04/02/2020 E-Library - Information At Your Fingertips: Printer Friendly can never be disregarded. The Executive branch cannot usurp such discretionary sovereign powers of Congress and the people, as the Executive branch did when it committed to amend the Constitution to conform to the MOA-AD. There must also be proper consultations with all affected stakeholders, where the Constitution or existing laws require such consultations. The law requires consultations for a practical purpose -- to build consensus and popular support for an initiative, in this case the peace agreement. Consultations assume greater importance if the peace agreement calls for constitutional amendments, which require ratification by the people. A peace agreement negotiated in secret, affecting the people's rights, lives and destinies, that is suddenly sprung on the people as a fait accompli, will face probable rejection in a plebiscite. In short, a peace agreement that amends the Constitution can be lasting only if accepted by the people in accordance with constitutional and legal processes. Accordingly, I vote to UNCONSTITUTIONAL. GRANT the petitions and declare the MOA-AD [1] Paragraph 8 on Governance of the MOA-AD provides: "The Parties agree that the BJE shall be empowered to build, develop and maintain its own institutions, inclusive of, civil service, electoral, financial and banking, education, legislation, legal, economic, and police and internal security force, judicial system and correctional institutions, necessary for developing a progressive Bangsamoro society the details of which shall be discussed in the negotiation of the Comprehensive Compact." (Emphasis supplied) [2] Paragraph 6 on Governance of the MOA-AD provides: "The modalities for the governance intended to settle the outstanding negotiated political issues are deferred after the signing of the MOA-AD. The establishment of institutions for governance in a Comprehensive Compact, together with its modalities during the transition period, shall be fully entrenched and established in the basic law of the BJE. The Parties shall faithfully comply with their commitment to the associative arrangements upon entry into force of a Comprehensive Compact." (Emphasis supplied) [3] Section 1, Article VIII of the Constitution provides: "The judicial power shall be vested in one Supreme Court and in such lower courts as may be established by law. Judicial power includes the duty of the courts of justice to settle actual controversies involving rights which are legally demandable and enforceable, and to determine whether or not there has been a grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction on the part of any branch or instrumentality of the Government." [4] Some of these agreements are mentioned in the Terms of Reference of the MOA- AD. In their Compliance dated 22 September 2008, respondents included the following agreements not mentioned in the Terms of Reference: (1) Implementing elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/47263 107/203