Duterte breaks BBL impasse
President Rodrigo Duterte helped speed up the passage of the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) on Wednesday when he broke the impasse on the issue of territory, the Palace said.
“[Malacañang is] pleased to announce that the President facilitated the passage of the BBL by convincing the two houses of congress to adopt the House version of the BBL, providing that the six municipalities of Lanao del Norte and the 39 barangay (villages) of North Cotabato could vote to join the BBL territory,” Palace spokesman Harry Roque, Jr. said in a statement.
This will be done in a referendum to be conducted in the mother territory of the areas involved, Roque added.
“With the President’s intervention, citing constitutional provisions and the decision of the Supreme Court in the case of Umali, the passage of the BBL has been assured,” Roque added.
The Supreme Court (SC) in 2014 ruled against the motion for reconsideration filed by Aurelio Umali pushing to make Cabanatuan a highly urbanized city.
STANDING FOR PEACE Groups belonging to Bangsamoro communities hold a peace rally at the Shrine of Our Lady of Peace on EDSA on Wednesday to stand for their rights during the third day of the Bicameral Conference Committee meeting on the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law. PHOTO BY ANDREA DE LA CRUZ
The SC ruled that the entire province of Nueva Ecija should decide whether Cabanatuan City should be promoted to a highly urbanized city, setting aside the result of the plebiscite done only by the city.
Duterte broke the impasse when he met Congress leaders in Malacañang.
“The President promised that he will do everything to overcome the deadlock,” Roque said.
The BBL seeks to abolish the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and replace it with the Bangsamoro Region.
Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri said during the lawmakers’ meeting with the President, “All agreed that not involving the mother provinces and municipalities during the plebiscite for the towns of Lanao Norte and barangay of North Cotabato would be considered unconstitutional.”
“And so as not to be struck down by the Supreme Court on that provision, the consensus was to adopt the house version on territory,” he said.
Issues
A Muslim lawmaker on Wednesday said he would question the BBL before the SC if the final version of the measure allowed six municipalities of Lanao del Norte to join the Bangsamoro Region via a plebiscite.
To let the six towns join the Bangsamoro Region, according to Rep. Khalid Dimaporo of Lanao del Norte, would violate the Constitution.
His plan to take issue with the municipalities’ inclusion came as a group of retired generals and admirals from the Armed Forces of the Philippines took issue with the BBL’s silence on the disarming of rebel groups.
The bicameral conference committee was deadlocked over the inclusion in the plebiscite of the six Lanao del Norte towns, as well as 39 barangay (villages) of North Cotabato and the cities of Isabela (Basilan) and Cotabato.
Dimaporo, a member of the bicameral conference committee on the BBL, said these cities, municipalities and villages should only be included in the Bangsamoro Region, which will replace the ARMM as provided by the BBL, if these places got the approval of their mother units.
In the case of the six Lanao del Norte towns, Dimaporo said the whole province should vote in favor of the inclusion of these towns in the Bangsamoro Region instead of just letting them decide on whether they should join the proposed region.
“We will challenge it [BBL] before the Supreme Court. If the Supreme Court will say these places will be included in the Bangsamoro [Region], then we will accept it. But I know that I did my best as a political leader of our province,” Dimaporo said in a news conference.
The six Lanao del Norte municipalities, which voted to be included in the existing ARMM during the 2001 plebiscite, are Tagoloan, Balo-I, Pantar, Munai, Tangcal and Nunungan.
The 39 barangay in North Cotabato, which is under the ARMM, are located in the towns of Aleosan, Carmen, Kabacan, Midsayap, Pigcawayan and Pikit.
Dimaporo said the 2001 plebiscite does not count because records from it had been destroyed in a fire.
“Given the situation, if anybody will challenge the BBL in [Supreme] Court and ask if these places indeed voted in favor of being included in the ARMM, there’s no official record,” he noted.
Disarm MILF
Retired military officials however said the proposed BBL should include provisions disarming and preventing rebel groups from regrouping.
In a news conference in San Juan City on Wednesday, the Advocacy Group for National Interests (AGNI) said drafts of the BBL from the Senate and the House of Representatives did not include the disarmament of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
“We want to ensure and we want to advocate that there should be definitive provisions in the BBL that the MILF forces will be demilitarized, demobilized and reintegrated into mainstream society, something which is not in the [drafts of the]BBL,” retired lieutenant general Edilberto Adan said.
Adan was a former spokesman of the Armed Forces and was the deputy chief of staff of the military during the Arroyo administration.
He cited peace agreements in Europe and South America that he said they had studied.
According to Adan, these agreements “always” had provisions that rebel groups opposing a government will have to be demobilized and disarmed. He said such provision should be included in the drafts of the BBL.
The group also warned the BBL will violate Section 15, Article 10 of the charter, which specified two autonomous regions, namely the ARMM and the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR).
“We have read the two versions and it has been reported that there are potential violations in the crafted versions [of the Senate and the House]so these are now being threshed out by the two Houses and our group has voiced out to make sure and to emphasize that the resultant BBL must be in compliance with our Constitution,” Adan said.
He said the Armed Forces and the Philippine National Police (PNP) must remain under the command of the President.
“[That is] following the chain of command which is provided by the law and that is what we would like to follow,” he added.
Adan’s fellow members in AGNI come from the military, the police and the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG).
RALPH EDWIN U. VILLANUEVA, DEMPSEY REYES AND LLANESCA PANTI WITH REPORTS FROM JEAN NICOLE STA. CLARA AND MICHELLE JANE MISLANG (TMTC INTERNS)
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