(CNN Philippines) – Despite the House Ad Hoc Committee’s snail-pace progress on the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte, Jr. on Tuesday (May 19) expressed confidence that the measure will get the majority votes when the final report reaches the House plenary by Monday (May 25).
Belmonte told the Philippines News Agency: “Members are still voting line-by-line in every page of amendments and we can finish this by tomorrow.”
Belmonte’s latest statement countered his previous announcement that a number of lawmakers are against the passage of the BBL following the Mamasapano bloodbath last January 25 that saw 44 members from the Special Action Force (SAF) killed in what has been dubbed as the biggest loss of government elite force in history.
“I’m confident we have numbers in the committee level the same as in the plenary,” Belmonte said.
Belmonte’s confidence, however, failed to rub on Majority Floor Leader Neptali “Boyet” Gonzales II, who said the proposed measure’s fate remained uncertain even if it gets the needed votes from the committee.
According to Gonzales, while they may have had enough numbers in the 75-man Ad Hoc panel, it still doesn’t mean an outright nod once the BBL reaches the House plenary for the second and third readings.
“In the committee, you can see how the voting was done. In plenary, I don’t know what will happen. It’s different. I have a feeling that the results are different,” said Gonzales.
The House continued their voting on Tuesday, carefully checking each section of the highly-contested measure, and was about to adjourn for the second straight day as of posting time.
Related: Lawmakers to go on 2nd day of Bangsamoro discussions
The 75-man panel, together with 23 ex-officio members, is expected to finish the voting on each section and corresponding amendments by Wednesday (May 20).
The Philippines News Agency contributed to this report.
