DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/14 October) – The Supreme Court has ruled as unconstitutional by a vote of 8-7, the Memorandum of Agreement on the Ancestral Domain between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), abs-cbnnews.com reported.

“The minority’s position was to declare the anti-MOA petitions as moot since the Palace has already decided not to pursue the signing of the agreement following a public backlash. This would have given the Palace a graceful exit, if not, defeat,” abs-cbnnews.com said.

Initialed in Kuala Lumpur on July 27 by government peace panel chair Rodolfo Garcia and Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Hermogenes Esperon and MILF peace panel chair Mohagher Iqbal, the MOA-AD was scheduled for formal signing on August 5 but the signing rites were cancelled when the Supreme Court issued afternoon of August 4, a temporary restraining order (TRO) preventing the government peace panel chair and the Foreign Affairs secretary from signing the document.

Since then, half a million villagers have fled to evacuation centers as the military launched pursuit  operations against  alleged renegade MILF commanders Umbra Kato, Bravo and Pangalian in North Cotabato, Maguindanao, Lanao del Norte and the MILF attacked three towns in Lanao del Norte and two in Sarangani province.

Calling the SC decision “a triumph of the people,” North Cotabato Vice Governor Emmanuel Pinol, who first filed the petition for a TRO hailed the SC ruling, referring to today as “an extra-ordinary day in our lives in savoring what for us is a manifestation of a long cherished belief that power truly resides in the people.”

”What started as a parochial struggle to protect the territorial integrity of the Province of North Cotabato and invoke the Constitutional Right of the people to know what government is doing on their behalf has become part of our national history,” he said in an e-mailed press statement, adding, that in a “strongly worded decision, the Supreme Court also admonished the government for ignoring the need for transparency and consultations with the people.”

Iligan City mayor Lawrence Cruz told MindaNews “it’s a guarded happiness.”

“We are happy the Court ruled in our favor. This only shows that our objection was not unreasonable, it was not unfair, not emotional, we were not being anti-Moro about it and that there was something wrong in how the MOA was crafted and certain vested, permanent rights were going to be trampled upon if pushed through. To me, it would have been an instrument of war instead of peace,” Cruz said.

MILF peace panel chair Mohagher Iqbal told MindaNews the SC decision has “no bearing to the MILF.”

“There is no problem (for the MILF). We are not part of the case. The Supreme Court is not a party to the MOA-AD. But GRP remains a party and is bound by it.” he said.

“The ruling is an indication that this country can’t put its act together. MILF is right to never negotiate on the basis of the Constitution.  It is not a level playing field,” Iqbal said.
Lawyer Datu Michael Mastura, told MindaNews he doesn’t have a copy of the Supreme Court ruling and has not seen a copy of the ruling  but “either way, the bottomline is that the SC decision does not resolve the armed conflict.”

“It’s a legalese game between government and the opposition. But there is still armed conflict. No negotiations, no political settlement,” he said.

“What else is new? Government had abandoned the MOA before the Supreme Court decision. The bottomline is SC has not resolved the armed conflict. There is no political settlement,” he added.

“We really need an international guarantee, protocol. Whatever is negotiated should be implemented,” Mastura said. 

Lawyer Mary Ann Arnado, secretary-general of the Mindanao Peoples’ Caucus, said, “I guess that’s it. That’s the end of the peace process as far as this government is concerned. The Supreme Court has just foreclosed all possible peaceful means of resolving the armed conflict in Mindanao.”

Prof. Abhoud Syed Lingga, executive director of the Institute of Bangsamoro Studies, said the Supreme Court ruling “puts to an end efforts of the Bangsamoro people to seek domestic remedies to the historical and moral injustices committed against them.”

“Staying with the Republic of the Philippines now becomes untenable, and separation appears as the only viable option left to the Bangsamoro people,” Lingga said.

The SC ruling, he added, is setting a “bad precedent in the use of negotiations in conflict resolutions. It is disincentive to those who fight governments to negotiate if what are agreed upon are thrown to the trash can.”

The government dissolved its peace panel on September 3 and announced it would negotiate with armed groups only on the basis of DDR (demobilization, disarmament and reintegration). (Carolyn O. Arguillas/MindaNews)