Amid persistent questions on the constitutionality of the draft Bangsamoro Basic Law, Malacañang yesterday insisted the bill to be submitted to Congress will stand legal scrutiny as the government assured it will be enacted by yearend as earlier set by the administration.

Presidential Spokesperson Edwin S. Lacierda said the Executive branch of government was able to iron out any possible constitutional challenges that may be raised against the bill.

The Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB), inked between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) last March 27, will be reflected in the draft Bangsamoro bill yet to be submitted by the Office of the President to Congress for consideration.

“When the negotiations were taking place it was always within the framework and within the flexibilities of the Constitution. So we have always believed that the Bangsamoro Basic Law drawn from the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro is constitutional,” he said.

“We believe that what will be filed in Congress will be constitutional,” he added.

The Bangsamoro Basic Law will formalize the creation of the new Bangsamoro political entity that will replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao that will speed up the process of creating the autonomous region as part of a peace process aimed at ending the decades-old armed conflict in Mindanao that has claimed tens of thousands of lives in the region.

The Bangsamoro Basic Law was originally set to be submitted to Congress when it resumed its regular sessions last May 5, but Palace officials have said the Executive review continues as the government wants to be sure that the draft bill, which as early as now being tagged unconstitutional, will stand judicial scrutiny.

The President recently assured the draft bill would be submitted to Congress by the time it resumes plenary sessions this month. This as he hopes the Bangsamoro autonomous government will be in place at the start of next year.

“I can assure the Filipino people that we will be exerting all efforts to ensure that this measure is passed in a timely manner... So, we’re hoping that all the steps will be done [so] that they can sit already in office by January of 2015,” President Benigno S. C. Aquino III told reporters last week.

The President said Peace Process Secretary Teresita Q. Deles met with Executive Secretary Paquito N. Ochoa, Jr. last Thursday to “hasten the process” of finalizing the law that both the government and the MILF will support and endorse.

The President is expected to certify the bill as urgent upon submission to the House of Representatives keeping the approval of the proposed measure on track by the end of this year. Malacañang earlier said it hopes to approve the bill by yearend keeping it on track to the government’s indicative timetable for a plebiscite in the areas covered by the Bangsamoro expected in 2015, and the conduct of elections for officials that will regularly administer the Bangsamoro political entity, set to be done simultaneous with the 2016 national elections.

Meanwhile, House Speaker Feliciano R. Belmonte, Jr. yesterday expressed confidence the bill will be approved by the end of 2014.

“I’m confident of early action. It’s better to submit a well-thought out and studied bill... than a hurriedly made one earlier,” he told BusinessWorld in a text message.

Deputy Speaker and Isabela Rep. Giorgidi B. Aggabao (4th district) also said the Bangsamoro Basic Law will be passed this year.

“It will pass this year at the level of the House [of Representatives]. Truth to tell, we were itching to work on it before our break, but we understand the need for the Palace to thoroughly vet the draft to pass constitutional muster,” he said in a text message.

“To be sure, many sectors would want to scupper the deal, or eviscerate its provisions through the Supreme Court (SC), but I think the SC will uphold its constitutionality in the end. We are confident that the bill, if passed into law, will stand legal scrutiny by the SC,” Mr. Aggabao added. -- Imee Charlee C. Delavin/BusinessWorld Online