The House of Representatives has approved on Wednesday, May 30, the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law, a landmark bill that seeks to replace the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao with a Bangsamoro region.
The Lower House voted in favor of the passage of the still unnamed bill substituting House Bill No. 6475. A total of 226 legislators voted for the bill and 11 voted against it. Two lawmakers abstained.
A bicameral session will be held, during which the House and Senate’s version of the bill will be consolidated before it is submitted to the President for approval.
In the second reading of the bill, no objections or proposed changes were raised during the plenary session.
Voting for the third reading followed after, as the measure has been tagged urgent by the president, thereby waiving the three-day waiting period between the second and third reading.
For House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, the bill would not be unconstitutional should it be passed into law. This, despite claims that the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao cannot be replaced by the BBL.
“As a lawyer, I share that doubt. Talaga namang nasa Constitution yung ARMM,” he said.
The BBL is one of the requirements of a deal the government signed in 2014 with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front during the administration of former president Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III.
