MANILA -- Former Maguindanao House representative Datu Michael Mastura filed a petition Tuesday for intervention before the Supreme Court to back up the implementation and constitutionality of the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro (FAB) and the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB).
“This document is to uphold and recognize the birthright of every Moro man and woman to call or ascribe to the Bangsamoro self-identity on the basis of shared common and distinctive historical and cultural heritage,” Mastura said in his 80-page petition.
“Any basic law presumes the good faith for adoption by Congress of the act for devolution to Muslim Mindanao,” he said. “We aim to assert a ‘public right’ to political identity on equal protection ground and ‘parity of esteem’ on ‘judicially made’ policy, not constitutional rulings.”
Mastura appealed the right to establish an autonomous region as mandated by the Constitution and the recognition of the Bangsamoro aspiration for self-determination and meaningful autonomy.
“We have to explain the narrative of the Bangsamoro to the highest court of the land. We hope that the SC will listen to us for intervening to the oral arguments. Those involved in the past agreements are composed of legislators, civil society organizations and peace advocates,” he said.
Last August 11, thirteen civil society organizations also filed a petition for intervention before the Supreme Court to back the implementation of the two peace agreements, and contravening the petition filed by the Philippine Constitutional Association (PHILCONSA) asking the highest court to nullify the FAB and CAB.
"The nature of our intervention basically is that we are saying that the FAB and CAB is not [like] the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD). There were petitions filed to the SC last June that questioned the constitutionality of the FAB and CAB basing primarily their ground on the fact that the FAB and CAB is a reincarnation of the MOA-AD," said lawyer Takahiro Kenjie Aman, CSO intervenors' legal panel member.
The petitioners include the Mindanao Coalition of Development NGOs (nongovernment organizations), Mindanao Peoples Caucus Inc., Caucus of Development NGO Networks, Unified Youth for Peace and Development, Bangsamoro Alliance for Peace, Social and Economic Development, Bawgbug Advocates for Peace and Human Rights, North Cotabato provincial board member Mohammad Kellie Antao, Sister Arnold Maria Noel, Violeta Gloria, Allan Pisingan, Octavio Dinampo, Duma Mascud, and Almorzi Tabaraza.
"For all intents and purposes, the MOA-AD is dissimilar to the FAB and CAB. These (latter documents) are constitutional," the petitioners said.
FAB, CAB is not MOA-AD
"They are saying that if the MOA-AD was declared unconstitutional, the FAB and CAB should be declared unconstitutional as well. In our intervention, we cleared that the MOA-AD was declared unconstitutional because it failed two requirements which is not in the case of the signed agreements," Aman said.
He noted that the MOA-AD was declared unconstitutional by the SC because it was signed with no consultations conducted prior to its signing by government officials. It was also deemed unconstitutional because it proposed the establishment of a Bangsamoro Judirical Entity (BJE) which exceeds the powers of the autonomous region authorized by the Constitution.
Aman underscored that unlike the MOA-AD, “the CAB went through numerous consultations to the citizens of the core territories of the proposed areas of the Bangsamoro entity,” even in areas outside Bangsamoro in Mindanao and in the whole country.
The CAB is translated into a proposed law in the form of the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), which is pending passage in Congress. “This draft BBL is still subject of approval of the Congress," Aman said.
Aman added that if their petition is granted, the arguments they presented would be heard by the SC and that this will allow the groups to join in the discussions because it is their welfare that are foremost at stake. "We are intervening because we want to show that we also have a stake here and that the stakeholders are the citizens in Mindanao who are directly suffering in the armed conflicts and we want the Bangsamoro to be realized for peace and harmony," he said.
Signed agreements means peace
Moreover, lawyer Mary Ann Arnado, CSO intervenors' legal panel member, said this is an independent initiative of civil society and communities that aspire for peace in Mindanao.
"We are not directly part of this case but we are intervening as representatives of the communities that have a direct stake to the outcome of this case because the success and failure of the FAB and CAB means a lot to us in terms of security, development and our over-all aspirations for peace in Mindanao,” Arnado said.