THE House of Representatives ad hoc committee on the Bangsamoro basic law (BBL) will discuss on Tuesday the income and wealth-sharing provisions of the BBL.
Puwersa ng Masang Pilipino Rep. Rufus Rodriguez of Cagayan de Oro, the panel chairman, said officials from the Departments of Finance and of Budget and Management, the Bureau of Internal Revenue, the Bureau of Customs and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas are expected to attend Tuesday’s hearing.
Rodriguez also said that his committee will hear on the same day the positions of representatives from the Commission on Audit, the Commission on Elections and the Civil Service Commission.
Liberal Party (LP) Rep. Jim Hataman-Salliman of Basilan, the panel’s vice chairman, said the hearing will continue until Wednesday despite Congress’s three-week break that started on September 19.
““We will continue the hearing until Wednesday to expedite the bill’s passage,” Hataman-Salliman said.
The panel is also set to conduct hearings and consultations on October 23 in Maguindanao, North Cotabato, and the cities of Cotabato, General Santos, Cagayan de Oro, Iligan and Zamboanga.
In November the panel will hold hearings and consultations in Sulu, Basilan and Tawi-Tawi.
LP Rep. Jerry Treñas of Iloilo earlier admitted that one of the issues that may be raised during the deliberation of the proposed BBL is the wealth-sharing aspect of the peace agreement, as this could be seen as prejudicial to other local governmentss and is giving undue special treatment to the proposed Bangsamoro entity.
“We already expect that other local governments, especially the rich ones, would demand the same kind of wealth-sharing deal but I’m very optimistic that they will eventually understand the need to do this in the name of peace in Mindanao,” he said.
MILF chief negotiator Mohagher Iqbal, during the panel’s first hearing two weeks ago, urged Congress to treat the proposed BBL carefully as it means “the whole world” to Muslim in the Philippines.
Iqbal, however, said that Congress should not be afraid and instead be hopeful about the proposed law that seeks to create a Bangsamoro political entity replacing the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
“[It] may be just another piece of legislation [but] for us it is something more,” Iqbal said.