Joloano solon urged province mates to join hearing on draft BBL

JOLO, Sulu– Former Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) leader and now Sulu 1st District Rep. Habib Tupay Loong urged stakeholders to actively participate in the public hearing of the House of Representatives' Ad Hoc Committee on the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) on November 19, Wednesday. It is necessary to join public hearings because this is a matter that concerns the destiny of the Bangsamoro people,” he said. I would like to ask our people... to study [the proposed BBL]. Loong is one of the six vice chairpersons of the ad hoc committee. He said Suluanos should express their opinions and sentiments on the draft law, also known as House Bill 4994, to help Congress craft an all-inclusive law. Seventeen representatives, including Cagayan de Oro second district Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, who chairs the Ad Hoc Committee on the BBL, are expected to arrive here for the consultation. This will be the biggest contingent of legislators to visit the province, long regarded as the center of the Bangsamoro rebellion, said Loong. According to him, he expects more than 1,000 residents and local government officials in the province to attend. Members of the Bangsamoro Transition Commission, government chief negotiator Miriam Coronel-Ferrer, government peace panel legal team head Atty. Anna Tarhata Basman, and Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Undersecretary Jose Lorena are invited to serve as resource persons for the public consultation. Issues expected to be discussed are the system of government that will be set up to replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) the integration of the provisions of the 1996 Final Peace Agreement into the Bangsamoro bill, and the welfare of the current employees of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) regional government. The committee had earlier conducted hearings in Central Mindanao, the southernmost island province of Tawi-Tawi, and Zamboanga City. Hearings are also set to be held in Basilan and Zamboanga Sibugay to wrap-up the Western Mindanao leg of the series of consultations.