Passage of Bangsamoro Basic Law Noy’s top priority

MANILA, Philippines - The Bangsamoro Basic Law tops the list of 26 proposed priority measures the Office of the President submitted to Congress for enactment, Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Teresita Quintos Deles said yesterday.

Deles made the statement as the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) peace panels resumed their review of the 18 articles making up the draft Bangsamoro Basic Law yesterday in Davao City.

“This demonstrates that the government intends to see through the full implementation of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro,” she said.

When passed into law, the Bangsamoro Basic Law will create the Bangsamoro region in Muslim Mindanao that will replace the existing Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

The law would also schedule the election of the new set of regional officials simultaneously with President Aquino’s successor in the May 2016 polls.

Deles gave assurance that processes and mechanisms are in place to meet the goal of having the law passed before the end of the year, including coordination between the executive and the legislature.

Government peace panel chair Miriam Coronel-Ferrer said in a television interview that the government and MILF peace panels aim to submit the proposed law to Congress this month “because if it takes longer, Congress will also have a hard time to fast-track its passage.”

“When the draft Bangsamoro Basic Law reaches Congress, (they) can be confident that it was thoroughly reviewed,” Ferrer added.

Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez expressed confidence that lawmakers can still pass the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law before the end of the year.

“We have enough time to approve it, if the Transition Commission will submit the draft to Congress this month as it has announced, if possible within the next two weeks,” he said.

The House of Representatives is eyeing Rodriguez to head a special committee that would scrutinize the proposed law.

Rodriguez said the House can work simultaneously on the proposed Bangsamoro law and on Aquino’s P2.606-trillion 2015 budget proposal.

“We have five months to work on and approve these two important pieces of legislation. The proposed Bangsamoro law will hopefully bring peace to Mindanao. Our people are tired of war,” he said.

Rodriguez, however, raised concern that a constitutional challenge in the Supreme Court would certainly delay the implementation of the peace agreement.

Government peace negotiators have earlier hinted that they still had disagreement with their MILF counterparts on certain provisions in the proposed law, which they felt would run afoul of the Constitution.

They did not reveal what those provisions were.  – With Jess Diaz