After so much fanfare about key provisions either deleted or amended after they were found to be unconstitutional after 48 hearings of the House Ad Hoc Committee on the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), a new version of the peace measure presented for voting yesterday practically contained the questionable original version.
Congressmen opposed to the new version attempted to propose last-ditch amendments but congressional allies of Malacañang, mostly key leaders of the House of Representatives, gave no quarters to their colleagues’ proposals.
Even as some of his fellow Mindanaoan colleagues were about to throw in the towel, Zamboanga City Rep. Celso Lobregat relentlessly moved for numerous amendments to the so-called “chairman and vice chairmen’s working draft” of House Bill 4994 but did not succeed in getting even one of an estimated two dozen proposals approved.
Lobregat was joined in proposing amendments by opposition Reps. Neri Colmenares (Bayan Muna) and Antonio Tinio (ACT Teachers Partylist).
House officials led by the four deputy speakers and majority leaders joined the 75-man Ad Hoc Committee in the line-by-line vote for the proposed BBL that started at 2 p.m.
Voting adjourned at 7:13 last night with the House panel voting on only 13 pages of the 108-page working draft of HB 4994.
Manila Bulletin
