Drilon doubts BBL to result in good governance in Bangsamoro
MANILA, Philippines — Less than a day after both houses of Congress agreed on a consolidated version of the Bangsamoro Basic Law, Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon said that he had low expectations that it would result in improved governance.
Drilon explained that the law, officially known as the "Organic Law for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao," did not have effective measures to address governance issues which hounded the current ARMM for decades.
"I am not optimistic that the BBL will result in good governance. The failure of governance in the ARMM, not only the decades-long conflict, is also to be blamed for the high incidence of poverty in the region," Drilon said.
According to the former Senate chief, the BBL was pro-peace and stability but lacked teeth that could improve the prevailing politics and governance in ARMM which he blamed for the poverty of many of its provinces.
He lamented the removal of the anti-political dynasty provision from the measure, which he said could destroy the other good governance measures lawmakers put in the proposed law.
Among the measures aimed at ensuring better governance in the envisioned Bangsamoro region were the provisions which would maintain the Commission on Audit as the exclusive auditing agency and the tightening of qualifications for the justices of its Sharia courts.
After more than a week of debates, the Senate and the House of Representatives came up last night with a version of the BBL which would be submitted for President Rodrigo Duterte's signature.
Lawmakers from both chambers said that the measure, which would establish a region that would replaced the ARMM, could withstand questions over its constitutionality.
Sen. Juan Edgardo "Sonny" Angara said that the measure would result in the attainment of peace and development in the Bangasamoro region.
"We are hoping that once this is signed our countrymen in Mindanao will witness and feel genuine peace and development in their region which has been enveloped by violence for decades," Angara said in a statement after the agreement.
Sen. Paolo Benigno Aquino IV hailed the approval of a consolidated version as a big step in defeating poverty in the region.
He also urged Filipinos to ensure that the measure would result in peace and development for the Bangsamoro people.
Once signed, the proposed law will give the Bangsamoro government devolved powers such as fiscal autonomy, devolution of health, urban and land reform, administration of justice, control over free ports and economic zones, administrative reorganization and creation of government-owned and -controlled corporations.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said in a press briefing in the palace that Duterte might sign the measure on Monday afternoon following the Senate's and House's ratification.
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