PROVINCE OF NORTH COTABATO v.

GRP PEACE PANEL (Pamatmat)

October 14, 2008 | J. Carpio-Morales | Sources of International Law: Treaties sources of international law may be referred to,
weight nor are they all binding on the Philippines

Petitioner: Province of North Cotabato, City Government of Zamboanga, City of

FACTS:
Iligan, et al.
Respondents: Government of the Republic of the Philippines Peace Panel 1. On August 5, 2008, the Government (
to sign a Memorandum of Agreemen
SUMMARY: AD) aspect of the GRP-MILF Tripoli A
After years of on-going dispute and peace negotiations between the GRP Agreement 2001) in Kuala Lumpur, Ma
and the MILF, in August of 2008, the two parties were finally scheduled to sign a upon motion of the present petitioners
Memorandum of Agreement on the Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD). However, the Court issued a TRO enjoining the GRP
signing did not push thru due to numerous petitioners coming forward with qualms 2. Before the MOA-AD, beginning in 19
about the validity of the MOA-AD. Among other things, the petitioners argue that it prior agreements between the GRP an
 In July 1997, the parties signed
violated the law and the Constitution. Hostilities.
In relation to PIL, the main issues are W/N the GRP is bound to grant the  In 1998, they signed the General
Bangsamoro Juridical Entity the status of an almost independent/associated 3. According to the SolGen, the MOA-A
state and W/N the MOA-AD was valid and binding as an international parties to pursue peace negotiations
agreement. negotiate with sincerity in the resolu
As regards the first issue, based on several sources of IL such as the conflict, and refrain from the use o
ICESCR and the ICCPR, all peoples have the right of self-determination, however, advantage while the negotiations are o
just as in the case of Canada with regard to Quebec, it is said that self- 4. When PGMA assumed office, the m
determination can either be internal and external, and when it comes to (brought about by the war during Estr
indigenous peoples, those situated within states do not have a general right to government sought to resume the
independence or secession from those states under IL, but they only have rights Government of Malaysia, the MILF retu
amounting to the right to internal self-determination. GRP.
Furthermore, the UN DRIP also recognized the right of indigenous peoples to 5. The parties met in KL on March 24, 2
self-determination, encompassing the right to autonomy or self-government. the Malaysian government. The par
Assuming that the UN DRIP, like the UDHR, must be regarded as embodying General Framework for the Resump
customary international law, the obligations enumerated therein do not strictly thereafter suspended all its military act
require the PH to grant the Bangsamoro people, through the BJE, the particular 6. Formal peace talks took place in Trip
rights and powers provided for in the MOA-AD. It does not obligate States to grant The Tripoli Agreement 2001 came
indigenous peoples the near-independent status of an associated state. principles and agenda on the:
As regards the second issue, several sources of IL point to the conclusion  Security aspect;
that the MOA-AD would not have been recognized as binding as an international  Rehabilitation aspect; and
agreement or treaty. The Philippine panel did not draft the same with the clear  Ancestral Domain aspect (The pa
intention of being bound thereby to the international community as a whole or to meeting)
 9. In 2005, several exploratory talks were held between the parties in KL, o It implies powers tha
eventually leading to the draft MOA-AD in its final form. the Constitution to a
also implies the reco
ISSUE/S: state on its own.
1. Do the contents of the MOA-AD violate the Constitution and the laws? --  The MOA-AD is also contra
YES provisions and laws:
2. Under international law, is the GRP bound to grant the BJE the status of an o Article X, Sec. 20
almost-independent or associated state? -- NO - It would not
3. Was the MOA-AD valid and binding as an international agreement? -- NO BJE with
accommodat
RESOURCE
RATIO:
into any econ
1. YES. The MOA-AD is inconsistent with the Constitution and laws as foreign cou
presently worded. relationships
 The IL concept of ASSOCIATION must be referred to as the aggression a
provisions of the MOA indicate, among other things, that the our constituti
parties aimed to vest in the BJE the status of an associated has that pow
state or, at any rate, a status closely approximating it. o Article II, Sec. 22
- The State
 An association is formed when two states of unequal power
of indigenous
voluntarily establish durable links. One state, the associate, framework
delegates certain responsibilities to the other, the principal, while An associativ
maintaining its international status as a state. act of placing
o In international practice, the "associated state" which, in int
arrangement has usually been used as a transitional a preparation
device of former colonies on their way to full to national un
independence. o Organic Act of the ARM
- Rather than
 Many provisions are consistent with the international legal concept Bangsamoro
of association, specifically the following: Mindanao, cl
o BJE's capacity to enter into economic and trade relations with people and T
foreign countries o IPRA
o the commitment of the Central Government to ensure the BJE's - IPRA lays d
participation in meetings and events in the ASEAN and the delineation a
specialized UN agencies; and MOA-AD's m
o the continuing responsibility of the Central Government over procedure.
external defense
o the BJE's right to participate in Philippine official missions
bearing on negotiation of border agreements, environmental 2. NO. Under International Law, whi
protection, and sharing of revenues pertaining to the bodies of determination is widely recognize
water adjacent to or between the islands forming part of the internal and external self-determinat
 Court had occasion to acknowledge that "the rec
right of a people to self-determination is now cla
so widely recognized in international o When it comes to
conventions that the principle has acquired a those situated with
status beyond ‘convention' and is right to independen
considered as GAPIL.” under internationa
o The ICCPR and ICESCR state that “all peoples, by virtue amounting to the ri
of the right of self-determination, "freely determine their - On Septem
political status and freely pursue their economic, social, Assembly
and cultural development." Declaration
- The people's right to self-determination should Peoples (U
not, however, be understood as extending to a Resolution
unilateral right of secession. A distinction the right o
should be made between the right of internal determinatio
and external self-determination. autonomy o
- According to RE SECESSION OF QUEBEC: - Assuming t
 Internal self-determination  a must be r
people's pursuit of its political, internationa
economic, social and cultural therein do
development within the framework of the Bang
an existing state. instrument
 External self-determination  the rights and
establishment of a sovereign and AD. Even th
independent State, the free association DRIP are ge
or integration with an independent in its applica
State or the emergence into any other - While upho
political status freely determined by to autonom
a people constitute modes of States to g
implementing the right of self- independen
determination by that people. - Even if the
- The exceptional nature of the right of secession the law of th
is discussed in the Report of the International 2 of the C
Committee of Jurists on the Legal Aspects of uphold the
the Aaland Islands Question render its
 In the absence of express provisions in unnecessar
international treaties, the right of
 representatives of States and international not consid
organizations. implications
- The Lomé Agreement, a peace agreement o The MOA-AD would
between the Government of Sierra Leone and a declaration on the
rebel group, was considered to only be able to international commu
create binding obligations and rights between draft the same with
the parties in municipal law, not international thereby to the inter
law, as a treaty normally would. to any State, but o
- An international agreement in the nature of a States and internatio
treaty must create rights and obligations or another, in the ne
regulated by international law so that a breach of MOA-AD, they partic
its terms will be a breach determined under case of Malaysia, as
international law which will also provide principle o The sovereign peopl
means of enforcement. portion of its own te
- The Lomé Agreement created neither rights nor peace, for it can ch
obligations capable of being regulated by wants, so long as
international law. what, in IL, is know
o In relation to the argument that the MOA-AD amounts to a however, may not pr
unilateral declaration of the Philippines, binding under IL
and resulting in amending the Constitution regardless of DISPOSITION:
the true will of the people, international jurisprudence The respondents' motion to dismiss is DENIED
shows that it isn’t necessarily the case. are GIVEN DUE COURSE
- According to Australia v. France, an ICJ The Memorandum of Agreement on the Ancest
decision also known as the Nuclear Tests Case, Tripoli Agreement on Peace of 2001 is declared
when it is the intention of the State making
the declaration that it should become bound
according to its terms, that intention confers
on the declaration the character of a legal
undertaking, the State then being legally
required to follow a course of conduct
consistent with the declaration.
- Public statements of a state representative may
be construed as a unilateral declaration only
when the following conditions are present:
 the statements were clearly addressed
to the international community