THE chairman of the House Ad hoc Committee on Bangasamoro basic law (BBL) on Sunday urged President Aquino to certify as urgent the proposed basic law of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region.
Centrist Democratic Party Rep. Rufus B. Rodriguez of Cagayan de Oro, in a radio interview, said the President should certify as urgent the bill to ensure its passage before Congress sine die adjournment on June 11 and before Mr. Aquino’s last State of the Nation Address on July 27.
Under the rules, if the bill is certified as urgent, it can be approved on second and final readings on the same day.
“We are going to write [to] the President, attaching the approved substitute bill and ask if it can be certified as urgent,” he said, adding the letter signed by Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. will be sent to the President on May 25.
Rodriguez said he is open to conduct a special session to pass the bill on time.
The lawmaker said the House Committee on Appropriations and the House Committee on Ways and Means are expected to approve the funding and taxation provisions of the peace measure this week.
After the approval at the two panels, Rodriguez said the plenary will hold marathon deliberations.
“We will hold marathon hearings from June 1 to 4, and from June 8 to 11, that is Monday to Thursday, and we are willing to start our deliberations at 10 a.m. and finish at 12 midnight,” Rodriguez said.
The basic law aims to create the new Bangsamoro juridical entity replacing the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.