04/02/2020
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the GRP and the MNLF: the 1976 Tripoli Agreement, and the Final Peace Agreement
on the Implementation of the 1976 Tripoli Agreement, signed on September 2, 1996
during the administration of President Fidel Ramos.
The MOA-AD also identifies as TOR two local statutes - the organic act for the
Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM)[25] and the Indigenous Peoples
Rights Act (IPRA),[26] and several international law instruments - the ILO
Convention No. 169 Concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent
Countries in relation to the UN Declaration on the Rights of the Indigenous Peoples,
and the UN Charter, among others.
The MOA-AD includes as a final TOR the generic category of "compact rights
entrenchment emanating from the regime of dar-ul-mua'hada (or territory under
compact) and dar-ul-sulh (or territory under peace agreement) that partakes the
nature of a treaty device."
During the height of the Muslim Empire, early Muslim jurists tended to see the world
through a simple dichotomy: there was the dar-ul-Islam (the Abode of Islam) and
dar-ul-harb (the Abode of War). The first referred to those lands where Islamic laws
held sway, while the second denoted those lands where Muslims were persecuted or
where Muslim laws were outlawed or ineffective.[27] This way of viewing the world,
however, became more complex through the centuries as the Islamic world became
part of the international community of nations.
As Muslim States entered into treaties with their neighbors, even with distant States
and inter-governmental organizations, the classical division of the world into dar-ulIslam and dar-ul-harb eventually lost its meaning. New terms were drawn up to
describe novel ways of perceiving non-Muslim territories. For instance, areas like
dar-ul-mua'hada (land of compact) and dar-ul-sulh (land of treaty) referred to
countries which, though under a secular regime, maintained peaceful and
cooperative relations with Muslim States, having been bound to each other by treaty
or agreement. Dar-ul-aman (land of order), on the other hand, referred to countries
which, though not bound by treaty with Muslim States, maintained freedom of
religion for Muslims.[28]
It thus appears that the "compact rights entrenchment" emanating from the regime
of dar-ul-mua'hada and dar-ul-sulh simply refers to all other agreements between
the MILF and the Philippine government - the Philippines being the land of compact
and peace agreement - that partake of the nature of a treaty device, "treaty" being
broadly defined as "any solemn agreement in writing that sets out understandings,
obligations, and benefits for both parties which provides for a framework that
elaborates the principles declared in the [MOA-AD]."[29]
The MOA-AD states that the Parties "HAVE AGREED AND ACKNOWLEDGED AS
FOLLOWS," and starts with its main body.
The main body of the MOA-AD is divided into four strands, namely, Concepts
and Principles, Territory, Resources, and Governance.
A. Concepts and Principles
elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/47263
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