Statement Opposing the GRP-MILF MOA on Ancestral Domain

Statement Opposing the GRP-MILF MOA on Ancestral Domain

Makati Business Club

We are for peace in the entire Philippines, in Mindanao, in Visayas,
and in Luzon. We are for a peace process that consults all and
involves all. We are for transparency at every step of the process,
from negotiation of the terms, through to the articulation of the
agreement and the implementation of its provisions. We are for a
permanent peace by all, for all, for all time.

We oppose the GRP-MILF Peace Panel Memorandum of Agreement on
Ancestral Domain (“GRP-MILF MOA”) because it is flawed in the process
just as it is flawed in its provisions. What was lost in the process
was any appreciation for legitimacy in a democracy that stems from
winning consensus, including the consent of the governed. Many, if not
all, of its provisions violate the Constitution, which strangely
enough the Memorandum never mentions by name.

The GRP-MILF MOA is a proposal (crafted in private and sprung on the
public) to dismember the Republic of the Philippines, a prelude to
creating a state within a state, if not to create an independent and
sovereign one, and a provocation to a bitter struggle of brother
against brother. Just as reprehensible, it is a trojan horse designed
to be foisted on our unwitting people to perpetuate the incumbent’s
power and her abuse of it.

It is unfair to demand of our people in the South to fully comprehend
and freely decide in a simplistic “yes” or “no” plebiscite, required
to be conducted within a short period of twelve (12) months, the
question of whether or not to be subjects of a juridical entity that
is still uncertain in shape or form, and of dubious constitutional
standing. In fact, the people in the affected areas may be forced to
make their decision even before the completion of negotiations and
resolution of still outstanding issues in a Comprehensive Compact that
could be concluded fifteen (15) months after the signing of the GRP-
MILF MOA.

The Memorandum of Agreement will result in a diminution of Philippine
sovereignty as it empowers its juridical creation to enter into
economic agreements and trade relations with foreign countries, to
open trade missions abroad, and to participate in meetings of the
ASEAN and UN specialized agencies where only sovereign states take part.

Without prior and adequate discussion and debate of the significant
consequences of the proposed modifications, we are being committed to
alter the Constitution, to change the civil service, electoral,
financial and banking, education, legislation, legal, economic, and
political systems.

It sets aside the time-honored principles of sanctity of contract and
inviolability of vested rights to grant the Bangsamoro juridical
entity the power to modify, revise, and even supersede significant
long-term contracts and agreements duly entered into by relevant
government authorities and private parties.

Accordingly, we join our voices with those who have gone to the
Supreme Court to prohibit permanently the formal signing of the GRP-
MILF MOA as presently worded. We ask, together with our countrymen in
the South and in the North, for a peace that is the fruit of an open
covenant, openly arrived at through frank negotiations in full public
view, consistent with our nationwide aspiration for a regime of truth,
justice, freedom, love, equality, and peace.