By Jess Diaz, Philippine Star

MANILA - Key leaders of the House of Representatives yesterday expressed apprehension that they may not be able to approve the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) before 2016 in the wake of the death of 44 members of the Special Action Force (SAF) at the hands of Moro rebels in Mamasapano, Maguindanao.

“I have to admit that there is an erosion of support for the BBL within the ad hoc committee and members of Congress,” Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, chair of the special committee deliberating on the BBL, told reporters.

“I think it is quite significant because how can you disregard the 44 fallen Philippine National Police-Special Action Force members and what happened to them? There is always justice that is being demanded,” he added.

The BBL is the product of the government’s peace negotiations with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). If passed, the law will create an autonomous Bangsamoro region in Mindanao.

But last Jan. 25, the MILF and Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters clashed with the SAF after the policemen had neutralized international terrorist Zulfikli bin Hir, alias Marwan, in Mamasapano.

Isabela Rep. and Deputy Speaker Giorgidi Aggabao admitted that he also does not see the BBL hurdling the House before 2016 “unless the Palace cracks the whip.”

He said if Malacañang intervenes, members of the Liberal Party-led majority coalition would “close ranks to support the bill.”

Otherwise, the draft BBL would have difficulty getting approved before the next elections in May 2016, when officials of the envisioned new Bangsamoro region in Mindanao would be elected together with the next president, members of Congress and local officials.

Under the timetable the Aquino administration has agreed with the MILF, Congress is to approve the proposed BBL not later than June this year.

There would be a one-year transition, during which a Bangsamoro Transition Authority dominated by MILF members would rule the region before the election of new regional officials in 2016.

However, the House special committee deliberating on the BBL indefinitely suspended its discussions pending the receipt and study of various reports on the Mamasapano incident from the PNP, the Armed Forces, the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process.

The 75-member committee gave these agencies until 5 p.m. yesterday to submit their respective reports.

Rodriguez said it was no longer possible for his panel to meet its self-imposed deadline of endorsing the draft BBL this month and having the House approve it next month.

Rodriguez even admitted that he does not see the House passing the proposed law before it goes on its annual mandatory adjournment in June.

“It (BBL draft) will face rough sailing on the floor and resolute opposition, especially among members affected by the Mamasapano incident. Many members have heretofore viewed the proposed BBL merely as a local bill, affecting only Mindanaoans. The Mamasapano incident altered all that. I think we all need to take a break to allow reasons, not emotions, to fuel the debate,” Aggabao said.

Muntinlupa Rep. Rodolfo Biazon, who chairs the House national defense committee, said he and his colleagues would also now go slow in considering the BBL with what happened in Mamasapano.

“Before, there was a sense among us to rush this. But the death of our policemen has awakened us. Now, we will have to scrutinize this closely and get rid of all its unconstitutional provisions,” he added.

Among the provisions that Biazon considers unconstitutional are those that would require the President to coordinate with the chief minister of the envisioned Bangsamoro region in case the military or the PNP has to operate in such region.

“In fact, I am scared of the possibility of the peace process collapsing with the failure of Congress to pass the BBL on time. But we have to save it because the BBL may be the last mechanism for peace,” Biazon added.

'CONTINUE PEACE PROCESS, NOT WAR'

Civil society groups have urged Congress to pass the BBL as they believe that the continuance of the Mindanao peace process is the solution, not war with Moro rebels.

Friends of the Bangsamoro stressed that the passage of the BBL could solve the conflict in Mindanao and prevent incidents like the bloodbath in Mamasapano.

“The deaths of the victims would become meaningless if we, as a nation, will bury in their graves the peace process,” said Egoy Bans, spokesman for Friends of the Bangsamoro.

“We call on everyone to keep faith with our peace panels as well as the government and MILF leaders, who are determined to do their utmost toward the full implementation of the peace agreement,” said Mirma Mae Tica of the Miriam College Center for Peace Education.

“War solves nothing. Continue the Mindanao peace process,” added Jasmin Nario Galace of WE Act 1325.

MILF SLAMS CALLS FOR ALL-OUT WAR

The MILF has also slammed sectors calling for an all-out war and justified the actions of its members during the bloody Mamasapano clash.

In an editorial posted on its website luwaran.net., MILF said the clashes should happen at the backyard of those who are in favor of an all-out war policy so that they would be able to understand and taste the horrors of war.

MILF also said those who never experienced war “except in reel life” are those who think that war is the solution to the armed conflict in Mindanao.

“Those who never tasted the hardships and sacrifices during the four decades of struggle – many of them are working in government – were the ones most radical or rigid in their views on issues in the peace talks,” it added. – With Paolo Romero, Jose Rodel Clapano, Alexis Romero