Answer Bangsamoro suit, SC orders SolGen

From the Daily Tribune (Jan 9): Answer Bangsamoro suit, SC orders SolGen

Government lawyers have been tasked to comment on a suit filed by lawyer Ely Pamatong challenging the government’s agreement with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) for a Bangsamoro homeland.  In a press briefing, acting spokesman Ma. Victoria Gleoresty Guerra announced that “no restraining order” or other relief had been granted by the tribunal on the suit filed last December. “The solicitor general was asked to comment” Guerra pointed out.

Erstwhile presidential candidate Elly Pamatong, and his group, the International Ministries for Perfect and Party Against Communism and Terrorism Inc. (Imppact) urged the tribunal to stop the implementation of the agreement. Pamatong, however, failed to include a copy of the agreement in his pleadings but alleged in his separate petitions that the government peace panel (GPP) committed grave abuse of discretion. He pointed out that while the Constitution provides for an Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, the creation of a “Bangsamoro” is not cited and that the GPP, as a result, “has usurped the power of Congress to enact, amend or repeal laws vested on it by the Constitution.”

Pamatong insists that the agreement is similar to the Bangsamoro juridical entity formed during the Arroyo administration but was struck down by the high court. By replacing the ARMM with Bangsamoro, the GPP “acted without or in excess of its jurisdiction or with grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction,” petitioners claimed. The petition also assailed the description of the Bangsamoro government in the agreement as that of a ministerial form.

The Framework Agreement stipulated the creation of a Bangsamoro government in five provinces — Basilan, Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi and the cities of Marawi, Cotabato and Isabela and six other municipalities of North Cotabato. “These provinces and cities are all covered by the 1976 Tripoli Agreement. Both the MNLF (Moro National Liberation Front) and the MILF are representing the same people and the same territory. Surely, the implementation of the Framework Agreement will nullify the 1976 Tripoli Agreement and the 1996 Final Peace Agreement,” Pamatong argued.

He pointed out that the existence of the ARMM was by virtue of the 1976 Tripoli Agreement, an international treaty recognized by the Organization of Islamic Conference and the 1996 Final Peace Agreement. “The dissolution of the ARMM will mean the dissolution of the two agreements. Indeed, in 1987, the Philippine government honored its commitment to an international agreement by including in the Constitution the creation of an ARMM,” he stressed.

The petitioner also questioned why the GPP-MILF exploratory talks were held in Malaysia. He said it is not a neutral country because of its claims over the disputed Sabah Island, which the Philippines is also claiming. Pamatong filed the petitions as a taxpayer and also as president of Imppact. He was joined by Rev. Vicente Libradores Aquino and Rev. Mercidita Redoble.

The peace panel was headed by newly appointed SC Associate Justice Marvic Leonen, who earlier vowed to inhibit in any petition in the high court questioning the framework deal that was signed last Oct. 15. It can be recalled that an earlier deal, the memorandum of agreement on ancestral domain, was declared unconstitutional by the SC in 2008.

The new Muslim autonomous region (a new autonomous political entity or NPE) would replace the existinlgeg Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) comprised of Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, Lanao and Maguindanao provinces. It covers a smaller area compared to what was identified in the failed MoA-AD during the Arroyo administration: the five provinces of the ARMM, six Lanao del Norte municipalities, and villages in sixmunicipalities in North Cotabato, Cotabato City, and Isabela City in Basilan.

http://www.tribune.net.ph/index.php/nation/item/8938-answer-bangsamoro-suit-sc-orders-solgen