Palace optimistic on timely passage of Bangsamoro bill

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MANILA – Malacanang is still hopeful to pass the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) in the first quarter of 2015 if not before the year ends.

“We would certainly still hope for the best. Our understanding also from Senator Frank Drilon (is) that he was working on a timetable from, if not the end of December, to the first quarter of next year,” Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said.

“Certainly, we would hope that we can expedite the process, but we realize that it has not yet been submitted to Congress . . . Everyone is conscious of the fact that this is an important measure from government, and therefore, this should be attended to as soon as it is submitted to Congress for deliberation,” he said.

House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte earlier said that they are hoping to get the law passed by the end of the year as they are still working on the BBL draft that has yet to be submitted to Congress.

Lacierda also said that all government panels involved as well as the Moro Islamic Liberation Front are doubling their efforts to submit the BBL draft the soonest time possible.

“Certainly, we would like to see that the bill be submitted as early as possible. It creates a concern on capacity building when it is not submitted on time and it is not in accordance with the timetable. The panels are aware of the timeline. But the panels are also equally aware that the substance should be discussed mutually and agreed mutually,” he said.

He also added that it is best that the two parties decided not to negotiate through the media to address the misunderstandings on the table.

“It’s better for the parties to discuss and this has been the framework when both parties have been discussing, not only the framework agreement, but also the annexes,” Lacierda said.

“This is a discussion between MILF and the government and there are issues here, which they want to be sure that both are on an agreement on as to what issues can be discussed publicly,” he said.

“As far as they are concerned, they would rather discuss these things in a manner that would allow openness and frankness within them, and such that what they will report out will eventually be a common stance on the Bangsamoro Basic Law,” he said.