MANILA, May 31 (Xinhua) -- The Philippine senate unanimously approved early on Thursday the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), which seeks to replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) established in 1989 with new Bangsamoro region in the southern Philippines.

Twenty-one senators voted to approve the senate bill. Two senators were not present to cast their votes.

A few hours before the senate passed the bill, the House of Representatives also passed its version of the measure, which Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte certified as urgent.

The two chambers will then meet in a bicameral conference committee to reconcile their versions of the bill. The final version of the measure will be sent back to both chambers for ratification before it can be transmitted to Duterte for signature.

The lawmakers hope to ratify the final version of the measure on July 23, during the opening of the third regular session of the 17th Congress.

Duterte is expected to sign the BBL into law before he delivers the third State of the Nation Address (SONA) in the afternoon of July 23.

The proposed BBL, written by the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) negotiators after the signing of a peace agreement in 2014, is hoped to end decades of separatist fighting in Mindanao in the southern Philippines.?