congress that has the plenary powers to revise and pass it.

“We are all for peace… If the BBL is what would bring peace and development to Mindanao, then we should have it, but not in the form that the MILF wants,” Evardone added.

“If they are telling us to take their draft or leave it, we want to tell them we can’t take it hook, line and sinker, and they will have to take our version or leave it,” Isabela congressman and Deputy Speaker Giorgidi Aggabao told a news conference.

Aggabao and Evardone were reacting to the letter of MILF chairman Al Haj Murad Ebrahim to Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, chair of the House ad hoc committee for the BBL.

In his letter, the highest ranking MILF leader said his organization trusts “that Congress will pass the mutually agreed BBL draft with no changes and without diminishing, diluting or watering down its provisions, except probably for minor changes or changes that clearly improve it or enhance it.”

But Aggabao said if the MILF wants the House to vote on the draft BBL in its present form, the proposed measure would surely be killed because the draft law has “many deficiencies,” which would have to be corrected to make it compliant with the Constitution.

Rodriguez explained that while Congress would strike down some provisions, the lawmakers are also determined to ensure the fulfillment of the aspirations of the people of Bangsamoro.

The lawmakers also appealed to the MILF not to resort to arms again if the BBL version passed is not the same as the one submitted by Malacañang to Congress.

Support for BBL weakened

The House had planned to pass the BBL next month before the Lenten break.

The Aquino administration wanted to obtain congressional approval of the proposed BBL at the latest in June and have a one-year transition before the election of the officers of the envisioned Bangsamoro autonomous region with other officials in May next year.

But Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said this was no longer possible in the wake of the encounter in Mamasapano, Maguindanao in which 44 commandos of the Philippine National Police Special Action Force died in a clash with MILF fighters and other Moro rebels when the policemen were in pursuit of Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir, alias Marwan.

Belmonte admitted that the support of administration lawmakers in the House weakened because of the Mamasapano clash.

“I think this is not the best time to force a vote on that. I did not say that we don’t have the numbers, what I said was I can’t be sure of the numbers,” he explained.

Sen. Ferdinand Marcos and Sen. Bam Aquino also expressed belief that there will be major amendments in the BBL as an aftermath of the Mamamasano incident.

Marcos said the Senate committee on local governments, which he chairs, will only continue the hearings on the BBL once the events on the Mamasapano clash have become clearer. He clarified that he has not given up on peace, but he also calls for justice for the slain SAF troopers.

Marcos earlier suspended the hearings because the government cannot wage peace while the “other party remains at war.” He demanded answers from the MILF on why they attacked the SAF.

‘BBL is the only way to peace’

Despite the decreased support for the BBL in Congress, policemen, soldiers and civil society are strongly pushing for the passage of the measure, saying it is the only way to inspire peace in Mindanao.

More than 500 bikers, led by policemen and soldiers, celebrated Valentine’s Day in Cotabato by holding the Bangsamoro Bike for Love to express their support for the passage of the BBL.

With theme “We Ride Together for BBL,” participants cycled through a 106-kilometer route starting at Awang, Cotabato to Buluan, Maguindanao.

The bikers came from various sectors, including the national government, local government units, government peace panel, business sector, youth, religious community, academe and members of the MILF and Moro National Liberation Front.

“In passing the Bangsamoro Basic Law, we are also opening the possibility for our country to experience peace, especially here in Mindanao,” AFP chief of staff Gen. Gregorio Pio Catapang Jr. said.

“I hope that as we continue to promulgate the BBL, we will carry on upholding the ceasefire agreement we have. Through this, the Armed Forces of the Philippines is optimistic that solidarity will be encouraged further for the betterment of our peace process,” he added.

Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Gov. Mujiv Hataman also believes that only the passage of the BBL can resolve the insurgency in Mindanao. “There is no alternative,” he said. – With Jess Diaz, Paolo Romero, Jose Rodel Clapano, Christina Mendez