Alvarez confirms plot to unseat him

Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez of Davao del Norte on Thursday confirmed that there are efforts to unseat him, but refused to name names.

The Speaker made the disclosure in a radio interview a day after the House of Representatives adjourned sine die after passing the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) which abolishes the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and replaces it with a Bangsamoro Region that will enjoy fiscal autonomy and be governed by the Bangsamoro Parliament elected by the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region’s inhabitants.

“May mga nanggugulo ano, at alam ko naman kung sino ang mga nanggugulo [There are those who are trying to rock the boat, and I know who they are],” Alvarez said when asked if there were serious efforts to remove him as the Speaker of the House, the country’s fourth highest post.

There have been persistent talks that Alvarez could be replaced by Rep. Lord Allan Velasco of Marinduque, son of Associate Justice Presbitero Velasco Jr. of the Supreme Court.

Velasco is a known ally of President Duterte.

Last year, the congressman celebrated his birthday in Malacañang.

Alvarez made it known that he was not a fan of Velasco.

“I don’t want to talk to Congressman Velasco. Baka bolahin lang ako ‘ nun [He could just resort to making a fool of me],” he said.

Alvarez then warned that those who seek to unseat him should be ready for his job.

“I would say…. maybe they should look at the mirror, compare themselves to the one they seek to replace and ponder, ‘Can they do the job?’” he said.

“The government will be in a pitiful state if anybody can just swoop into the position without giving much thought to the responsibilities that come with it,” Alvarez added.

It has been reported that there are House members lobbying for former President-turned-Pampanga lawmaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to be the Speaker, but she has turned them down.

Arroyo is a member of the PDP-Laban, the political party headed by the President and where Alvarez serves as the secretary general.

She used to be one of the 12 deputy speakers of the House, but she was kicked out by Alvarez last year when she voted no on the bill imposing death penalty on drug-related offenses.

Bangsamoro bill okayed before Congress adjourns

Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri said Thursday the landmark Bangsamoro Basic Law had been passed by the body with major amendments and expressed hope the Senate version was compliant with the Constitution and withstand scrutiny by the Supreme Court.

Zubiri made the statement after the 2nd Regular Session of the 17th Congress closed early Thursday morning as the Senate went on sine die adjournment after passing its version of the BBL.

Senate President Vicente Sotto III formally announced the adjournment of the session around 2 am, due to the nearly 10-hour long deliberation on SBN 1717 or the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law, which was approved on third and final reading with 21-0 votes.

“With 21 affirmative votes, zero negative votes, zero abstention, Senate bill is approved on third reading,” declared Senate President Vicente Sotto III.

Senators Emmanuel Pacquiao and Leila de Lima, the latter currently detained, were not present during the hearing.

In related developments:

• Bangsamoro Transition Commission chairman Mohagher Iqbal on Thursday expressed hope a better BBL would emerge after both Houses of Congress passed their versions of the measure.

Iqbal, also Moro Islamic Liberation Front implementing panel chairman, admitted the BBL version the Senate had approved was quite far from what the BTC had submitted.

“But we are hoping that [in the end] it will be basically faithful to the Comprehensive Agreement to the Bangsamoro deal signed by the government and MILF. There are areas that are somewhat quite far from [our version],” Iqbal said in an interview on Wednesday night.

• The Palace on Thursday thanked both houses of Congress for the passage of the BBL which was certified by President Rodrigo as urgent.

“We are pleased that both houses passed their respective versions of the BBL. The certification was a signal that the President considers the BBL as absolutely indispensable in the search for peace in Mindanao,” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said.

“We are pleased that both houses of Congress agreed to come up with a final version of the bill during the break,” Roque told a Palace briefing.

“We are also very pleased that they are aiming that for the President to sign the final BBL on the day of the Sona [State of the Nation Address] itself,” the Palace spokesperson said.  

Zubiri, a sponsor of the bill, identified some of the amendments as the change from Bangsamoro territory to Bangsamoro territorial jurisdiction.

 “I’m extremely honored and elated to have passed the BBL last night that would lead to a long and just peace between the government and the MILF,” said Zubiri.

After almost 30 hours of interpellations and marathon hearings in five ARMM provinces, Zubiri said he was confident the Senate version was compliant with the Constitution. 

“We have weeded out provisions that earlier muddled our intentions to improve a lot of fellow Filipinos in Muslim Mindanao,” he said.

He added: “We survived walking on a tightrope, balancing the search for peace, right to self-determination, governance and democracy and. And, we did it crossing party lines. Even at this early stage, the BBL is a legacy for all the efforts to bring about peace and progress in lands which most experienced poverty, inequity, and the war in the Philippines.”

When they finally put ink to paper, he said: “erstwhile rebels would lay down arms; that is the biggest promise we are moving to achieve with the BBL.”

Under fiscal autonomy, he said the block grant was spelled out to be 5 percent of the net collections of the BIR and Bureau of Customs, down from 6 percent.

He said it was easily the most contentious provision because it appeared that the National Government was subsidizing the Bangsamoro government at the disadvantage of Filipino taxpayers outside of the Bangsamoro territorial jurisdiction.

He said Senator Ralph Recto’s proposed formula on block grants included provisions on the creation of internal auditing body to enhance transparency in governance and public accountability.

The fund, he said, shall be a “programmatic fund” –  meaning the Bangsamoro Government Parliament should submit to the Budget and Management and Finance departments a program of expenditures according to a development plan.

“It was clarified that the Bangsamoro shall be treated on equal footing by the Department of Budget and Management and Bureau of Local Government Finance-DoF which reviews the expenditures plan of local governments.  

It will not be automatically appropriated. 

From P10 billion annually for 10 years, the SDF shall be at P5 billion a year for 10 years.

He said from the original BTC proposal of 75 percent-25 percent sharing in favor of the Bangsamoro government, the sharing was placed at 50 percent-50 percent.

This satisfied the call to treat the Bangsamoro at par with other local governments and the basic principle that a country’s natural resources belong to the State.

He also said the Senate voted to hold only one plebiscite and deleted the proposed periodic plebiscites to be held repeatedly every five years for 15 years. 

Discussions in the plenary stressed the proposed BBL contained only opt-in provisions and none on opting-out. 

If the BBL is defeated, the current law on the establishment of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao shall remain over the existing ARMM territorial jurisdiction.

Regarding peace efforts, he said provisions on the Bangsamoro Transition Authority and the Bangsamoro Parliament were refined to make sure extensive representation of Muslim Filipinos, Indigenous peoples and Christians, and peoples of other faiths are implemented truthfully. 

A ban on political dynasties retained the original language of the Bangsamoro Transition Commission; this could stem the tide of ride that had shed so much blood in Mindanao. 

He said all provisions referencing to a sub-state status has been disposed of to clarify that the BBL was about an autonomous region like any other. 

He added the Republic’s flag and national anthem, Lupang Hinirang, shall always be flown and played along with the Bangsamoro heraldic symbols.

National I.D. bicam report omits political, religious ties

(CNN Philippines, May 31) — Political, religious and “philosophical” affiliations have been removed from the bicameral conference report on the national identification system, said the measure’s co-author Rep. Sol Aragones.

“Nag-decide na kami during the bicameral na tanggalin na lahat ng iyan. Gusto namin na simplehan na lang kaya nag-arrive kami doon sa basic information na lang hinihingi namin para din hindi isipin ng mga tao na talagang ma-i-invade 'yung privacy nila,"  she told CNN Philippines’ On the Record on Thursday.

[Translation: We decided to omit those from the bicameral committee report. We wanted it to be simple so we ended with only requiring basic information so people will not think their privacy will be invaded.]

Aragones also clarified that providing mobile numbers and email addresses  is not mandatory under the measure.

"This is one step closer to the Philippines becoming a police state. Policemen stopping you in the streets, asking for your identification," ACT Teachers party-list Rep. Antonio Tinio said.

The House of Representatives on Wednesday ratified the bicameral conference report on the bill, a day after the Senate did the same. The bill will be sent to President Rodrigo Duterte for his signature.

PSA as PhilSys custodian

Aragones said the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) will be the custodian of the cardholders’ data such us a lifetime randomly generated Philippine Identification System (PhilSys) number, full name, gender, blood type, date of birth, place of birth, marital status, and photo of the ID owner.

Tinio, however, asserted that the registry will be likely contracted to a foreign firm, much like PSA’s contract with U.S.-based firm Unisys.

“It is a much more expanded registry that they will have to maintain and in the end, it will be contracted to a foreign private entity,” he said.

Privacy Commissioner Raymund Liboro said another concern is that the existing Data Privacy Act already penalizes breach of data, which is also mentioned as a violation in the proposed national I.D. system.

"We are (happy) because we see the benefits. There are risks. What we want to happen is to minimize the risks and maximize the benefits," Liboro said.

He added that the National Privacy Commission is part of the technical working group of the measure and is doing its part to ensure privacy features are in place.