04/02/2020
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the Republic of the Philippines.[20] This is so because pursuant to the MOA-AD: (1)
The Bangsamoro homeland and historic territory is clearly demarcated;[21] (2) The
BJE is given the authority and jurisdiction over the Ancestral Domain and Ancestral
lands. This includes both alienable and non-alienable lands encompassed within their
homeland and ancestral territory,[22] specified "internal waters"[23] as well as
"territorial waters";[24] (3) The declared ultimate objective of entrenching the
Bangsamoro homeland as a territorial space is "to secure their identity and posterity,
to protect their property rights and resources as well as to establish a system of
governance suitable and acceptable to them as a distinct dominant people. The
Parties respect the freedom of choice of the indigenous peoples;"[25] and (4) The
BJE is 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, x x x."[26] Otherwise
stated, respondents agreed to create a BJE out of the national territory of the
Republic, with a distinct and separate system of government from the Republic of
the Philippines.[27]
Notably, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, while
recognizing the rights of indigenous peoples to self-determination, does not give
them the right to undermine the territorial integrity of a State.[28]
Second. The creation of the BJE is prohibited even assuming that the MOA-AD only
attempts to create the BJE as an autonomous region. Only Congress is empowered
to create an autonomous region.[29]
In fact, RA Nos. 6734[30] and 9054,[31] the laws creating and expanding the ARMM,
have already been passed by Congress. As a result of these Organic Acts, the
provinces of Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi and the City of
Marawi voted to comprise the ARMM territory under the control of the Regional
Government of the ARMM. In the case of the MOA-AD, no implementing law is
provided to implement its terms. What it purports to do, instead, is to provide for
structures of government within the MOA-AD itself. It also obligates the GRP Panel to
"conduct and deliver" a plebiscite "within twelve (12) months following the signing of
the MOA-AD."[32]
Third. The MOA-AD creates the Bangsamoro Homeland as an ancestral domain.
However, there is non-compliance with the procedure laid down under RA No. 8371,
otherwise known as the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA). True, Article II,
Section 22 of the 1987 Constitution recognizes the rights of all indigenous peoples.
[33] This, however, cannot be used in the MOA-AD as a blanket authority to claim,
without sufficient proof, a territory spanning an entire geographical region, the entire
Mindanao-Sulu-Palawan geographic region.[34]
Indeed, Chapter VIII of the IPRA provides for stringent requirements and strict
process of delineation for recognition of ancestral domains, thus:
SEC. 51. Delineation and Recognition of Ancestral Domains. Self‑delineation shall be the guiding principle in the identification and
delineation of ancestral domains. As such, the ICCs/IPs concerned shall
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