Palace’s working BBL draft intact after 1st voting day in House

The working draft of the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law, which critics referred to as the Malacañang version, was kept intact after the first day of the three-day voting by the 75-member ad hoc committee in the House of Representatives.

Of the dozens of amendments put forward on Monday’s hearing, only two amendments were adopted: One, put forward by 1-BAP partylist Representative Silvestre Bello, which had to do with women’s representation in the decision-making bodies of the Bangsamoro government, and by Iligan Representative Vicente Belmonte, which changed the word “area” into “cities and provinces,” to refer to the specific areas that can be the subject of the opt-in provision.

The vote of President Benigno Aquino III’s allies at the House of Representatives ruled at every step of the way as the ad hoc panel began voting per provision.

The panel was able to finish voting on 13 pages. The working draft has 109 pages and 242 sections.

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