tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21205708.post4361811799714854239..comments2023-09-27T22:46:36.026+08:00Comments on The Way It Is: MY COMMENT ON THE CALL FOR DISCERNMENT AND UNITYRuffy Biazonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16342285394679885941noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21205708.post-79082766670968699902008-08-12T14:57:00.000+08:002008-08-12T14:57:00.000+08:00There must be a deliberate determination as to the...There must be a deliberate determination as to the government's ultimate motive and purpose of the GRP-MILF Memorandum of Agreement. The draft clearly shows the creation of a "de facto" state for the Bangsamoro nation. Consider these:<BR/><BR/>1.The name Bangsamoro Juridical Entity has an implied acceptance on the part of the government that the BJE has a separate domestic and international personality. It is a prelude to secession and declaration of independence. All it takes is for other sovereign countries willing to conduct business with the BJE to establish embassies in the BJE territory and recognizance of its international personality;<BR/><BR/>2.The BJE will have its own independent government with practically internal sovereignty;territory; defined group of people and international relations though conveniently disguised as economic missions. One will recall Taiwan's situation. It does not have embassies abroad in the ordinary understanding of the concept "embassy" but has numerous economic missions which for all intents and purposes, may conduct the functions of a regular embassy; <BR/><BR/>3. It is submitted that the underlying principle of the Indigenous Peoples Act of the Philippines [Rep. Act 8371] is for the indigenous peoples to become stewards of ancestral domains with rights and obligations confined and bounded by the 1987 Constitution. It is not a mandate to surrender territory claimed as ancestral domains. It may admitted that if the Bangsamoro people has a legitimate claim to ancestral domains, the present constitution prohibits the government from surrendering or giving up lands to qualified indigenous peoples without the approval of the Legislature and judicial review by the Judiciary since it is a constitutional issue to do so;<BR/><BR/>4. The Agreement may contain provisions that would be contrary to statutory laws relevant to land ownership rights considering that the BJE will ultimately be the entity determining proprietory rights ot third persons involving lands included in the ancestral domain. Can a government "treaty" or executive agreement expressly or impliedly repeal a statutory right?; <BR/><BR/>5. Lastly,as an academic and legal question, are the Bangsamoro people "indigenous peoples" as defined by the different international treaties and declarations? Were their forefathers originally living in the land they claim as ancestral domain before pre-colonial and/or pre-settler societies or were their forefathers "colonizers" in the mold of the western countries when they settled in Mindanao Island?<BR/><BR/>Atty. Ariel Anthony A. Tizon, LLMAriel Anthony Tizon, LLMhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18334768161422729806noreply@blogger.com