Bangsamoro law put off to February House sets nationwide hearings
The passage of the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) will have to wait until February next year as the 75-man House committee conducting public hearings on the measure will be able to complete the hearings only on Dec. 17, 2014, Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, the committee chairman, said yesterday.
Malacañang had wanted the Bangsamoro bill — seeks to create a new political entity to replace the Autonomous Region in Mus-
lim Mindanao (ARMM) — approved before the end of year. The House of Representatives was expected to approve the measure by Dec. 17, after which it would go to the Senate.
But Congressman Rodriguez said his committee has scheduled 32 public hearings on the measure in various sites in Mindanao, Visayas, Luzon, and at the Batasan itself. These would be completed only by December 17.
“This will be the most comprehensive and inclusive consultations in the history of the House of Representatives,” he said.
“The committee will then deliberate on the bill when we resume session on January 19 (2015),” he said.
From the committee, the bill will go to the entire assembly and the plenary debates are expected to start February 2. Approval is expected by the end of February, Rodriguez said.
Last September, Rodriguez said his panel had expected the bill to be approved in the plenary by Dec. 17, with the holding of a plebiscite set for March 30 at the latest.
Speaker Feliciano “Sonny” Belmonte Jr. said the BBL’s immediate passage remains a House priority. He said “they will try” to pass the measure by Dec. 17 as originally scheduled.
Rodriguez’s ad hoc committee conducted public consultations on Oct. 22- 24 in the indigenous municipalities in Maguindanao – North and South UPI, Cotabato City, General Santos City, Koronadal City, South Cotabato, and Tacurong City, Sultan Kudarat.
The BBL is the legal translation of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) signed between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) on Mar. 27, 2014.
Coordination Forum Both Nur Misuari and Al-Haji Murad Ebrahim have approved the meeting of their groups in the Bangsamoro Coordination Forum ( BCF) held in Makati Citylast Nov. 12- 13, in pursuit of the goal of unity and peace.
Misuari chairs a group of the Moro National Liberation Front ( MNLF) while Ebrahim is head of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
In a post on Luwaran.com, the latter said both Moro leaders gave their imprimatur to their representatives meeting on Nov. 12- 13 in the forum hosted by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Makati City.
Although the two were not present physically at the meeting, the MILF said “both have given their blessings to their respective delegations.”
Misuari and Ebrahim formed the BCF in their OIC-initiated meeting in May, 2010, in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, as a vehicle for their groups’ collaboration and to resolve issues and concerns in relation to the Bangsamoro people’s aspiration for self- determination and struggle for peace, unity, and economic development.
The OIC has long been urging the MNLF and the MILF to work as one, not necessarily merging the groups into a single organization, which neither Front wants.
Their groups’ signing of a Final Communiqué was described by the MILF as ”historic in many ways.”
“It did not only outline the convergence points of the two Fronts in terms of programs and plan of actions but, more importantly, it impressed upon all and sundry, including the international community, that unity can be done and pursued in many forms,” it added.
The MILF cited the 57- member OIC’s “continuing recognition and commitment to help the Bangsamoro people in the pursuit of their inherent and collective ( aspiration) to selfdetermination.”
The Final Communiqué called for the establishment of the BCF Executive Bureau in Cotabato City and Zamboanga City and the groups’ readiness to continue the initiative to converge or harmonize their struggle. (With a report from Edd K. Usman)