By Minde Nyl R. Dela Cruz
THE House committee on local government is finalizing its substitute bill on the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) which the committee hopes to get approved before the sine die adjournment in June.
In a press briefing on Monday, Zamboanga Sibugay Rep. Wilter Wee Palma II, chairperson of the subcommittee tasked to review and harmonize the bills filed on BBL, said the committee is “still in the process of finalizing our substitute bill.”
“There are no problems with other issues or other provisions. We are just consolidating into one bill,” Mr. Palma said in a mix of English and Filipino, adding that the joint committee still has to meet with the mother committee to raise the contentious issues.
Among the contentious provisions of the BBL are the block grant and the definition of contiguous areas.
Mr. Palma noted that the question on whether BBL will counter Section 15, Article X of the 1987 Constitution, which formed the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) as claimed by the Philippine Constitution Association (PHILCONSA), is one of the constitutional issues that the committee is also trying to resolve.
Mr. Palma stressed that BBL’s goal is to abolish the ARMM which was created under Republic Act (RA) 6734 or the Organic Law of ARMM and expanded by RA 9054. He said “there is no more Organic Law to speak of if mapasa ang Bangsamoro Basic Law (is passed).”
The committee on local government, chaired by South Cotabato Rep. Pedro B. Acharon Jr., together with the committee on Muslim affairs and the special committee on peace, reconciliation, and unity, have completed 19 committee hearings and conducted 11 public hearings in different areas of Mindanao.
