Solon warns Palace to weed out ‘opt-in’ provision in BBL

Anticipating parliamentary warfare during this week’s plenary debates on the proposed Basic Law for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, House Majority Leader and Mandaluyong City Representative Neptali “Boyet” Gonzales, II warned yesterday that the peace measure’s “opt-in” provision, if not weeded out, might spell rough sailing for Malacañang’s priority bill.

He said some of his colleagues expressed strong opposition to the provision which includes local government units (LGUs) contiguous to the new Muslim region and covered by the 1976 Tripoli Agreement between the government and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) to join the Bangsamoro area, making Section 3 of the approved Ad Hoc panel report the most contentious provision.

“Kung may 30 na contro-

versial issue diyan, ’yung opt in ay from number 1 to 25. Kaya ako personally, to give BBL a chance, I am not saying na it will be an easy sailing for BBL, pero matanggal ’yung opt in provision, medyo mas luluwag ng kaunti ang pagpasa nito (If there are 30 controversial issues, the opt in provision covers 1 to 25. Personally, it will not be an easy sailing for the BBL, but it’s best chance is to remove the opt in provision),” he said in a radio interview.

He said it may not be a deal breaker for the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), but “it is a deal breaker for the congressmen.”

MILF ‘should’ accept ‘opt-in’ The House Ad Hoc Committee, chaired by Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez approved the proposed Basic Law for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region with the opt-in provision, which states that any local government unit (LGU) or geographic area outside the territorial jurisdiction of the Bangsamoro, but which are contiguous to any of the component units of the Bangsamoro and within the area of autonomy identified in the 1976 Tripoli Agreement, may opt to be part of the Bangsamoro by filing a petition of at least 10 percent of the registered voters of the interested local government unit or geographic area.

Gonzales said if Malacañang wants the BBL passed by Congress, it should start convincing the MILF that the optin provision should be scrapped.

“I’m not even saying it’s going to pass smoothly, but kahit papaano yong pinakatakot ng marami dyan ay mawawala. May mga nagsasabi sa akin, ayoko nang sabihin kung sino pero mga oppositors ito ng BBL... Bumubulong-bulong sa akin yan. Sabi nila, tanggalin mo lang yan boss, sama kami,” he said.

‘Contiguous’ defined In a separate interview, Rodriguez said Zamboanga City, Zamboanga Norte, Zamboanga Sur, Zamboanga Sibugay and Palawan “will never be covered by the opt-in provision because they are not contiguous to any Bangsamoro area.”

He explained that contiguous means “in close proximity, in actual close contact, touching, bounded or traversed by” or “sharing a common border” or “next or together in sequence.”

“The above city and provinces are separated by 30 to 80 nautical miles of the sea from Basilan, Sulu and Tawi Tawi. Contiguity clearly means being adjacent by land,” he pointed out.

Gonzales cited possibility that the House of Representatives will have a session on Thursday and Friday this week to tackle the amended House Bill 4994 in the plenary. Congress is set to adjourn sine die on June 11.

“We have already alerted our members sa possibility na magkaroon ng session up to Friday this week and baka hanggang Thursday kami sa susunod na linggo,” he said.

The House normally conducts session from Monday to Wednesday.

Delaying tactics He anticipated that the oppositors of the BBL will employ their delaying tactics just to block the passage of the “highly divisive” measure, citing that the June 11 deadline to pass the measure by both houses of Congress is “now impossible.”

“We will give it our best shot kung ano ang matatapos namin. Kung hindi naman matatapos, nothing prevents us from resuming consideration of the BBL, we will resume after SONA (State of the Nation Address) na 4th Monday ng July,” Gonzales said.

He even appealed to his colleagues to attend the plenary session so as not to give the BBL critics a chance to question the quorum. There must be 146 House members to declare a quorum.

Palace: Don’t forget FOI

Malacañang has no objection to the plan of the House of Representatives to give priority to the proposed BBL over the freedom of information (FOI) bill.

Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Herminio Coloma, Jr. said the Palace respects the prerogative of lawmakers to set their legislative timetable.

“We respect the statement of Speaker (Feliciano) Belmonte because in all occasions, we recognize the legislature as a separate and co-equal branch of government. They have a right to set the calendar of bills they intend to discuss,” Coloma said in Filipino over government radio.

“Consultations are just being made to get certain views. But on the matter of schedule of what the plenary or a committee will discuss, we will leave that decision to the lawmakers,” he added.

Earlier, Malacañang expressed hope that Congress will not forget about the FOI bill despite ongoing discussion on the draft BBL. (With a report from Genalyn D. Kabiling)