Belmonte urges colleagues to discuss BBL

House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. (Photo courtesy of Cong. Regina Ongsiako-Reyes / YesMarinduque.com)

MANILA — House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte urged his colleagues to attend sessions and discuss the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL).

Given the limited number of days to tackle the bill, Belmonte appealed to his fellow lawmakers to give time and importance to BBL.

“I have to admit despite the quorum in the three days of last week, we were only minimally able to advance the issue,” Belmonte said Tuesday.

He also urged those in opposition of the bill to come forward and discuss the bill in Congress.

“I’d like to take this occasion to appeal to the members, particularly those opposing, at least come here and the chairman Rufus Rodriguez and vice chairmen are all anxious to defend. How can you defend when interpellators don’t show up or leave early?

Let’s tackle it,” he said.

The bill seeks to create an  autonomous Bangsamoro entity that will replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

“Let’s face it. This is not even like the period during martial law or before martial law. At that time everywhere else the Muslim world was at peace. Now the Muslim world is in turmoil.

We don’t like that turmoil to affect the country. It’s best we go ahead and solve problems partly through BBL,” he said.