04/02/2020 E-Library - Information At Your Fingertips: Printer Friendly legislative assembly is limited to the express grants under Section 20, Article X. The national government retains responsibility over the defense and security of the autonomous regions. In addition, under Section 17, Article X, "[a]ll powers, functions, and responsibilities not granted by this Constitution or by law to the autonomous regions shall be vested in the National Government." The MOA-AD acknowledges that the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity (BJE) shall have authority and jurisdiction over the territory defined in the agreement as the ancestral domain of the Bangsamoro people. For the BJE to gain legal recognition under the Constitution, it must be identifiable as one of the recognized political subdivisions ordained in the Constitution. That is not the case. In fact, it is apparent that the BJE would have far superior powers than any of the political subdivisions under the Constitution, including the autonomous regional government for Muslim Mindanao. The powers of government extended to the BJE are well in excess than that which the Constitution allocates to the autonomous regional government for Muslim Mindanao. For example, it was agreed upon in the MOA that: [T]he 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...[30] Under the Constitution, the extent through which the autonomous regional government could establish a judicial system was confined to the extent of courts with jurisdiction over personal, property and family law.[31] Obviously, the MOA-AD intends to empower the BJE to create a broader-based judicial system with jurisdiction over matters such as criminal law or even political law. This provision also derogates from the authority of the constitutional commissions, most explicitly the Civil Service Commission (CSC) and the Commission on Elections (COMELEC). The CSC administers the civil service, which embraces all branches, subdivisions, instrumentalities, and agencies of the Government.[32] Yet the MOA-AD would empower the BJE to build, develop and maintain its own civil service. The BJE is likewise authorized to establish its own electoral institutions. Yet under the Constitution, it is the COMELEC which has the exclusive power to enforce and administer election laws.[33] Much of the MOA-AD centers on agreements relating to the exploitation of the economic resources over the proposed Bangsamoro homeland. The BJE is vested with jurisdiction, power and authority over land use, development, utilization, disposition and exploitation of natural resources within that territory. To that end, the BJE is empowered "to revoke or grant forest concessions, timber license, contracts or agreements in the utilization and exploitation of natural resources."[34] One provision of the MOA-AD makes it certain that it is the BJE which has exclusive jurisdiction in the exploitation of natural resources, particularly those utilized in the production of energy: Jurisdiction and control over, and the right of exploring for, exploiting, producing and obtaining all potential sources of energy, petroleum, in situ, fossil fuel, mineral oil and natural gas, whether onshore or offshore, elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/47263 149/203