P-Noy: No bribe to pass BBL

MANILA, Philippines - President Aquino maintained yesterday that he did not offer anything to the leaders and members of the House of Representatives as bribe or incentive for the passage of the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL).

Aquino met with lawmakers at Malacañang on Tuesday to press for approval of the measure, but there was no quorum to tackle the proposal when they went back to the House.

“Not even a Christmas card,” Aquino said, adding it might come “somewhere down the line, but that has not been the style.”

Surprisingly, the House achieved a quorum last Wednesday or a day after the luncheon meeting with the President, but the BBL remained pending for deliberation.

Aquino said a House member belonging to the opposition himself told the media there were no projects worth P1.5 billion dangled before the lawmakers, quoting the congressman as saying “we were called, requested, there was no Christmas gift given to us.”

“Ask somebody who was there; I never promised anything besides the appeal that in passage of the BBL, we do have a chance to change the narrative, whereas not passing it continues the status quo. And that was the central message, nothing more, nothing less,” Aquino said during a media forum in Pasay City. 

Earlier, Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. flatly denied allegations that the Palace was bribing lawmakers to have the BBL passed.

House Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II also dismissed reports on the P1.5-billion projects being dangled by the Palace, saying the opposition lawmakers and those against BBL were present at the Palace luncheon.

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said the fate of the BBL was still uncertain in the House, which was set to vote on the measure in January next year.

He said the measure should be more acceptable to lawmakers if the numerous unconstitutional provisions were removed.