G.R. No.

183591             October 14, 2008

THE PROVINCE OF NORTH COTABATO, duly represented by GOVERNOR JESUS SACDALAN

and/or VICE-GOVERNOR EMMANUEL PIÑOL, for and in his own behalf, petitioners,
vs.
THE GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES PEACE PANEL ON
ANCESTRAL DOMAIN (GRP), represented by SEC. RODOLFO GARCIA, ATTY. LEAH
ARMAMENTO, ATTY. SEDFREY CANDELARIA, MARK RYAN SULLIVAN and/or GEN.
HERMOGENES ESPERON, JR., the latter in his capacity as the present and duly-appointed
Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) or the so-called Office of the Presidential
Adviser on the Peace Process, respondents.

Facts:

On August 5, 2008, the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the MILF, through
the Chairpersons of their respective peace negotiating panels, were scheduled to sign a
Memorandum of Agreement on the Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) Aspect of the GRP-MILF Tripoli
Agreement on Peace of 2001 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

MOA-AD includes not only four earlier agreements between the GRP and MILF, but also two
agreements between the GRP and the MNLF: the 1976 Tripoli Agreement, and the Final Peace
Agreement on the Implementation of the 1976 Tripoli Agreement, signed on September 2, 1996
during the administration of President Fidel Ramos.

The MOA-AD thus grounds the right to self-governance of the Bangsamoro people on the past
suzerain authority of the sultanates. As gathered, the territory defined as the Bangsamoro homeland
was ruled by several sultanates and, specifically in the case of the Maranao, by the Pat a
Pangampong ku Ranaw, a confederation of independent principalities (pangampong) each ruled by
datus and sultans, none of whom was supreme over the others.35

Therefore, On July 23, 2008, the Province of North Cotabato8 and Vice-Governor Emmanuel Piñol
filed a petition, docketed as G.R. No. 183591, for Mandamus and Prohibition with Prayer for the
Issuance of Writ of Preliminary Injunction and Temporary Restraining Order.9 Invoking the right to
information on matters of public concern, petitioners seek to compel respondents to disclose and
furnish them the complete and official copies of the MOA-AD including its attachments, and to
prohibit the slated signing of the MOA-AD, pending the disclosure of the contents of the MOA-AD
and the holding of a public consultation thereon. Supplementarily, petitioners pray that the MOA-AD
be declared unconstitutional.10I

ISSUE

Whether by signing the MOA, the Government of the Republic of the Philippines would be BINDING
itself

a) to create and recognize the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity (BJE) as a separate state, or a
juridical, territorial or political subdivision not recognized by law;

b) to revise or amend the Constitution and existing laws to conform to the MOA;

c) to concede to or recognize the claim of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front for ancestral
domain in violation of Republic Act No. 8371 (THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLES RIGHTS ACT
 OF 1997), particularly Section 3(g) & Chapter VII (DELINEATION, RECOGNITION OF
ANCESTRAL DOMAINS)[;]

Ruling

The MOA-AD cannot be reconciled with the present Constitution and laws. Not only its specific
provisions but the very concept underlying them, namely, the associative relationship envisioned
between the GRP and the BJE, are unconstitutional, for the concept presupposes that the
associated entity is a state and implies that the same is on its way to independence. While the MOA-
AD would not amount to an international agreement or unilateral declaration binding on the
Philippines under international law, respondents' act of guaranteeing amendments is, by itself,
already a constitutional violation that renders the MOA-AD fatally defective.