House ratifies Bangsamoro Organic Law

This development came after Arroyo assured the public that the BOL will be ratified in the House’s session today. (Photo: House of Representatives of the Philippines/Facebook)

The House of Representatives, which is now headed by Pampanga’s 2nd District Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, finally ratified the report of the bicameral conference committee (bicam) on the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) on Tuesday, July 24.

This development came after Arroyo assured the public that the BOL will be ratified in the House’s session today.

“I view my role as Speaker with having a primary specific objective that is to carry out the legislative agenda of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte,” Arroyo told reporters earlier.

“And that means for today, we must get the Bangsamoro Organic Law ratified,” she added.

The BOL, which is one of President Rodrigo Duterte’s priority measures, was supposed to be signed into a law before he delivered his third State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Monday, July 23, at the Batasang Pambansa. However, the House of Representatives failed to pass the bill because of the leadership row between Arroyo and Davao del Norte Representative Pantaleon Alvarez.

It was only the Senate that was able to ratify the BOL before Duterte’s speech.

The President said in his address that he would sign the BOL into law within 48 hours.

On July 18, the 28-member panel approved the reconciled version of the BOL after six days of intensive discussions and debates.

If passed, the BOL, formerly called as the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), would establish the Bangsamoro government which will be composed of 80 members. It will be headed by a chief minister and a ceremonial leader called Wali.

A 75-25 wealth sharing term in favor of the Bangsamoro region will also be implemented. This is an additional five percent for the Bangsamoro compared with the 70 percent that the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) is currently receiving from national internal revenue taxes, fees, and charges.

The region would also have an annual block grant of five percent of the net national internal revenue of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the Bureau of Customs (BOC).

Malacañang earlier said Duterte will sign the BOL as soon as the lower house ratified it.

“All that has to be done for the President to sign it into law is for the House to ratify the bicam version of the bill. So, kung mamaya magagawa ‘yan, mamayang gabi rin pwedeng pirmahan ni Presidente (if it will be ratified later, the President might also sign it tonight),” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in a palace briefing on Tuesday.