Constitutional Violation

1) Violation of the constitutional policy of full disclosure and the right of the people to be informed on matters of public concern (Section 27, Article II, and Section 7, Article III )

The MOA was prepared, finalized, and initialed / signed without proper and adequate public consultation and transparency as required by Section 27, Article II of the Constitution, which proclaims the policy of the State “of full disclosure of all its transactions involving public interest.”

In addition, the Constitution in Section 7, Article III asserts that “the right of the people to information of matters of public concern shall be recognized.” No public consultation with the people was made in the negotiation and writing of the MOA.

2) Violation of the rule regarding the creation, division, merger, abolition, or alteration of boundaries of local government units (Section 9, Article X)

The MOA creates the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity (BJE) which will have authority and jurisdiction over the territory created for the Bangsamoro homeland and grants it sovereign powers. This creation of a state within the State is in clear violation of the Constitution, which reposes in Congress all functions and powers to create, divide, merge, abolish or alter the boundaries of LGU’s. By creating the BJE and the Bangsamoro homeland without going through the Constitutional requirements. The MOA is an anomaly. The cure is to strike it down as invalid.


3) Violation of the Separation of Powers (Article VI and VII)

The Executive exceeded its authority, acted without jurisdiction, and abused its discretion in seeking to bind the legislature, a co-equal branch of government, by committing itself to the creation of BJE.

4) Violation of Equal Protection Clause (Article III, Section I)

Even assuming that the powers granted to the BJE under the MOA are less than that sovereign power, the document grants the BJE additional powers that are not accorded to the other regions of the country. This is in violation of the equal protection clause of the Constitution embodied in Article III, Section I.

5) Violation of the Constitutional rule on separation of Church and State. (Section 6, Article II)

The implementation of the terms of the MOA would result in violation of the constitutional mandate of separation of Church and State. The MILF is left free to create an Islamic State, with a judicial system enforcing Shariah which is based in Koran. The officials of the BJE would be chosen from the ranks of Islam believers, violating constitutional prohibitation against using religious tests for public office.


Title: Filipino World View
Date: August 15,2008
Writer: Roberto Rumulo
Article: Outrage
This article was from Philippine Star dated August 15,2008. Check out for more details in this article.