04/02/2020 E-Library - Information At Your Fingertips: Printer Friendly principles on its extent and limits. By doing so, a repetition of the unfortunate events which transpired in the wake of the MOA-AD can hopefully be avoided. There is also the possibility that an agreement with terms similar to the MOA-AD may again be drafted in the future. Indeed, respondents cannot prevent this Court from determining the extent of the GRP panel’s authority by the simple expedient of claiming that such an agreement will not be signed or that the peace panel will be dissolved. There will be no opportunity to finally the settle the question of whether a negotiating panel can freely stipulate on terms that transgress our laws and our Constitution. It can thus be said that respondents’ act of negotiating a peace agreement similar to the MOA-AD is capable of repetition yet evading review. [2] The ultimate issue in these cases is whether the GRP panel went beyond its powers when it negotiated terms that contravene the Constitution. It is claimed that the panel stipulated on matters that were outside of its authority and under the exclusive prerogative of Congress. In other words, the constitutional as well as legal limits of executive authority in the drafting of a peace agreement have been squarely put in issue. This involves a genuine constitutional question that the Court has the right and duty to resolve. Respondents insist that it is not necessary to discuss the constitutionality of each provision of the MOA-AD, because the latter is but a codification of consensus points which creates no rights and obligations between the parties. The MOA-AD allegedly has no legal effects, even if it is signed, because it is merely a preliminary agreement whose effectivity depends on subsequent legal processes such as the formulation of a Comprehensive Compact, the holding of a plebiscite, the amendment of laws by Congress as well as constitutional amendments. Consequently, it would be premature for the Court to pass upon the constitutional validity of the MOA-AD since it is neither self-executory nor is it the final peace agreement between the GRP and MILF. A reading of the MOA-AD shows that its pertinent provisions on the basic concepts, territory, resources and governance of the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity (BJE) have been made to depend for its effectivity on “changes to the legal framework.” Paragraph 7 on the provisions on Governance states: 7. 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-AD 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. The provisions of the MOA-AD which require “amendments to the existing legal framework” include practically all the substantive terms of the document. It is not difficult to foresee that the material provisions of the MOA-AD will require either an amendment to the Constitution or to existing laws to become legally effective. Some of the required constitutional or statutory amendments are the following: elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/47263 82/203