House coup stalls signing of Bangsamoro Organic Law

MANILA, Philippines — Leadership infighting at the House of Representatives derailed yesterday the expected approval of the proposed Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL), which the administration and its authors claim would promote peace in Mindanao.

The House abruptly adjourned its session in the morning without approving the bicameral conference committee report on the bill just hours after the Senate ratified it. 

Without ratification by the two chambers, the measure could not be presented to President Duterte as planned before his third State of the Nation Address (SONA) in the afternoon so he could sign it into law.

The adjournment of the session at about 12:30 p.m. was obviously intended to avert the impending replacement of Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez by former president and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

It was also aimed at allowing Alvarez to thresh things out with his colleagues and with his Malacañang principal, whose spokesman said he did not want to meddle in the House intramural.

It likewise allowed him to sit side by side with the President and Senate President Vicente Sotto III for Duterte’s SONA.

Alvarez initially presided over the morning session and declared a recess after the House passed two resolutions informing the Senate that it has convened and invited Duterte to address a joint assembly of Congress for his third SONA.

The House was to tackle the BOL bill following the adoption of the customary resolutions.

After a break of more than one hour, it was deputy speaker and Cebu Rep. Gwen Garcia who ascended the Speaker’s podium, and upon motion of deputy majority leader and Pampanga Rep. Juan Pablo Bondoc, declared the session adjourned until the President’s address at 4 p.m., prompting House members to leave the session hall.

Former Arroyo budget secretary and now Camarines Sur Rep. Rolando Andaya Jr. tried to object to the adjournment but Garcia ignored him. 

Shortly after, Arroyo’s allies were summoned to reconvene the session to oust Alvarez and to approve the BOL bill, which the conference committee chaired jointly by House Majority Leader Rodolfo Fariñas and his Senate counterpart Juan Miguel Zubiri worked on day and night for more than a week.

Among those who responded were members of the Liberal Party (LP) of former president Benigno Aquino III, during whose watch Arroyo was detained for plunder in connection with the alleged misuse of more than P300 million in Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office intelligence funds. She was released in July 2016 after nearly four years on hospital arrest.

Arroyo’s supporters also circulated a manifesto on Alvarez’s ouster. As of early afternoon, over a hundred members have reportedly signed.

LP member Deputy Speaker and Marikina Rep. Romero Quimbo told reporters that they were asked to return to the plenary hall to resume their session.

He refused to say who called them.

Other LP members who returned to the session hall were Edgar Erice of Caloocan City, Raul Daza of Northern Samar and Jorge Banal of Quezon City.

Others who were seen in the hall huddled with Arroyo were Davao del Norte Rep. Antonio Floirendo Jr., one of the alleged oust-Alvarez plotters, and Davao City Rep. Karlo Nograles, who is appropriations committee chairman and cousin of presidential daughter and Mayor Sara Duterte, another supposed plotter.

Asked if they would vote for Arroyo, Quimbo said, “Let us see.”

Erice said they would not vote for the former president. 

“We just want to replace Alvarez for being unfair to us and our constituents, whom he deprived of infrastructure funds in the current budget. Even our road maintenance funds had been scrapped,” he said.

Daza said the Arroyo camp would violate House rules if they proceeded to resume the adjourned proceedings.

“This will be a rump session. It’s the current leadership that should reconvene us,” he said.

He said the BOL bill, if approved in a “rump” session, could be questioned before the Supreme Court.

Quimbo disagreed with Daza, a veteran lawmaker from the pre-martial law days, claiming that Arroyo allies could reopen the deliberations “if that is the wish of the majority of House members.”

“Any of the deputy speakers could assume the role of presiding officer, while another member could act as majority leader,” he said.

He said they could also approve the Bangsamoro bill “and ratify it again tomorrow.”

However, the rump session fizzled out, giving Alvarez another day as Speaker and the country’s fourth highest-ranking official.

‘Temporary setback’

Malacañang yesterday described as “unfortunate” the failure of the House to ratify the BOL before the adjournment of its session.  

“We consider this as a temporary setback in the administration’s goal of laying the foundation for a more genuine and lasting peace in Mindanao,” presidential spokesman Harry Roque Jr. said in a statement. 

Despite the delay, the administration remains optimistic that the measure would be signed into law soon. 

“We, however, remain confident that (President Duterte) will sign the (BOL) as soon as both houses of Congress finally ratify the bill,” Roque said. 

Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Jesus Dureza said the BOL was a “collateral damage” to the issues in the House. 

“The failure to ratify is unfortunate but it has nothing to do with the BOL itself. It was due to some leadership issues internal to the (House),” Dureza said in a text message. 

“The BOL suffered this temporary setback, as a ‘collateral damage’ to an internal leadership issue in the House but I trust and expect that in due time, the ratification which it deserves will take place as a matter of course,” he added. 

BOL ratification

The Senate ratified yesterday the proposed BOL.

The bicameral conference committee worked until late Sunday to come up with a clean copy of the BOL after both chambers last week finished reconciling their respective provisions of the landmark measure.Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri, principal sponsor of the BOL in the Senate, was gratified the chamber finally ratified the measure after three administrations have tried and failed to come up with such a law. – With Alexis Romero, Paolo Romero, Jose Rodel Clapano

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