GRP – BANGSAMORO AGREEMENT

I. SALIENT POINTS IN THE AGREEMENT

The proposed agreement was supposed to be entered into between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). It was an agreement that would define the ancestral domain of the “Bangsamoros”, the people the MILF is representing.

A. ANCESTRAL DOMAIN

The agreement was premised on the historical claim of all Moros and indigenous peoples of Mindanao or also called “Bangsamoros”. They are those that are the natives or original inhabitants of Mindanao and its adjacent lands Sulu and Palawan. This territorial claim can e traced on ancestral territoriality exercised originally under the suzerain authority of their sultanates and the Pat a Pangampong ku Ranaw. The reason for the grant of ancestral domain is to secure the group’s identity and posterity, to protect their property rights and resources as well as to establish a system of governance suitable and acceptable to them as a distinct dominant people.

B. TERRITORY DEFINED
The agreement defined the Bangsamoro territory as those that does not only refer to land mass but to maritime, terrestrial, fluvial and alluvial domains and the aerial domains. It also defines those provinces or political subdivisions that form part of such territory as well as its internal and territorial waters.


C. BANGSAMORO JURIDICAL ENTITY (BJE) and its powers

The Bangsamoro Juridical Entity (JBE) was given the authority over the ancestral domain and ancestral lands, including both alienable and non-alienable land encompassed within their homeland. The BJE has authority over the use, development, conservation and disposition of their land and its natural resources geared towards self-sufficiency and the stimulation of its local economy to improve living conditions so as to alleviate poverty.

The BJE is tasked to grant licenses, concessions, contracts and agreements in the use of natural resources. It is allowed to enact agrarian laws and programs.

The BJE is free to enter into economic cooperation and trade relations with foreign countries as long as these do not constitute acts of aggression against the GRP. In fact, the Central Government shall take necessary steps to ensure the BJE’s participation in international meetings and events.


D. ROLE OF THE CENTRAL GOVERNMENT

The Central Government, on the other hand, shares in the wealth of the BJE in the ratio of 75% - 25% in favor of the BJE. The relationship between the Central Government and BJE is associative in nature, characterized by shared authority and responsibility with a structure of governance based on executive, legislative, judicial and administrative institutions. The Central Government shall exclusively have the power of external defense.


II. ANALYSIS AND CONCLUSION

The proposed agreement, to my mind, is the epitome of the government’s weakness to handle the MILF issue. It has almost given up on all of its jurisdiction over the Bangsamoro “territory” and handing over to the BJE all of its rights and obligations except that of external defense.

Let us review the elements of a state according the Montevideo conference :
1. a permanent population
2. a defined territory
3. a government
4. capacity to conduct external relations with other states

This agreement, without hesitation, just granted the BJE, its sovereignty and statehood. It is an international principle that recognition is a right of every state and that for BJE to become a state and to enter into external relations, it has somehow to be recognized expressly or impliedly by others. However, the recognition of the GRP itself hastens the process. The provision in the agreement wherein the BJE is given international rights and authorities by assuring it that it will ensure its participation in international meetings and events is an act of recognition by GRP of the legal personality of BJE in the international community. This is a matter of great concern. What will stop subsequent calls for statehood by other political subdivisions as well?

Besides, is the agreement even constitutional? Does it not result to a contradiction to the constitutional provisions on definition of territory and the creation of political divisions? Don’t these acts warrant constitutional amendments that require a more formal process than entering into an agreement?

The agreement has clearly defined the territorial, maritime and fluvial domains of the BJE and effectively separated this from the currently defined territory of the Philippines. This means the Phils, as a result, will become a smaller state. The Constitution also defines the political subdivisions of the Philippines. The creation of a BJE makes changes on those political subdivisions and thus, again, constitute changes in the constitution. This highest law of the land provides that charter changes require a plebiscite by the people after a constitutional convention or the legislative department as a constituent assembly shall have reviewed such and made proposals therein.

It is just appropriate that a petition to prevent this agreement to be entered into was made and a subsequent grant to the petition was given by the Supreme Court. The provisions in this agreement should be a cause of alarm for the concerned citizens of the country. One cannot chip off a portion of its territory just because it wants to end insurgency in a locality. The solution to the problem of insurgents is not to give in to what they want. It is to look through history and review and understand the original rights and the subsequent rights that rose from thereon. The current situation speaks for itself. The failure on the agreement triggered violence and showed the real intent of the MILF. These group is not out to preserve the very land they profess to love for if it did, it would never abuse the resources by wrecking havoc to the place. Nor shall it even attempt to hurt its inhabitants, the Bangsamoros they claim to be part of the land and they vow to protect. The destruction of property and means of livelihood as well as the death of innocent inhabitants could have been prevented if government never gave hope to the MILFs on having a territory and government for themselves.