By Meanne Corvera
Eagle News Service
The bicameral conference committee approved on Wednesday night the reconciled version of the Bangsamoro Basic Law.
The Senate and the House of Representatives are expected to ratify the approved version of the reconciled Senate Bill 1717 and House Bill 6475 before July 24, the day President Rodrigo Duterte is slated to hold his third State of the Nation Address.
He is then expected to sign the measure into law.
“Hopefully with this law, peace will reign for a long, long period of time, for our children and our children’s children,” Senate Majority Floor Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri said.
The senator said he hopes the law would be ratified through a plebiscite in November 2018.
In December or January 2019, he expects the members of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority to be appointed by President Duterte.
According to Zubiri, the debates on the preamble were prolonged, with members of the Bangsamoro Transition Commission almost walking out with the replacement of the phrase “We the Bangsamoro people” with the phrase “We the Filipino people.”
Zubiri said the BTC members finally agreed to the replacement after it was explained to them that it was needed to ensure the BBL would be compliant with the Constitution.
“We the Filipino people should be the ones imploring the aid of the Almighty to craft a Bangsamoro that would give them autonomy,” Zubiri said.
Apart from the preamble, the bicameral conference committee also amended the provision on the Shariah court which now requires that those appointed to it were members of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines.
Under the current system, anyone can be a member of the court for as long as he or she passes the test conducted by the Supreme Court on the Koran or Islamic Law.
“We also increased the coverage of courts..,” Zubiri said.
Under the approved Bangsamoro measure, the Bangsamoro entity will have 55 powers, including fiscal autonomy, urban land reform, a justice system, control over free ports and economic zones, administrative reorganization, among others.
This will be funded by a block grant provided by the government which ranges from P60 to P70 billion every year but the government has the power to investigate where the funds will go.
“The BBL grants self-governance. Yung batas po ay binibigyan ng sapat na kapangyarihan ang Bangsamoro government,” Senator Franklin Drilon said.
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