The chairman of the House Ad Hoc Committee on the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) assured the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) yesterday that despite his panel’s decision to scrap the unconstitutional provisions, it will not in any way water down the peace measure and that political and fiscal autonomy of the proposed Bangsamoro juridical entity “remains very much intact.”
Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez made the assurance as MILF chief negotiator Mohagher Iqbal expressed openness to revisions in the BBL as long as it would not dilute the proposed law.
“I laud MILF chair Iqbal’s statement that the MILF will accept amendments to the BBL bill. It is already a good right step of the MILF to be able to accept the fact that indeed there will be revisions to the BBL. I assure Iqbal that the scrapping of the unconstitutional provisions in the BBL will not dilute the bill, or water down the bill, but will enhance it, to meet the constitutional scrutiny, especially since it is expected that this bill, once approved into law will be questioned before the SC,” he told the Manila Bulletin in a phone interview.
He noted that “this is the first time” that the MILF gave in to Congress’ move to amend the BBL.
Iqbal expressed hope that Congress will not dilute the BBL.
Manila Bulletin
