Leaders of the Senate and the House panel of Representatives, set to adjourn for a seven-week recess, will assign a bicameral conference committee to work overtime during the upcoming congressional recess (June 2 to July 22) to hammer out the final version of the BangsaMoro Basic Law (BBL) that President Duterte had certified for urgent passage in a letter sent Tuesday to Congres leaders .
Senate President Tito Sotto confirmed to BusinessMirror Tuesday that the Senate is set to pass the BBL bill before Congress adjourns this week even as it anticipates convening a bicameral conference committee during the break to reconcile conflicting provisions in the Senate and House versions of the BBL billl.
“Yes (we will pass BBL this week), a Bicam will be convened during the break,” Sotto told BusinessMirror, confiriming that the Senate version yet to be passed on third and final reading is “not identical” with the House version, which will require forming a bicameral pannel to reconcile the two versions.
In a May 29 letter to Senate President Sotto, Executive Secretary conveyed President Duterte’s certification affirming “the necessity of the immediate enactment of Senate Bill 1717 entitled: “An Act providing for the Basic Law for the Bangsamoro and abolishing the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.” The presidential certification will enable the Senate to pass the BBL bill on second and third reading in one sitting.
Once enacted, the BangasaMoro Basic Law will repeal Republic Act 9054 entitled “An Act to Strangthen and Expand the Organic Act for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and Expand the Organic Act for the Autonomlous Region in Muslim MIndanao, and REpublic Act 6734, entitled An Act Providing for an Organic Act for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.”
In his letter certifying the need for urgent passage of the BBL, President Duterte said early passage of the legislation will “advance the creation of a new autonomous region in Muslim Mindanao.”
“The passage of his measure is a manifestation of the governments commitment to address the diverse needs of the people in Bangsamoro and all communities and constituents of Mindanao, towards a just and lasting peace in Mindanao and in the Philippines as a whole,” Duterte added.