Marcos will not abandon BLBAR despite vice presidential bid

PEACE advocates have something to rejoice as Senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" R. Marcos Jr. vowed that his vice presidential candidacy will not get in the way of the Senate deliberation of his pro-peace bill, the Basic Law for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region (BLBAR).

Marcos, chairman of the Senate local government committee who sponsored Senate Bill 2894, or the BLBAR, allayed fears he would totally abandon the BLBAR to concentrate on his bid in the May 2016 elections.

In fact, he said, he would resume deliberation of the proposed measure once the Senate has finished the proposed 2016 national budget.

"We will go back to it (BLBAR) immediately, maybe November or before Christmas, as soon as the budget is finished," he said.

The latest pronouncement of Marcos regarding the BLBAR has virtually doused cold water to small but noisy groups opposing his proposal and hoping that it doesn't pass.

The BLBAR, the substitute bill of Marcos to the Malacañang-proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law, popularly known as BBL, is currently in the period of interpellation but the Senate is in adjournment and will resume sessions on November 3.

"I will not forget the BLBAR. I will do anything humanely possible to finish this because I know a lot of our Muslim and Christian brothers in Mindanao are waiting for this measure."

"But practically speaking, I will not make a categorical promise that we will be able to complete the process. Let's hope against hope," Marcos concluded.

Marcos is now officially an independent vice presidential candidate after he filed his certificate of candidacy on October 13 at the main office of the Commission on Elections in Intramuros, Manila.

Before becoming a senator when he was elected in 2010, placing 7th overall, he had served as vice governor, governor and congressman of Ilocos Norte.