Documenti di Didattica
Documenti di Professioni
Documenti di Cultura
Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) Peace Panel, was merely a codification of
consensus points reached between both parties and the aspirations of the MILF to
have a Bangsamoro homeland.1 Subsequently, the Solicitor General moved for the
dismissal of the consolidated cases at bar based on changed circumstances as well
as developments which have rendered them moot, particularly the Executive
Departments statement that it would no longer sign the questioned peace
negotiation document.2 Nonetheless, several parties to the case, as well as other
sectors, continue to push for what they call a complete determination of the
constitutional issues raised in the present Petitions.
I believe that in light of the pronouncement of the Executive Department to
already abandon the MOA, the issue of its constitutionality has obviously become
moot.
The rule is settled that no question involving the constitutionality or validity
of a law or governmental act may be heard and decided by the court unless there is
compliance with the legal requisites for judicial inquiry, namely: that the question
must be raised by the proper party; that there must be an actual case or
controversy; that the question must be raised at the earliest possible opportunity;
and, that the decision on the constitutional or legal question must be necessary to
the determination of the case itself. But the most important are the first two
requisites.3
1 Respondents Manifestation and Motion, 19 August 2008.
2 Id.
3 Joya v. Presidential Commission on Good Government, G.R. No. 96541, 24 August
1993, 225 SCRA 568, 575.
For a court to exercise its power of adjudication, there must be an actual case
or controversy one which involves a conflict of legal rights, an assertion of
opposite legal claims susceptible of judicial resolution; the case must not be moot
or academic or based on extra-legal or other similar considerations not
cognizable by a court of justice. A case becomes moot and academic when its
purpose has become stale.4 An action is considered moot when it no longer
presents a justiciable controversy because the issues involved have become
academic or dead or when the matter in dispute has already been resolved and
hence, one is not entitled to judicial intervention unless the issue is likely to be
raised again between the parties. Simply stated, there is nothing for the court to
resolve as the determination thereof has been overtaken by subsequent events.5
Such is the case here.
The MOA has not even been signed, and will never be. Its provisions will
not at all come into effect. The MOA will forever remain a draft that has never
been finalized. It is now nothing more than a piece of paper, with no legal force or
binding effect. It cannot be the source of, nor be capable of violating, any right.
The instant Petitions, therefore, and all other oppositions to the MOA, have no
more leg to stand on. They no longer present an actual case or a justiciable
controversy for resolution by this Court.
An actual case or controversy exists when there is a conflict of legal rights
or an assertion of opposite legal claims, which can be resolved on the basis of
4 Id.
5 Santiago v. Court of Appeals, G.R. No. 121908, 26 January 1998, 285 SCRA 16, 22.
The Court should not feel constrained to rule on the Petitions at bar just
because of the great public interest these cases have generated. We are, after all, a
court of law, and not of public opinion. The power of judicial review of this Court
is for settling real and existent dispute, it is not for allaying fears or addressing
public clamor. In acting on supposed abuses by other branches of government, the
Court must be careful that it is not committing abuse itself by ignoring the
fundamental principles of constitutional law.
The Executive Department has already manifested to this Court, through the
Solicitor General, that it will not sign the MOA in its present form or in any
other form. It has declared the same intent to the public. For this Court to insist
that the issues raised in the instant Petitions cannot be moot for they are still
capable of repetition is to totally ignore the assurance given by the Executive
Department that it will not enter into any other form of the MOA in the future. The
Court cannot doubt the sincerity of the Executive Department on this matter. The
Court must accord a co-equal branch of the government nothing less than trust and
the presumption of good faith.
Moreover, I deem it beyond the power of this Court to enjoin the Executive
Department from entering into agreements similar to the MOA in the future, as
what petitioners and other opponents of the MOA pray for. Such prayer once again
requires this Court to make a definitive ruling on what are mere hypothetical facts.
A decree granting the same, without the Court having seen or considered the actual
agreement and its terms, would not only be premature, but also too general to make
at this point. It will perilously tie the hands of the Executive Department and limit
its options in negotiating peace for Mindanao.
8 Dean Pacifico Agabin is the counsel for Intervenor Manuel A. Roxas III.
DEAN AGABIN: Yes, Your Honor. But in all these, we have always insisted on
preserving the territorial integrity of the country.
ASSOCIATE JUSTICE QUISUMBING: And this dicta or [dogma] is
unassailable forever. There cannot be an exception.
DEAN AGABIN: It is unassailable under the present Constitution, Your Honor.
ASSOCIATE JUSTICE QUISUMBING: But, at least, you can also agree that the
Constitution ought to be changed in order for a country to fulfill its internal
obligation as a matter of necessity.
DEAN AGABIN: Yes, if the people so will it, your Honor.
ASSOCIATE JUSTICE QUISUMBING: You remember how the emperor of
Japan lost his divinity? They just changed their Constitution, isnt it?
DEAN AGABIN: Yes, it was enforced upon him by Mr. McArthur, and they have
no choice.
ASSOCIATE JUSTICE QUISUMBING: Isnt that a very good example of
thinking outside the box? That one day even those who are underground may
have to think. But frankly now Dean, before I end, may I ask, is it possible to
meld or modify our Constitutional Order in order to have some room for the
newly developing international notions on Associative Governance
Regulation Movement and Human Rights?
DEAN AGABIN: Yes. It is possible, Your Honor, with the consent of the
people.
ASSOCIATE JUSTICE QUISUMBING: And, therefore, we vote it to a
referendum or any consultation beforehand?
DEAN AGABIN: If there is such a proposal for or amendment or revision of the
Constitution, yes, Your Honor.
ASSOCIATE JUSTICE QUISUMBING: So, either initiative or CHA-CHA or
CON-AS?
DEAN AGABIN: Yes, Your Honor.9
It must be noted that the Constitution has been in force for three decades
now, yet, peace in Mindanao still remained to be elusive under its present terms.
There is the possibility that the solution to the peace problem in the Southern
Philippines lies beyond the present Constitution. Exploring this possibility and
considering the necessary amendment of the Constitution are not per se
unconstitutional. The Constitution itself implicitly allows for its own amendment
by describing, under Article XVII, the means and requirements therefor. In Tan v.
Macapagal,10 where petitioners claim that the Constitutional Convention was
without power to consider, discuss, or adopt proposals which seek to revise the
Constitution through the adoption of a form of government other than the form
outlined in the then governing Constitution, the Court ruled that:
[A]s long as any proposed amendment is still unacted on by [the Convention],
there is no room for the interposition of judicial oversight. Only after it has made
concrete what it intends to submit for ratification may the appropriate case be
instituted. Until then, the Courts are devoid of jurisdiction. x x x.
At this point, there is far from a concrete proposed amendment to the Constitution
which the Court can take cognizance of, much less render a pronouncement upon.
At most, the Court can only exhort the Executive Department to keep in
mind that it must negotiate and secure peace in Mindanao under terms which are
most beneficial for the country as a whole, and not just one group of Muslim
insurgents. Transparency and consultation with all major players, which
necessarily include affected local government units and their constituents, are
essential to arrive at a more viable and acceptable peace plan. The nature and
extent of any future written agreements should be clearly established from the very
beginning, and the terms thereof carefully drafted and clearly worded, to avoid
10 150 Phil. 778, 785 (1972).
MINITA V. CHICO-NAZARIO
Associate Justice