Senate won’t restore deleted BBL provisions

MANILA, Philippines - At least 28 provisions that the House of Representatives had deleted from the Bangsamoro Bill will not be restored by the Senate.

The Senate will not accede to the demand of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), according to committee on local government chairman Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

He supports the stand of Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. not to give in to the MILF’s demand to restore the 28 provisions, he added.

The bill’s provision seeking to implement the MILF-government peace agreement only binds the executive department, Marcos said.

“The agreements do not bind Congress,” he said. “Neither do they bind the Supreme Court, much less the entire country.”

Marcos spoke in a forum at San Sebastian College in Manila.

The Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC) chaired by Mohaguer Iqbal has asked the House to pass the Bangsamoro Bill in its original form.

It was consistent with the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro and the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) between the government and the MILF, he said.

Marcos said the MILF cannot demand the passage of the bill in its original form. 

His substitute bill, the “Basic Law on the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region,” is expected to undergo floor debates next week.

It does not follow that the entire government must honor the Bangsamoro Bill and Congress pass it with all provisions intact since the MILF signed a peace agreement with the President of the Republic, Marcos said.

“If it’s a sovereign nation that is signing a treaty with the Philippines, then because foreign policy is within the powers of the executive, that is right – once the President signs it, the entire Philippine government is committed to honor that,” he said.

The MILF-government peace agreement does not fall into the same category, Marcos said.

It is not a treaty but an agreement seeking to create an autonomous region within the Philippines, he added.

 If Congress passes the Bangsamoro Bill without changes, the Supreme Court would declare it unconstitutional and put to waste all the work that the legislature had exerted to pass it, Marcos said.

“If the proponents are really bent on passing the BBL in the exact shape and form as drafted by the Palace and the MILF, then there would be no other legal recourse but to initiate a coordinate move of amending or revising the Constitution,” he said.

It will accommodate drastic changes in the existing government structures and institutions, he added.

Browning Automatic Rifle?

BAR for Bangsamoro Autonomous Region also stands for Browning Automatic Rifle, the MILF said in an editorial posted on its website luwaran.com.

“The legislators failed to realize how strong the effects of symbolism in determining the mindsets and attitudes of people,” read the editorial.

“By using BAR, it continuously reminds the Moros of their martial history as an unconquered people, and the BAR as a very reliable weapon in their wars with government forces in early 70s.”

The BAR, originally designed by John Browning for the US Army, was also used during the Vietnam War, the MILF said.

“The imposed wars from the Spanish period to the advent of the Americans in the 19th century and onto the declaration of martial law in 1972 have compelled the Moros to defend and arm themselves or perish,” read the editorial.

“Consequently, as warriors, their psyche is easier to sway to take the path of war than to embrace the so-called path of peace. It is only now under the Aquino dispensation that they see the peace process as genuine.”

Lawmakers are “overstressing what is obvious” when they renamed the bill BAR, to emphasize the autonomous character of the entity as part and parcel of the Philippine state, the MILF said. – With Alexis Romero, Roel Pareño