Senator Migz Zubiri, chairman of the subcomittee on the Bangsamoro Basic Law, is upbeat on the bicameral conference committee’s harmonizing conflicting and controversial issues on BBL draft, saying they’re off to a good start.
“We finished three articles of the Bangsamoro Basic Law, although we got bogged down on territorial jurisdiction,” Zubiri told reporters after the BBL deliberation at Crowne Plaza Hotel in Ortigas, Pasig City on Monday.
He said they decided to table it and defer action on it at a later time and agreed on all the acceptable provisions.
He said the matter on territorial jurisdiction is for the plebiscite.
“For the plebiscite, we stil have not gotten into that. We’ll be discussing later on so I’d rather not comment at this point in time,” he added.
The Mindanao lawmaker also found it a pleasure to work with Majority Leader Rodolfo Fariñas because he sees the BBL more objectively unlike them.
“We’re from Mindanao. We may have a more intense passionate view. And so therefore he [Fariñas] was able to filter out the noise and work at least listening to both sides of the fence,” related Zubiri.
In the Senate, Zubiri said they were tend to be loyal to the Senate version and most of the amendments.
“But of course, we all agreed in the caucus earlier that we are going to return the provisions that were removed, that would diminish this law from the ARMM Law. In other words there are certain provisions,” said Zubiri.
For example, Zubiri cited the provision on wealth sharing. He said that under the ARMM law, it’s 70-30. He said it was granted already in Republic Act 9054.
“So in our Senate version, Senator Ralph Recto proposed split sharing and so this is a big issue to them and they would like it to be restored. Personally i agree that it is already part of the ARMM Law and we should not diminish in any effect provisions of the ARMM law,” Zubiri said.
He said another contentious issue involved the territorial waters, the inland bodies of waters. He said these are already clearly indicated in the original ARMM Law and they’re willing to restore in this version.
“We will accept the House version. The House version is 75-25 sharing. The Senate panel will tend to accept the House version,” assured Zubiri.
He added that the result of the conference “will be the cornerstone towards a just, lasting, and dignified peace in the Bangsamoro.”
“The Bangsamoro Basic Law is an instrument of peace. Let this measure start the advent of peace and development to our beloved Mindanao,” he added.
Zubiri also reiterated the following guidelines on coming up with the best version of the BBL:
1. Constitutionality. Being the supreme law of the land, the Constitution sets both the latitude and the limitations of what can be incorporated in the basic law.
2. Autonomy. Within the limit set by the Constitution and other laws, the committee will give the widest latitudes in reconciling the two versions to achieve self-governance and real autonomy in the Bangsamoro.
3. Acceptability not only to the whole nation but more importantly to the people of the Bangsamoro. This law to become effective must be ratified in the plebiscite of the people of the Bangsamoro.
4. Social Justice. This law must correct the injustices and prejudices against our Muslim brethren. It will respect the opportunity in order to advance in life.
5. Peace and Development. Poverty incidence is high in Muslim Mindanao. The long-term objective of this law is to bring lasting and dignified peace in Muslim Mindanao and the Bangsamoro. Thus it is also an instrument of peace and development in the region.
Zubiri made the statement as senators and congressmen made an assurance Congress will pass a ‘constitutional’ Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL).
This came after members of the bicameral conference committee began its week-long deliberations on the proposed measure in a bid to reconciling disagreeing provisions in their respective versions of the bill. The bicameral conference committee meetings will be held closed-doors at the Grand Ballroom A of Crowne Plaza Manila Galleria in Ortigas.
Rep. Farinas, leader of the House contingent, appealed to his colleagues to abide by the provisions of the 1987 Constitution in crafting a BBL.
“I appeal to everybody that we work hand in hand, we have to be guided by the Constitution. We have to ensure that anything we do and everything that we do here will be compliant to the Constitution because surely this will be challenged. “So it is our task to see to it that whatever we agree and come up here will have to pass the test of constitutionality,” he added.
Fariñas also appealed to his fellow legislators “to ensure that anything that we do and everything that we do will be compliant to the Constitution because, surely, this will be challenged.”
Aside from Fariñas, the other members of the 19-man House contingent Reps. Pedro Acharon, Jr. of South Cotabato, Mauyag Papandayan, Jr. of Lanao del Sur, Ruby Sahali of Tawi-Tawi, Bai Sandra Sema of Maguindanao, Juan Pablo Bondoc of Pampanga, Arthur Defensor, Jr. of Iloilo, Johnny Pimentel of Surigao del Sur, Eugene Michael de Vera of ABS party-list, Rodolfo Albano III of Isabela, Amihilda Sangcopan of Anak Mindanao party-list, Wilter Wee Palma II of Zamboanga Sibugay, Celso Lobregat of Zamboanga City, Mohamad Khalid Dimaporo of Lanao del Norte, Romeo Acop of Antipolo City, Seth Frederick Jalosjos of Zamboanga del Norte, Shenee Tan of Kusug Tausug party-list, and Rodante Marcoleta of SAGIP party-list.
Fariñas was a co-sponsor to Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez’s House Bill 6475 which seeks to establish a proposed new autonomous political entity, known as the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region. BAR then will replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao including the provinces of Basilan, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi. The bill provides the basic structure of the government for BAR and classifies which government powers are exclusive to it.
Alvarez was absent during the meeting Monday.
Section 4 of HB 6475 provides that cities and provinces sharing a common border with the Bangsamoro shall be allowed to join the plebiscite through a petition signed by at least 10 percent of registered voters. This will be done every five years for a period of 25 years after the creation of the Bangsamoro.
HB 6475 also grants fiscal autonomy to the Bangsamoro –which some lawmakers perceived to be ‘unconstitutional’ as such power could only be granted by the Constitution and could not be superseded by a law.
Alvarez earlier said he foresees the possibility that the constitutionality of the BBL may be questioned before the Supreme Court, especially since the new law would abolish the Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao that is specified in the 1987 Constitution.
Nevertheless, Alvarez said “Let the Supreme Court decide on this matter.”
He stood by the ‘constitutionality’ of the BBL version that was approved in the House.
“We believe what we are doing here is constitutional. But nobody can stop anyone from filing or questioning the constitutionality of a law,” Alvarez earlier said.
Farinas also reaffirmed the commitment of the Bicameral Committee (BiCam) on the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) to “do the herculean job of coming up with a better and the best version of the bill.”
Fariñas reiterated the plan of the committee for both Chambers to ratify their respective versions on the 3rd regular session on July 23, the same day of the State of the Nation Address of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte.
President Duterte will then sign the bill into a law by afternoon of the same day.
The Bicameral Conference for the Bangsamoro Basic Law started today at Crowne Plaza Manila Galleria., with lawmakers working to reconcile the Senate and House versions of the law.
Nine Senators and 18 members of the House of Representatives compose the Bicameral Conference Committee that will resolve the varying provisions of the House Bill No. 6475 and Senate Bill No. 1717.
Meanwhile, surviving political heirs of the late Senator Salipada Pendatun have appealed to members of the powerful Bicameral Committee Conference to reinstate most of the provisions taken off the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) by lawmakers in the periods of amendment in both Chambers of Congress.
In a letter to lawmakers dated July 9, members of the Pendatun clan said that the current ARMM Organic Act provides a 70-30 revenue-sharing ratio in favor of the ARMM. Under the substitute BBL Bill, the ratio has become 50-50.
At 34, the Pendatun patriarch, a World War II hero, was the youngest senator elected in the First Congress of the Philippine Republic in 1946.
The letter, signed by Vice-Mayor Mohamad Pendatun Paglas of Datu Paglas, Maguindanao, said “it is incumbent upon the Honorable Members of the Bicameral Committee to reexamine if a BBL passed into law does not unreasonably reduce what have already been allowed by previous Congresses under the ARMM Organic Act, as amended, but unchallenged in any high forum.”
In a manifesto sent last week to the leaderships of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), signatory descendants of Cotabato’s erstwhile political giants–Pendatun, Governor Datu Udtog Matalam (1946 to 1967), and Cotabato Congressman Luminog Mangelen (1950 – 1954) –said most Moro revolutionary figures, including Nur Misuari and MILF’s late founder Salamat Hashim, started in the tutelage and support of known Muslim Filipino leaders.
Paglas, the president of the Pendatun clan, said the current ARMM Charter enacted by the Eighth Congress in 1988 and was enhanced in the Twelfth Congress in 2001, provides for sharing proportions favoring the autonomous region.
In the same letter addressed to members of the powerful Bicameral Committee, Pendatun’s descendants said they were profoundly grateful that senators in the 12th Congress recognized Pendatun in a unanimous Resolution in 2001, by designating a Function Room in his honor, as are equally bestowed on other distinguished members of the Chamber—among them, Claro Recto, Lorenzo Tanada, Geronima Pecson, and Jose Diokno.
“We….hereby appeal unto the Honorable Members of the Bicameral Committee Conference being held this week for the passage of the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), to reinstate provisions carried by the Honorable Sponsors in the House of Representatives and in the Senate,” the Pendatun heirs’ letter said.
Paglas noted that in a series of rundown forums with Moro lawyers, among them members of the clan, it was pointed out that Section 11 Article XII of the BBL substitute Senate Bill (SB 1717) reduces to only 50-50 the sharing of tax revenues, fees and charges collected in the Bangsamoro. Whereas, in the provision of the original BBL Bills, as filed based on the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB), the proposed sharing ratio is 75-25 in favor of the Bangsamoro.
He said a deleted provision on the conduct of periodic plebiscites should also be restored to “anticipate future outcomes of current trends of development, particularly the steps taken by the Duterte Administration for a stronger push to amend the 1987 Constitution.”
“Until then, BBL provisions that were deemed constitutional under the current Charter could no longer be treated similarly under a Federal Constitution framed to decentralize and devolve national powers,” Paglas said in the family letter addressed to members of the Bicameral Committee Conference. With Nash B. Maulana