BBL certified as urgent

PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte has certified the Senate and the House versions of the measure creating a new Bangsamoro region, Malacañang announced Tuesday, May 29.

The President certified the draft Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) just hours after Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque Jr. announced that the proposed bill was unlikely to be certified as urgent.

Duterte, in a May 29 letter addressed to Senate President Vicente Sotto III and House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, certified “the necessity of the immediate enactment” of Senate Bill 1717 and House Bill

6475 in order to “advance the creation of a new autonomous region in Muslim Mindanao.”

“The passage of this measure is a manifestation of the government’s commitment to address the diverse needs of the people in Bangsamoro, and all communities and constituents of Mindanao, towards a just and lasting peace in Mindanao and in the Philippines as a whole,” he said.

The proposed BBL aims to establish a new Bangsamoro political entity, which in effect, will replace the existing Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

The measure seeks to address the political marginalization and historical injustices against Bangsamoro people by acknowledging the legitimacy of their cause and their desire to chart their own political system.

Roque, in a statement on Tuesday afternoon, said the President decided to certify the bill as urgent following “much deliberation.”

“After much deliberation, the President has decided to make the House and Senate versions of the BBL as urgent,” the Palace official said. Ruth