By Francis Wakefield
Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) Secretary Jesus Dureza Tuesday said that President Rodrigo Duterte has assured that he will certify as urgent the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL).
President Rodrigo Duterte (left) shares a conversation with OPAPP Secretary Jesus Dureza (right)
(JAY GANZON / MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO)
Dureza made the revelation following the meeting with the President on the Bangsamoro Basic Law on Monday.
Dureza said the meeting with the Chief Executive was a good meeting with all leaders of the House and the Senate, including their members who expressed strongly on their views on the bill.
He said the President met separately with the leaders of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) headed by Kagi Murad Ibrahim. Then he convened separately the government sector.
"The President initially expressed his own personal views and initial assessments which resonated well to all," Dureza said.
"The meeting adjourned with a general consensus that the two chambers conclude their work at the earliest possible time and if there are varying versions, that the mandated bicameral committee meet to come up with a joint reconciled and accepted version."
"The President said he would certify the bill as urgent," he added.
Dureza said the bill will be passed and signed by the President into law in time for its announcement during the State of the Nation address in July this year.
The BBL it was recalled is a bill deliberated upon by the 16th Congress of the Philippines which sought to establish a proposed new autonomous political entity known as the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, replacing the current Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).