PRRD to sign BOL right after House ratification

“The President to sign it into law is for the House to ratify the bicam version of the bill. So if it will be ratified later, then the President can sign it tonight,” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in a regular Palace press briefing. (Photo: Presidential Communications (Government of the Philippines)/Facebook)

MANILA — Malacañang on Tuesday said President Rodrigo Duterte will sign the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) as soon as it is ratified by the House of Representatives.

“The President to sign it into law is for the House to ratify the bicam version of the bill. So if it will be ratified later, then the President can sign it tonight,” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in a regular Palace press briefing.

Duterte was not able to sign the BOL as scheduled before his third State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Monday due to the House’s failure to ratify the bicameral conference committee report on the proposed measure.

It was only the Senate that unanimously approved the bicam report hours before the joint opening session of the third regular session of the 17th Congress on Monday.

In his SONA, Duterte has expressed commitment to sign the BOL after reading the bicameral conference version.

“Despite all that has been said [for] or against the Bangsamoro Organic Law by all sectoral groups, I make this solemn commitment that this administration will never deny our Muslim brothers and sisters the basic legal tools to chart their own destiny within the Constitutional framework of our country,” Duterte said.

“When the approved version is transmitted [to] and received by my office… The law has been passed actually and I intend to… Give me 48 hours to sign it and ratify the law,” he added.

Since the proposed law was not signed during SONA, Roque said “a ceremony of sort” should highlight the signing of the BOL seen to end decades-long conflict in Mindanao.

“Because the BOL did not take center stage in the SONA, there’s some kind of ceremony here in the Palace to highlight the singing,” Roque said.