The House of Representatives on Wednesday approved the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law, a measure which seeks to help end decades of fighting in the south and certified as urgent by President Rodrigo Duterte.
A bicameral conference will need to reconcile the House and Senate's versions of the bill before it can be signed into law by the President.
The BBL will install a Bangsamoro political entity in place of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. It is envisioned to grant wider self-rule to predominantly Muslim provinces and cities.
A total of 226 lawmakers at the House of Representatives voted for the bill while 11 voted against it. Two lawmakers meanwhile abstained.
The law is one of the requirements under a peace agreement that Manila signed with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in 2014 under then-president Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III.
Duterte had banked on the bill's passage to heal the "historical injustices" suffered by the Moros.
It failed to pass under Aquino after 44 police commandos died in a botched anti-terrorism raid in the remote town of Mamasapano in January 2015. Troops engaged rebels forces, including the MILF, in the hunt for Malaysian bomb-maker Marwan, who was killed in the operation.
A bicameral conference will need to reconcile the House and Senate's versions of the bill before it can be signed into law by the President.
The BBL will install a Bangsamoro political entity in place of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. It is envisioned to grant wider self-rule to predominantly Muslim provinces and cities.
A total of 226 lawmakers at the House of Representatives voted for the bill while 11 voted against it. Two lawmakers meanwhile abstained.
The law is one of the requirements under a peace agreement that Manila signed with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in 2014 under then-president Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III.
Duterte had banked on the bill's passage to heal the "historical injustices" suffered by the Moros.
It failed to pass under Aquino after 44 police commandos died in a botched anti-terrorism raid in the remote town of Mamasapano in January 2015. Troops engaged rebels forces, including the MILF, in the hunt for Malaysian bomb-maker Marwan, who was killed in the operation.
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