Bangsamoro Juridical Entity

The issue that captivates the students of Mindanao reality in the present debate is the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity or BJE. The establishment of the BJE is anchored on the recognition of the right of the Bangsamoro to have their own government. This right to self-governance is rooted on ancestral territoriality exercised originally under the suzerain authority of their sultanates and the Pat a Pangampong ku Ranaw. The MOA recognizes that the Moro sultanates were states or karajaan/kadatuan resembling a body politic endowed with all the elements of nation-state in the modern sense. Moreover, the Philippine Government concedes “historical” international recognition of the Bangsamoro People as “First Nation” with defined territory and with a system of government having entered into treaties of amity and commerce with foreign nations. 1. What is this BJE? The BJE is the system of governance that shall be entrenched in the Bangsamoro ancestral domain (land, sea and air) after the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Compact and Charter change. 2. Does the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity or BJE require a Charter change? Yes, the BJE requires both a change in the present legal framework and a Charter change, for the simple reason that the powers and jurisdiction granted to the BJE are beyond the limits set by the 1987 Constitution and the present Autonomy Law or RA 9054. In the “initialed” MOA, the Comprehensive Peace Compact should be negotiated within 15 month after the signing of the MOA and immediately thereafter, the GRP commits to deliver the necessary changes both in the Constitution and the legal framework. 3. What if the Charter change will not push through? Does this mean that the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity is hinged entirely on the amendment to Constitution? Yes, the BJE is hinged entirely on a new Constitution that shall allow for it. If Charter change does not happen, there is NO way that the BJE can be entrenched and GRP has failed to deliver its obligations as contained in the Comprehensive Peace Compact. 4. What then would be the binding power of the MOA between the GRP and the MILF? Is the GRPs giving recognition of juridical entity to the MILF binding? Is it not subject to the interpretation of the Supreme Court as to its Constitutionality? Under what law will the GRP be bound? The MOA on Ancestral Domain is not the agreement that will give "recognition of juridical entity". The BJE will be entrenched by both the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Compact and the necessary changes both in the Constitution and the present legal framework. The MOA sets the framework and the principles. 5. What is the binding power of the MOA? The MOA states: The Parties agree that the mechanisms and modalities for the actual implementation of this MOA AD shall be spelt out in the comprehensive compact to mutually take such steps to enable it to occur effectively. Any provisions of the MOA on Ancestral Domain requiring amendments to the existing legal framework shall come into force upon signing of a comprehensive compact and upon effecting the necessary changes to the legal framework with due regard to non derogation of prior agreements and within the stipulated timeframe to be contained in the comprehensive compact. 6. Who will write the legal framework for the BJE? In the Comprehensive Compact, the Bangsamoro People themselves will write their own Basic Law. In the past, it was the Philippine Congress that enacted the Organic Act as prescribed by the 1987 Constitution. The essence of self-determination is allowing the Bangsamoro People write their own Charter or Organic Act. 7. How can the Bangsamoro People be empowered to write their own Charter? The Government needs to change the Constitution to contain the obligations or commitments in Final Comprehensive Peace Compact, not the MOA on AD. If the mode of implementation of the Final Comprehensive Compact is Constitutional change, the relevant "public" for the plebiscite is the whole nation, not just the people of the future Bangsamoro territory. The whole nation in a plebiscite, will be asked to approve the new Constitution or changes in the Constitution. There is always a possibility of rejection... Atty. Michael Mastura, Senior MILF Peace Panel member, has observed the de facto “majority veto" of any possible arrangement with the Bangsamoro people. 8. What are my perceived “Good News” about the MOA and the BJE? The MOA I and the BJE are very good examples of "thinking outside the box" in confronting the aspiration of the Bangsamoro peopleS (the capital "S") is intended to indicate pluralism within that Bangsamoro identity. The MOA and the BJE show that they draw theoretical, actual and practical LESSONS from the vast worldwide experiences of peace processes, particularly the kind and type that is suitable to the Bangsamoro peopleS. In a globalized world, our inter-connectedness is already an established fact. Isolationist and parochial views have all become archaic or "dinosaurs". We need to learn from our neighbors as well as experiences in other continents and regions - after all we speak not only of Mindanao Peace or National Peace... but we speak of regional (ASEAN) peace and global (planetary) Peace. The MOA and the BJE carry that new thinking and a new paradigm in viewing the reality of unpeace in Mindanao. Since, the MOA and the BJE are formula and principles outside the box, there are no if's and but's that these are solutions that are beyond the narrow confines of the present legal framework and Constitution. Peace Agreements worldwide lead to changes in the current legal framework and Constitution. The changes have to be effected in order for the MOA and its subsequent Comprehensive Peace Compact and BJE to become LEGAL and Constitutional... since the changes are precisely undertaken to "contain" the Peace Agreement - a sort of "new wine into a new wine skin." Attempting to put this new paradigm and new thinking in the current legal framework and Constitution would waste not only the new paradigm but also current legal framework and Constitution. We shall be forever discussing the legal points and we shall resort to all kinds of casuistry and we shall NOT convince anyone... What are needed are a new legal framework and a new Constitution - plain and simple! With the MOA and the BJE, we are evolving an innovative peace process in Mindanao that are completely new and with deeper perspective. In the past, from Marcos' 1976 Tripoli Agreement to Aquino’s ARMM to the Ramos' 1996 Final Peace Accord, there has always been the fears to confront the issue of self-determination or the issue of secession... As an academic and as professor of Peace Studies I hold SACRED the rights of peoples and nations to self-determination and in cases of national oppression and discrimination, the right of self-determination includes the right of secession. If I differ from Rebels and other revolutionaries, it is my present belief that with the varied ways of asserting this right... I have opted for the way of dialogue and negotiation. War and violence bring us to nowhere and I believe also that peoples no longer settle their differences in battlefields as done in the past but in the negotiating tables. The justness and the moral of the cause and aspirations whether for the Bangsamoro or Palestinians or the Aborigines/Indigenous peoples or the US First Nations, ultimately, shall win them the victory. It is a struggle that is JUST and MORAL! And because it is so that I do not believe in violence! It is in this light that I see the tragedy of military adventurism - MILF or AFP - as temporary hysteria and insanity that I hope and pray would soon pass us by... (Next: the Bad News!)