Press Release
August 13, 2008
Office of the National Liga ng mga Barangay President Ricojudge “RJ” Echiverri
Ref. Public Information Office
Telefax 3244644
Liga ng mga Barangay Backs Petition for Judicial Review of MOA
Resolve MOA Issue Not With Bullets But Judicial Wisdom - Echiverri
Amid intense clashes between the MILF rebels and the military forces
in North Cotabato where at least 130,000 villagers fled for safety, the
National Liga ng mga Barangay passed a resolution supporting the
pending petition for judicial review by the Supreme Court of the assailed Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD).
National President Ricojudge “RJ” Echiverri, on behalf of the
country's 42-000-strong barangays, staunchly supports the petition by
the provincial government of North Cotabato for the High Court to rule
on the constitutionality and legality of the pending memorandum of
agreement in order to “clarify the issue and arrest further bloodshed”
as the MILF guerillas defied the ultimatum earlier issued by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
“Unless the constitutionality of the proposed agreement creating an expanded Bangsamoro
Juridical Entity (BJE) is sooner resolved by the Supreme Court, the
Islamic separatist rebels will continue to sow fear and terror in the
conflict-torn villages,” Echiverri said, adding that the scheduled oral
argument on Friday is already a “step closer towards enlightening the
public of the muddled issue.”
Echiverri noted that in the proposal to expand the territorial jurisdiction of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARRM), there are at least 700 additional barangays carved out from the mainland provinces of Sultan Kudarat, North Cotabato, Zamboanga Peninsula
and Palawan, which are largely affected and, per media reports,
“adamantly refused” to be subsumed under the proposed MILF-led
bangsamoro homeland.
Precisely because of the obvious lack of consultation to hear the
voice of these local government units that the political situation
becomes too hot to handle, Echiverri said. “A democratic country such
as ours surely consider the view of the majority as important
especially on certain political issues directly affecting their lives.”
In the earlier Liga ng mga Barangay Resolution passed by the
majority members of the National Executive Board (NEB), league
officials signified their collective stance on how peaceful solutions
to the Mindanao problem can be achieved given the volatile situation.
The resolution said in part that “in the attainment of peaceful
solution to the 40-year separatist rebellion by Muslim minorities, a
more democratic process of consultation be observed considering that at
least 80% of the population in Mindanao are Christians.”
Thus, it added: “[I]rrespective of the Christian-Muslim differences
in their religious, cultural and ideological beliefs and practices,
lasting peace and harmonious co-existence may yet reign supreme within
the existing constitutional and legal parameters.”
For his part, the league president and son of Mayor Recom Echiverri of Caloocan City,
said that if only the content of the MOA were earlier revealed to the
public and consultations among affected areas were conducted, the
senseless attacks perpetrated by the MILF rebels in North Cotabato
recently would not have happened. Echiverri said that if the government
ultimatum failed to stop the rebels from harassing civilians in those
villages, maybe the Supreme Court can – not with hails of bullets but
with judicial wisdom.
“It is of utmost necessity therefore that the rebel-military impasse
in North Cotabato be settled peacefully by the highest Court by
immediately ruling on the constitutionality of the restrained
memorandum of agreement. After all, it is not only about the right of
the Filipinos to know about the deal being hatched behind closed doors,
it is also about the fundamental right of the people at the grassroots
to self-determination within the broad parameters of existing laws and
the Constitution,” Echiverri concluded.