I warn Malacanang not to sign the GRP-MILF Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain. President Arroyo will be committing an impeachable offense since the agreement constitutes a gross violation of the 1987 Constitution.
No doubt, Presidential Adviser to the Peace Process Hermogenes Esperon Jr and RP Panel Chair Rodolfo Garcia will be signing the agreement only upon the authority and orders of President Arroyo.
The MoA clearly violates the 1987 Constitution because it grants the so-called Bangsamoro Juridical Entity (BJE) a status of belligerency, which is a step closer to granting it international recognition as a separate and independent state. It will reportedly authorize the BJE to sign trade pacts, friendship treaties and other international agreements with foreign countries and send representatives to ASEAN and the United Nations. Moreover, the Terms of Reference cites the UN Charter, the UN Universal Declaration on Human Rights, International Humanitarian Law (IHL), which only sovereign states can be party to.
Further, the MoA unconstitutionally surrenders Philippine government authority over exploitation of natural resources, such as oil exploration, as the Bangsamoro territory no longer forms part of the national public domain.
Further, you cannot divide sovereignty, which the MoA provides for when it allows BJE to exercise shared authority and responsibility with the Philippine government over the Bangsamoro homeland.
While I have always supported the peace process in Mindanao, I maintain that any agreement should be within the boundaries of the present Constitution. This MoA goes beyond the constitutional parameters and boundaries, which provides only for autonomous regions. I am for the granting of full and genuine authority to the Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) but the process should not violate the Constitution.
To say that we need to amend the Constitution for this MoA only lends credence to allegations that the Arroyo administration intends to unscrupulously exploit the Mindanao peace process in its relentless bid to amend the 1987 Constitution and pave the way to extend President Arroyo’s stay in power beyond 2010.
