MANILA, Philippines – A revised version of the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) will be filed at the House of Representatives by next week, nearly two months after the Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC) first submitted it to Malacañang.

Majority Floor Leader Rodolfo Fariñas made the statement on Thursday morning, September 21, after he and other Congress leaders attended a Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) meeting on Wednesday night, September 20.

“We will file the bill for the BBL submitted by the BTC next week,” Fariñas said.

He added, “The President informed us that he will leave to the wisdom of the Congress the final version of the BBL.”

President Rodrigo Duterte had earlier committed to push for the legislation of the BBL, which failed to pass Congress during the previous Aquino administration because of the botched Mamasapano operation. 

The proposed Bangsamoro region, which will replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), is a fulfillment of a 2014 peace deal between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

Duterte has yet to certify the BBL as urgent, but he has repeatedly made the promise. Once certified as urgent, Congress  is expected to pass ithe controversial measure within the year. 

Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez earlier said that he wants to file the BBL himself  at the House. He said in an interview early September that the BTC version of the BBL might be consolidated with other House versions of the bill. – Rappler.com