Transcript Turnover of Peace Council Report

Sen. Bongbong Marcos: We are of course very grateful to the Peace Council and it is to the importance to the committee (Senate Local Government Committee) and to the Senate as a whole that a group of individuals with such stature has weighed in on this question will certainly be of great assistance and be an important guide to our discussion. So we are grateful for the Peace Council for the work that they have done especially since they have done it in such a short period of time and that they have been able to come up with this conclusion. I look forward later on to going into the details of the report as has been given although we have seen it and we have read it, certainly there are questions that we would ask the members of the council. With that, I look forward to clarifying many of the questions that would be raised this morning.

Q: With the submission of the Peace Council report, mae-expedite po ba 'yung approval ng BBL dito sa Senate?

SBBM: I'm sure that the points that have been made in the report that has been formally handed to the Senate will certainly clarify certain matters. Of course this has to be taken in the context of other comments, opinions, observations that have been made during the other hearings. But again, the council has specifically addressed the question of the BBL on four subjects. That is the logical way to divide up the questions. So I think that will certainly clarify at least the methodology by which we can examine all of the findings, all of the opinions that have been expressed in the last few months about the BBL. So it is certainly of help to the committee.

Q: Kaya po ba ang June target sa BBL?

SBBM: Well, again, it really depends... the question there is what will happen in the plenary level because kahit na matapos kami ng before June, kung mahaba ang magiging debate, then that will determine exactly when we will finish. It is hard to say, mahirap magsabi although I have spoken to the other senators and of course they have expressed interest in making their own comments and propose their own amendments. Again, it's impossible to say how long that process will take. So we will just go through it, we will go to it in detail, we will not leave any issue unexamined and I'm sure at the end of it we will have a version that will assure all the stakeholders and I suppose that includes the entire Philippines that we have a workable version of the BBL.

Q: Sen. Marcos you have said in previous interviews that an important law, an important bill like this should not be rushed. Will the submission of the Peace Council report will in any way affect your stand on that?

SBBM: No... on the contrary this is helping the process along, therefore, making it less and less likely, or less and less necessary for us to think about speeding up the process. I think what is more important, the timetable is, of course, there something that we hope to achieve all of what we have to do within that timetable. But I think of primary importance, of primordial importance is that we get it right, that we are able to craft a version that in fact will be successful in at least taking one of the first steps towards peace in Muslim Mindanao.