MANILA, Philippines - The House of Representatives has indefinitely suspended hearings on the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law after the killing of 44 police commandos in Maguindanao last Jan. 25 derailed its timetable in passing the BBL, a congressman said yesterday.
“We cannot meet our self-imposed deadline of endorsing our version of the BBL this month and having it passed by the House before our Lenten break next month because of this unfortunate incident in Mamasapano,” Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez said yesterday.
Rodriguez chairs the 75-member special committee drafting the House version of the proposed law that would create a new Bangsamoro region in Muslim Mindanao.
He and his members have been holding closed-door sessions for the past two weeks, writing the House version after conducting 36 public hearings and consultations in Mindanao and other parts of the country.
The draft BBL is a product of 17 years of peace negotiations between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), whose men, together with those of its breakaway faction Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, had an encounter with policemen out to arrest two terrorists.
The policemen had killed Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir, alias Marwan, in Mamasapano and were mowed down while they were withdrawing.
“I even doubt if we can finish our work in the committee before our annual mandatory adjournment in June. We are no longer following any deadline or timetable,” Rodriguez said.
He said his committee would convene today just to receive the reports on the Mamasapano carnage it has sought from the military, Philippine National Police, Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process, and Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
“After that, we are suspending hearings and the work of the committee indefinitely until the results of two investigations are out so we will know what happened,” he said.
These investigations are those of the House committees on public order, peace and reconciliation, and national defense, and the Department of Justice (DOJ).
“We will also wait for the identification by the DOJ of those responsible for the death of our policemen and the filing of charges because we cannot have peace without justice. We will resume our work when justice is being implemented,” Rodriguez said.
Isabela Rep. Rodolfo Albano III said he supports the committee decision to temporarily suspend work pending the results of investigations, “but we cannot have the BBL hanging indefinitely.”
“If this is what will bring peace and development to Mindanao, then let us have it. Let us pass it,” he said.
He said the House and the Senate have enough time before the expiration of President Aquino’s term on June 30, 2016 to approve the BBL.
The Philippine Star
