Zubiri confident differences in Senate, House versions of BBL will be reconciled before SONA

Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri expressed confidence on Monday that the differences in the versions of the Senate and the House of Representatives of the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law will be resolved before the President’s State of the Nation Address in July.

Zubiri said there will be a pre-bicameral conference committee meeting before they formally convene on July 9 up to 13.

“Nag-usap na kami ni Majority Leader Rudy Fariñas of the House of Representatives. We will have a pre-bicam muna. We will discuss the talking points at medyo controversial issues,” he said in an interview with GMA News TV’s News To Go.

“And then nag-set na kami ng date—July 9 to 13 ang bicam. Hopefully mapasa namin diyan  at kapag naipasa namin, we are confident by July 23 ay magkakaroon ng ratification,” he added.

The Senate will start its third regular session on July 23.

Aside from Zubiri, other members of the Senate contingent are Minority Leader Franklin Drilon, Senators Aquilino Pimentel III, Juan Edgardo Angara, Sherwin Gatchalian, Joel Villanueva, Francis Escudero, Francis Pangilinan, Risa Hontiveros, and Loren Legarda.

The House contingent includes Fariñas, Representatives Pedro Acharonb Jr., Mauyag Papandayan Jr., Ruby Sahali, Bai Sandra Sema, Juan Pablo Bondoc, Arthur Defensor Jr., Johnny Pimentel, Eugene Michael de Vera, Rodolfo Albano III, Amihilda Sangcopan, Wilter Palma II, Celso Lobregat, Mohamad Khalid Dimaporo, Abdullah Dimaporo, Romeo Acop, Seth Frederick Jalosjos, and Shernee Abubakar Tan.

“Ang kagandahan nito, by July 23 ma-announce ng Pangulo na tapos na ang BBL which is the government’s promise for the peace process. Ito na lang ang last na hakbang para magkaroon ng demilitarization, decommissioning  of the MILF (Moro Islamic Liberation Front) para sa pangmatagalang kapayapaan doon sa aming area sa Mindanao,” Zubiri said.

Bangsamoro Transition Commission chairman Mohagher Iqbal earlier expressed hope that a better BBL would emerge after the Senate and House reconcile their versions of the bill. 

“I think, [i]n part, we would like to see a situation wherein the best of the House and the best of the version of the Senate would be the one that the Congress would adopt,” he said.

He admitted that the BBL version the Senate has approved was quite far from what the BTC had submitted.

“But we are hoping that [in the end] it will be basically faithful to the Comprehensive Agreement to the Bangsamoro deal signed by the government and MILF. There are areas that are somewhat quite far from (our version),” he said.

The Senate deleted the provision on “reserved powers” for the new Bangsamoro Autonomous Region  given that the Constitution already provides for the residual powers of the national government vis-á-vis autonomous regions.

It also includes a provision reiterating “that the Bangsamoro people are citizens of the Republic of the Philippines.”

Also removed was a provision stating that the province of Palawan is included from the list of areas considered as historically part of the Bangsamoro territory.

The Senate brought down the block grant from the proposed 6 percent to 5 percent of the Internal Revenue Allotment and net collection of the Bureau of Customs while the Special Development Fund was brought down from the proposed P10 billion annually for 10 years to P5 billion a year for 10 years.

Zubiri earlier said the fund shall be a programmatic fund, meaning the Bangsamoro government parliament should submit to the Budget and Management and Finance departments a program of expenditures according to a development plan.

On national taxes collected from the Bangsamoro territorial jurisdiction, from the original BTC proposal of 75-25 sharing in favor of the Bangsamoro government, the sharing was placed at 50-50.

The Senate also voted to hold only one plebiscite and deleted the proposed periodic plebiscites to be held repeatedly every five years for 15 years.

Zubiri earlier said the provisions on the Bangsamoro Transition Authority and the Bangsamoro Parliament were refined to make sure extensive representation of Muslim Filipinos, Indigenous Peoples, and Christians and peoples of other faiths are implemented truthfully.

The provision stating a ban on political dynasties retained the original language of the BTC.

The House of Representatives approved the BBL on third and final reading Wednesday while the Senate gave its nod early Thursday morning after hours of deliberation. —Amita Legaspi/KG, GMA News