NAGA CITY (MindaNews / 06 October) — Your Honors: Greetings of Peace and Justice! This is to humbly implore the aid of “Divine (‘gods of Padre Faura’) Providence” in giving a good second look, through the Motions for Reconsideration (MRs) filed, regarding your unanimous and “immediately executory” September 9, 2024 Decision in Province of Sulu vs. Medialdea penned by Senior Associate Justice Marvic M.V.F. Leonen in so far as it rules that “The Province of Sulu shall not be part of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region.” The latter disposition sounds so absolute as to preclude any return of Sulu to that constitutionally-mandated autonomous region in Muslim Mindanao whether under the Bangsamoro Organic Law or any possible legislative amendment.
A good second look because there appear to be serious constitutional/legal (and actually also political and socio-economic) angles that were overlooked even in “the erudite reasoning reflected in the Decision.” Beyond the substantive merits of the case, there is also the need to judicially and judiciously hear the voices from Muslim Mindanao, including the “differing perspectives within Sulu,” who strongly feel, rightly or wrongly, that they have been significantly impacted again by a decision made by one or 15 persons in Imperial Manila without consulting them about Sulu’s exclusion from the new BARMM.
A good second look might include not only a careful perusal and study of the arguments in the MRs but also an opportunity to hear wider, even inter-disciplinary, perspectives by way of the judicial processes of calendaring oral arguments and of inviting amicus curiae. The latter judicial mechanisms have been standard in many important constitutional litigations of the past, but unfortunately not so far in Province of Sulu vs. Medialdea. In the meantime that is the MR stage, can the “immediately executory” not instead be prudently put on hold?
A good second look might result in a better alternative — but just as “erudite” — reasoning and disposition on Sulu’s part in the BARMM. After all, the ponente SAJ Leonen, when he was the GPH peace panel chair who successfully negotiated with the MILF for the breakthrough Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro in 2012, repeatedly said that it can be worked out “within the flexibility of the 1987 Constitution.” Or if this was something like chess, there can be better stratagems in (“gods”) saving, rather than sacrificing, the queen of the BARMM that is Sulu.
For one, the stricken-down proviso in RA 11054 “That the provinces and cities of the present Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao shall vote as one geographical area” can instead be allowed based on at least two constitutional grounds. One is the very spirit, intent and purpose in creating one unifying autonomous region in Muslim Mindanao of which Sulu is a historically, culturally and socially integral part. Another is the more expansive constitutional autonomy framework of autonomous regions vis-à-vis the local autonomy framework of the other LGUs, as discussed in the Decision itself. In considering the local autonomy of LGUs and the right to suffrage of their constituents, we should consider not only that of one province but also, if not more so, that of its bigger (picture) autonomous region. The non-diminution principle for autonomous regions pertains to not only its powers but also its territory. The big majority 89% “Yes” vote in the ARMM five provinces and the small majority 54% “No” vote in Sulu should occasion some pause.
U.S. Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes said that “the Constitution is what the judges say it is…” More precisely, what the Supreme Court says it is. If the SC says, in the Decision, that “The relationship between the national government and the Bangsamoro is asymmetric,” then it is asymmetric. But the SC cannot change history like that of Muslim Mindanao of which Sulu is integral, going back to the Sulu Sultanate that “can be traced as far back as [long before] the early days of imperialism.” Dios mabalos.
(MindaViews is the opinion section of MindaNews. Soliman M. Santos, Jr. is a retired judge at the Regional Trial Court of Naga City. You may email him at gavroche23@gmail.com)
0 Comments