Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — Bangsamoro Transition Commision Chairman Mohagher Iqbal went to the House of Representatives on Tuesday, August 11, to meet with Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee on the Bangsamoro , and Prof. Miriam Coronel-Ferrer, head of the government peace panel.
Iqbal asked that the 28 provisions that the chamber previously removed from the original version of the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) be reinstated.
Iqbal pointed out that the BBL in its current form in the House is unacceptable.
“That kind of the committee report, translated into law, would be lesser than the ARMM [Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao),” Iqbal said.
And even if the proposed measure would equal the ARMM, “the MILF will not accept that,” he added.
According to Iqbal, the MILF iwould want, in particular, to restore the provision that gives the Bangsamoro government the power to form its own internal security and military command and the provision on the use of natural resources to give them fiscal autonomy.
Lawmakers unfazed
Lawmakers admit, what the MILF is asking for is impossible.
The bill has already undergone at least 50 committee hearings before the proposed measure finally reached plenary deliberations.
“There was a unanimous consensus yesterday na mahirap na at this point na yung natanggal ng committe ay maibalik pa,” House majority leader Neptali Gonzales said.
[Translation: “There was a unanimous consensus yesterday, and at this point it is difficult to restore what the committee has already removed.”]
Rodriguez, however, still asked Iqbal to submit a detailed explanation why each of the 28 provisions should be reinstated. Once submitted, Rodriguez said they would again carefully study the reasons and consider whether these would be reinstated or not.
“There might be consensus points that may be considered after we finish the period of interpellation,” Rodriguez said.
But Iqbal is hopeful that their request will be granted.
The Bangsamoro bill, once passed, forms the backbone of the proposed Bangsamoro region.
Deliberations on the draft BBL has already been delayed by three weeks for lack of quorum, while there are 20 more members of the House scheduled to interpellate.
Lawmakers aim to pass the House version of the bill before September 15.
Peace panel starts reviewing Senate version
Speaking to CNN Philippines on Tuesday afternoon, Ferrer said, they received the copy of the draft bill just the night before and that they had just started reviewing the Senate’s substitute version of the BBL.
Ferrer said she was happy that some of the key points in the bill had been retained.
But with some big portions deleted from the original draft, Ferrer is convinced that the government peace panel should continue to explain the different provisions to legislators.
“This is what we have been doing for the last months: talking to them, explaining the different provisions, the different concerns,” Ferrer said.
Ferrer added, this comes with the hope that the legislators “would be able to produce, at the end of the day, a good solution to the Bangsamoro question.”
CNN Philippines’ Patricia De Leon contributed to this report.
