Time running out on BBL – Speaker

MANILA, Philippines – Time is running out on the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) as members of Congress will soon be busy tackling the proposed P3.002- trillion national budget for 2016 and campaigning for next year’s elections, Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said yesterday.

Belmonte said the leadership of the House of Representatives has somewhat addressed the issue of quorum with plenary sessions chalking up “very good” attendance in recent days.

“The real problem is that time is running out because there so many who want to interpellate, which is their right, and it’s the right of the leadership of the House to terminate it (plenary deliberations) or to limit it if we have the numbers,” Belmonte told dzBB.

“Our version of the BBL, which is of course still subject to further amendments on the floor, has no reason not to be passed or not to be taken up to the point of voting on it. If I can bring it up to that point (voting), that’s what I’m after,” he said.

He said the chamber is expected to finish its committee deliberations on the proposed national budget in the next weeks and start plenary debates before the end of the month or early October so the BBL must be passed before that.

He said the Senate has also started deliberations on its version of the BBL but will start tackling the budget by November.

“The notion that you can get the Senate and the House to agree on a version before we concentrate on the budget is really becoming an impossible dream,” Belmonte said.

“But we still have to go at it to show that peace in Mindanao as exemplified by the BBL is our continuing concern and it will still get a big chunk of our time,” he said.

The BBL, which seeks to create a new autonomous region in Mindanao, is the product of negotiations between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) – specifically, the 2012 Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro and the 2014 Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro.

President Aquino was supposed to present the BBL in May 2014 but submitted it in September. The administration-dominated Senate and House were expecting to pass the BBL in the first quarter this year but the tragic Jan. 25 Mamasapano, Maguindanao incident greatly reduced public support for the measure. – With Delon Porcalla