An administration lawmaker on Sunday backed President Rodrigo Duterte’s call for Congress to pass the propsed Charter change to effect federalism ahead of the passage of the Bangsamoro Basic Law, to avoid constitutional challenge on the latter.
“We support the President’s call to have a federal form of government first before approving the BBL,” Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Barbers said.
As proposed, Barbers said the Bangsamoro entity “has a semblance of a federal state.”
The proposed BBL had a hard time passing during the 16th Congress because of constitutional infirmities.
But Barbers said these infirmities could be resolved if lawmakers get rid of the current unitary system of government in favor of a federal system where the country will be divided into federal states.
“The federalism issue should be handled first before the BBL. It is a legitimate and the fastest solution to the constitutional problems being raised against the BBL,” said Barbers, chairperson of the House Committee on Dangerous Drugs.
The federalism model being pushed by the House of Representatives’ committee on constitutional amendments identifies five federal states—one of which is the Bangsamoro. The others are Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao, and Metro Manila.
“The BBL will be moot upon the establishment of a federal Philippines,” Barbers said.