Bayan Muna solon opposes proposal to hold voting on BBL in executive session

A party-list lawmaker on Monday opposed the proposal to hold the voting on the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) behind closed doors, saying the public deserves to know how their representatives in Congress voted on the measure.

Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate said the voting by members of the House ad hoc committee on the BBL should be open to the public instead of in an executive session, as some of his co-members in the panel have proposed.

“This is absurd,” he said of the proposal to hold an executive session for the voting of House Bill 4994. “Our constituents should know how we voted because this is a very important issue and millions would be affected.”

Zarate noted it is pointless to keep the voting on the Bangsamoro bill under wraps because lawmakers will have to vote on the bill again in public when it is brought to the plenary for second and third reading.

“For the sake of transparency, it would be best that the voting on the BBL would be open to the public,” he said in a text message.

The BBL embodies the peace agreement signed by the government with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) designed to end the decades-old armed conflict in southern Philippines.

Is there something to hide?

In a separate statement, Gabriela party-list Rep. Luz Ilagan said she couldn’t fathom why some of her colleagues would want the voting on the Bangsamoro bill be done behind closed doors.

“Draft bills and their amendments are all public documents. I am lost as to why the amendments contained in the BBL are marked confidential. The objective of attaining peace becomes distant when deliberations are conducted without transparency. May dapat bang itago sa publiko?” she asked.

Committee chair Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez earlier confirmed the request of some of his colleagues to hold the voting in executive sessions, but said he will move for the procedure to be done in public when the panel meets Monday afternoon.

The schedule of committee meetings posted on the House of Representatives’ website showed discussions on the proposed BBL will be done in executive sessions from Monday to Wednesday.

Though unconventional, Rodriguez said voting for a bill’s approval in an executive session is allowed under House rules.

Peace march

As the ad hoc panel prepares to vote on the Bangsamoro bill, various groups conducted a peace march from Sandiganbayan to the House of Representatives earlier in the day in support of the measure’s immediate passage.

Akbayan party-list chairperson Risa Hontiveros, a former member of the government panel talking peace with the communist-led National Democratic Front, said the various groups united under the banner "Bangsamoro para sa Bayan, para sa Lahat" to highlight the wide support of civil society for the BBL.

“We rally here today to show wide support on the passage of the BBL, with groups coming from Luzon to Mindanao. This is not only an issue of our brothers and sisters in Mindanao. BBL is for all Filipinos,” she said.

Among the groups that participated in the peace march were 1-Bangsa, Mindanao Alliance for Peace, Friends of Peace, Friends of the Bangsamoro, All-Out Peace, Akbayan Party-list, Anak Mindanao, Freedom from Debt Coalition, Sanlakas Party-list, and CODE-NGO.

While expressing hope that lawmakers will not pass a watered down BBL, the marchers warned they won’t accept a diluted version of the measure

“Though we understand that Congress will and must review and revise the current draft of the BBL to further improve it, we will solidly oppose any move to dilute the agreed version of the BBL because a diluted law cannot bring into fruition the peace formula agreed upon by both Philippine government and MILF,” said lawyer Mary Ann M. Arnado,  chair of the Mindanao Civil Society Organization Platform for Peace (MCSOPP) steering committee on the BBL.

“Many of the provisions have undergone meticulous processes and have been scrutinized by both the peace panels from both the government and the MILF side in the spirit of trust and genuine dialogue. We hope that unfounded fears of some of our legislators do not put to waste the difficult negotiations that have resulted to the current draft of the BBL,” said Abdul Malik Cleofe from the Bawgbug Peace and Human Rights Center.

Eight provisions

Rodriguez has been vocal about his proposed removal of eight of the 220 provisions in the Bangsamoro bill that he believes to be either unconstitutional or might cause further discord. These are:

-- the four provisions providing for the creation of separate constitutional bodies such as the Commission on Audit, Commission on Election, Civil Service Commission, Commission on Human Rights, and Office of the Ombudsman;
-- the sections which require the President to coordinate military operations with the chief minister of the Bangsamoro region (article XI);
-- and the sections which empower the chief minister to have control and supervision over police forces in the region (Article XI)

While constitutional, the provision authorizing the conduct of a plebiscite in any territory contiguous to the Bangsamoro region where 10 percent of residents want to join the new political entity also be removed because members of the panel see it as a form of 'creeping territorial expansion',” said Rodriguez.

He expressed confidence that the measure will be able to stand legal scrutiny before the Supreme Court if these eight  provisions are removed. —KBK, GMA News