Senate okays concurrent reso establishing Philippine Congress-Bangsamoro Parliament Forum

The Senate on Tuesday, December 6, 2022, unanimously adopted a concurrent resolution seeking to establish the Philippine Congress-Bangsamoro Parliament Forum.

Senate President Juan Miguel "Migz" F. Zubiri, who authored and sponsored Concurrent Resolution No. 5, said both chambers of Congress and the Bangsamoro Parliament met last November to identify the most urgent legislative concerns of the Parliament, through the Philippine Congress-Bangsamoro Parliament Forum, an intergovernmental body that will help achieve and maintain genuine peace and progress for the Bangsamoro Region.

He said the meeting was the first step towards the establishment of the forum, which he was proud to sponsor. Zubiri said Congress would have better coordination with the Bangsamoro Parliament once the forum would be established. He said discussions on legislative concerns for the region would easily be tackled and actions on important matters could be swiftly taken.

"As the author and sponsor of the Bangsamoro Organic Law, and as a Mindanaoan myself, I am very proud of the achievements of the interim Bangsamoro Government, which has made great progress towards lasting peace for the Bangsamoro Region," Zubiri said.

He said the Bangsamoro Region had proven that it could stand on its own and was fully capable of exercising autonomy during the COVID-19 pandemic and natural disasters such as the severe tropical storm Paeng.

"But there remains a lot of work to be done for the BARMM, which is still in its transition stage. Most urgently, there is a need to pass the priority legislation, particularly the remaining codes of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority--such as the Electoral Code and the Local Governance Code, to name a few. These codes will form the foundation of the Bangsamoro Government, and it is absolutely vital that these are passed soon, as we cannot afford to extend the Bangsamoro Transition Authority anymore," Zubiri said.

Zubiri underscored the immediate need to establish the Philippine Congress-Bangsamoro Parliament Forum to properly implement the Bangsamoro Organic Law.

All senators were made co-authors of Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 5, taking into consideration Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 2.

Under Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 5, the Philippine Congress shall be represented by a five-member panel each from the Senate of the Philippines and the House of Representatives as designated by Speaker of the House and the Senate President respectively.

A concurrent resolution is used for matters affecting the operations of both houses and must be passed in the same form by the two chambers.

However, it does not need the President's signature and does not have the force of law.

Concurrent resolutions are used to fix the time of adjournment of a Congress and to express the "sense of Congress" on an issue.