Marcos to file substitute bill for creation of Bangsamoro region

Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr, chairman of the committee on local governments, formally rejected the draft Bangsamoro basic law (BBL) submitted to Congress by the President’s office, and said he would file his own, substantially different proposal. “Unfortunately, the BBL in its present form and substance will not bring us any closer to peace. Instead, it will lead us to perdition. Armed conflict will ensue…. Nobody wins. Everybody loses,” the senator said in privilege speech. Marcos blamed the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP), which “totally ignored the major stakeholders” in the peace process – including the Sultanate of Sulu, rebel group Moro National Liberation Front, Lumads or indigenous people, Christians, local government officials and businesses – in drafting the proposed law. 

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