spot_img
27.5 C
Philippines
Friday, March 29, 2024

High court junks pleas vs 2 Bangsamoro pacts

- Advertisement -

THE Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed the petitions filed by several groups seeking to declare as unconstitutional two agreements signed during the Aquino administration that allows the establishment of a Bangsamoro government in lieu of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

In its en banc session Tuesday, the SC denied the petitions for being premature.

SC spokesman Theodore Te said since there is no Bangsamoro Basic Law yet, any question on the constitutionality of the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro and Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro “is premature and not ripe of adjudication.”

The FAB was signed Oct. 12, 2012 while the CAB was forged March 27, 2014.

“Until a Bangsamoro Basic Law is passed by Congress, it is clear that there is no actual case or controversy that requires the Court to exercise its power of judicial review over a co-equal branch of government,” the high court declared.

- Advertisement -

Even if there are bills pending in Congress, the SC held that it cannot exercise its power of judicial review over such bills until they are passed into law, otherwise it would be tantamount to the Court rendering an advisory opinion on a proposed act of Congress.

“The power of judicial review over an act of Congress comes into play only after the passage of a bill not before,” the tribunal said.

Dismissed were the petitions filed by the Philippines Constitution Association, Tanggulang Demokrasya, Rev. Vicente Libradores Aquino, Jacinto Paras and Rev. Elly Velez Pamatong et al.

In its petition,  Philconsa through its president former Leyte congressman Ferdinand Martin Romualdez said the FAB and CAB grant “unconscionable” financial, social, economic, and political benefits to the MILF. 

The FAB was negotiated and signed by former government peace panel chief and now Supreme Court Associate Justice Marvic Leonen while the CAB was negotiated and signed by incumbent government chief peace negotiator Miriam Coronel Ferrer with MILF peace panel head Mohagher Iqbal.

The petitioners argued that the peace process with the MILF was made in violation of Executive Order No. 125 issued by former President Fidel Ramos which requires the presence of a panel of advisers composed of one each from the Senate, the House of Representatives and the Cabinet to be designated by the President. 

Besides, the petitioners said respondents Leonen and Ferrer acted with grave abuse of discretion when they agreed to cause the amendment of the Constitution by signing the FAB and CAB.

They noted that FAB and CAB grant concessions to the MILF beyond the powers of the President to grant and in violation of the provisions of the Constitution and existing laws.

The petitioners said FAB and CAB violated Section 1, Article X of the Local Governments of the Constitution which has authorized and recognized only five territorial and political subdivisions namely provinces, cities, municipalities, barangays and autonomous regions.

Furthermore, the petitioners pointed out that the power to create the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao was vested only in the First Congress under the 1987 Constitution.

Paras, on the other hand, likened the two agreements to the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain with the MILF which was also struck down by the Court for being unconstitutional.

- Advertisement -

LATEST NEWS

Popular Articles