By Ali Macabalang, Manila Bulletin

COTABATO CITY – Proponents of the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) are ready to defend its constitutionality, in case any legal question may be lodged before the Supreme Court, according to officials involved in the crafting of the legislative measure.

Ghazali Jaafar, chairman of the Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC), told The Manila Bulletin, Sunday, lawyer-legislators like Senator Franklin Drilon and Sonny Angara have scrutinized all the provisions of the basic law just to ensure compliance with the constitution.

Apart from lawyer-members of both chambers of Congress standing by the legality of the BBL, Jaafar said, a big law firm in Metro Manila has assured its readiness to defend the measure before the High Tribunal.

Jaafar entertained the possibility of legal petitions being raised against the BBL in the “spirit of a democratic society.”

But he also reached out to them, saying that any opposing quarter should first value the thousands of lives that have been lost and huge properties destroyed in the struggle for Bangsamoro self-determination.

The BBL is the legal translation of the Comprehensive Agreement on Bangsamoro (CAB) forged by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the government in 2014 to end decades of bloody secessionist rebellion in Mindanao.

Jaafar, who is the MILF first vice chairman, urged the public to let the BBL take its due course as a potential tool to help bring “lasting peace and sustainable development” in impoverished and embattled Bangsamoro communities.

Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri said on Saturday the consolidated version of the measure was “99 percent” complete, but noted the bicameral conference committee still had a few things to finalize.

Over the previous days, the panel has been trying to harmonize the Senate and the House versions of the law that would replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) with a new region called Bangsamoro.

Zubiri, also the co-chair of the bicameral panel, also pointed out that they didn’t want to rush the consolidated version of the BBL to ensure its constitutional compliance.