Miriam, Ferrer to discuss issues on peace accord

MANILA, Philippines - Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago has agreed to meet with government peace panel chair Miriam Coronel-Ferrer to discuss the legal issues surrounding the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

Santiago accepted Ferrer’s offer for a meeting to discuss the context and substance of the CAB.

Ferrer sought the meeting after Santiago said the peace agreement forged between the government and the MILF was unconstitutional.

“I am glad that you think a meeting between the two of us would be productive for the public interest,” Santiago said in her letter.

“I take this matter seriously and I shall work on a brief legal memorandum for you, fleshing out my press statements,” she added.

Ferrer, for her part, said the government peace panel welcomes the input of Santiago on the CAB.

“The honorable senator is a brilliant professor and an expert in constitutional law. We certainly appreciate her insights and opinion on the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro,” Ferrer said.

Ferrer assured the public that peace negotiators stuck to the instruction of the President that the CAB should be within the framework of the 1987 Constitution.

Ferrer said she is looking forward to a meeting with Santiago and other legislators to extensively discuss the different provisions in the CAB and to allow a deeper understanding of the context and substance of the peace agreement with the MILF.

Santiago said the CAB violates the principle of constitutional supremacy.

She said the agreement establishes not a mere autonomous region as provided for by the Constitution, but a substate that will exercise certain sovereign powers reserved only for the central government.

Santiago added preliminary studies showed the CAB apparently contains provisions similar to those contained in the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) that the Supreme Court had declared as unconstitutional.

“Both the MOA-AD and the Bangsamoro Agreement appear to facilitate the secession of the Bangsamoro from our country, in a manner similar to the secession of Kosovo and Crimea,” Santiago said.

Santiago clarified she was not out to derail the peace process but only wanted to ensure the CAB would stand up against any legal challenge.

“In a modest way, I am also engaged in forward thinking about the eventual consequences of the CAB,” she added.

Santiago said she would be sending her legal memo to Ferrer sometime next week.

Once the draft basic law on the Bangsamoro is completed, this would be transmitted to Congress for its approval.

“In the meantime, we are waiting for the Bangsamoro Transition Commission to finish its draft bill on the Bangsamoro which will be endorsed by the President as an administration bill to Congress for their due consideration and passage at the soonest possible time. The Bangsamoro Basic Law, as enacted by Congress, shall serve as the organic act for the autonomous region in Muslim Mindanao provided for in the 1987 Constitution,” Ferrer said. – With Jose Rodel Clapano