President Aquino’s all-or-nothing solution to the decades-old peace problem in Mindanao has hurdled its first stumbling block
Yesterday, the House Ad Hoc Committee overwhelmingly voted for the approval of the House Bill 4994 or the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), now called the proposed Basic Law for the Bangsamoro Region, following the 15-minute voting that afternoon.
Ad Hoc Committee Chairman Rufus Rodriguez said that 50 members favored the adoption of the BBL, which bats for the creation of a new geopolitical entity in the Muslim South called the Bangsamoro. Under the proposed law, the Bangsamoro entity will supersede the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
Seventeen lawmakers, composed mostly of the Minority bloc members and non-Muslim Mindanao solons, voted against the measure’s passage. One panel member abstained.
Manila Bulletin
