MPC confident BBL's passage, Rep. Sema too

COTABATO CITY --The Mindanao Peoples Caucus (MPC)remained confident the BBL will be passed in due time at the committee level.MPC is a member of the Friends of Peace (FOP), an umbrella organization convened by His Eminence Orlando Cardinal Quevedo, archbishop of Cotabato, that supports the passage of the draft BBL into law even with revisions provided it will not dilute the proposal.Voting of the draft law at the committee level was supposed to take place on May 11 with the FOP members in attendance but was postponed to May 18 to give other proposed amendments incorporated in the draft law.Bobby Benito, MPC secretary general, and was among those who joined the peace march in Quezon City, saidthe postponement of the BBL voting will give opportunity for other lawmakers to propose amendments, calling it a democratic process. We expect changes in the draft law but we hope it will not alter the essence of the proposal, Benito told DXMS Radyo Bida.Rep. Bai Sandra Sema of Cotabato City and 1st district of Maguindanao today said her support for the passage of the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) has not waned.While it was a result of the peace process between the govenrment and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), Sema said the BBL has envisioned a new political entity that is inclusive of all people of Muslim Mindanao.Sema is the wifeformer Mayor Muslimin Sema, chair of one of theMoro National Liberation Front (MNLF) faction.The lady solon said she will continue convincing lawmakers who remain pessimistic about the draft law now pending before the House Adhoc Committe on the Bangsamoro.She said there were arguments, sometimes emotional, but the discussion ended with lawmakers earning better understanding of the Bangsamoro struggle. Often we engaged in heated argument but it was not about us but about the Bangsamoro people, she told reporters.