Belmonte won’t ask House to pass Moro law anymore

From The Standard (Oct 5): Belmonte won’t ask House to pass Moro law anymore

HOUSE Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said he will no longer try to convince his colleagues to pass the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law, because he himself does not believe that it will be approved by December.

Belmonte said a “conscience vote” would decide the fate of BBL, which he said he just wants to reach a plenary vote.

Belmonte 

“I’m not going to talk to everybody for you to vote this way, that way. Let everybody vote the way he wants to vote,” he said.

“I just want it to reach that point [where] a decision is made by this body,” he added.

Belmonte admitted that President Benigno Aquino III would be “disappointed” if the BBL is not passed.

House Bill No. 5811, which is the substitute for HB 4994 (An Act Providing Basic Law for Bangsamoro Autonomous Region) is still in the period of interpellations.

The measure seeks the abolition of the present ARMM and the creation of a more autonomous Bangsamoro region, an offshoot of the government’s Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

http://manilastandardtoday.com/2015/10/05/belmonte-won-t-ask-house-to-pass-moro-law-anymore/