A BICAMERAL panel has been tasked to fast-track work on conflicting provisions in the Bangsamoro basic law separately passed by the Senate and House of Representatives, with marching orders to submit a reconciled version for final ratification by lawmakers soon after the two chambers of Congress reconvene regular sessions on July 23.
“We need to come up with one version acceptable to both chambers,” Senate President Aquilino L. Pimentel III said over the weekend, indicating the Senate and House leaderships expect to submit the awaited measure to Malacañang for signing into law soon after President Duterte delivers his annual State of the Nation Address before Congress.
The Senate leader confirmed that a Senate and House conference committee on the BBL will convene early next month to quickly finish the task. “We intend to come up with the reconciled version earlier so that by July 23, a bicameral report is ready for ratification,” Pimentel said, voicing hopes that a final version can be crafted “10 days before” Duterte’s appearance in the joint session of Congress.
But more than the self-imposed deadline, Pimentel clarified that “the main goal is to have peace” in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), noting the presence of “big armed groups.”
Pimentel pointed out this was why the BBL included a provision that “they will lay down their arms under the decommissioning provision in the law.
“That [fast-tracked timetable for passing the BBL] is the plan on the part of the Senate; I don’t know about the House,” Pimentel said, pointing out this was not usually done “but this is an important law. So if we can fix the reconciled version by July 23, we will do it.”
The Senate leader asserted the urgency of passing the law to for the sake of peace, citing the presence of big armed groups operating in Mindanao, including the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) who, he said, “are not happy with the ARMM, so we expect they will be happy with the BBL and pave the way for peace, including an agreement to surrender their firearms.”
Pimentel indicated they are also relying on the peace pact with MILF to encourage other armed groups to join them in the “decommissioning or surrender of firearms.”