04/02/2020 E-Library - Information At Your Fingertips: Printer Friendly It must be noted that the Constitution has been in force for three decades now, yet, peace in Mindanao still remained to be elusive under its present terms. There is the possibility that the solution to the peace problem in the Southern Philippines lies beyond the present Constitution. Exploring this possibility and considering the necessary amendment of the Constitution are not per se unconstitutional. The Constitution itself implicitly allows for its own amendment by describing, under Article XVII, the means and requirements therefor. In Tan v. Macapagal,[10] where petitioners claim that the Constitutional Convention was without power to consider, discuss, or adopt proposals which seek to revise the Constitution through the adoption of a form of government other than the form outlined in the then governing Constitution, the Court ruled that: [A]s long as any proposed amendment is still unacted on by [the Convention], there is no room for the interposition of judicial oversight. Only after it has made concrete what it intends to submit for ratification may the appropriate case be instituted. Until then, the Courts are devoid of jurisdiction. x x x. At this point, there is far from a concrete proposed amendment to the Constitution which the Court can take cognizance of, much less render a pronouncement upon. At most, the Court can only exhort the Executive Department to keep in mind that it must negotiate and secure peace in Mindanao under terms which are most beneficial for the country as a whole, and not just one group of Muslim insurgents. Transparency and consultation with all major players, which necessarily include affected local government units and their constituents, are essential to arrive at a more viable and acceptable peace plan. The nature and extent of any future written agreements should be clearly established from the very beginning, and the terms thereof carefully drafted and clearly worded, to avoid misunderstandings or misconstructions by the parties and the public. If a document is meant to be a list of consensus points still subject to further negotiations, then it should just simply state so. As a final note, I find it necessary to stress that the Court must not allow itself to be mired in controversies affecting each step of the peace process in Mindanao. It is not within the province or even the competence of the Judiciary to tell the Executive Department exactly what and what not, how and how not, to negotiate for peace with insurgents. Given this kind of situation where war and peace hang in the balance, where people's lives are at stake, and the Executive Department, under its residual powers, is tasked to make political decisions in order to find solutions to the insurgency problem, the Court should respect the political nature of the issues at bar and exercise judicial restraint until an actual controversy is brought before it. In view of the foregoing, I vote for the GRANT of the Motion to Dismiss filed by the Solicitor General and, accordingly, for the DISMISSAL of the Petitions at bar for being MOOT and ACADEMIC. [1] Respondent's Manifestation and Motion, 19 August 2008. [2] Id. elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/47263 158/203