By JASPER ACOSTA
ABS-CBN Cotabato
North Cotabato officials have filed a petition before the Supreme Court, asking the high court to direct the national government through the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process to divulge the contents of a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with a separatist group and the provisions contained on the issue of ancestral domain.
North Cotabato Vice Gov. Emmanuel Piñol said that based on the initial and unofficial copies of the MOA, he said it indicates that half of the province of North Cotabato would be included in the expanded Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) without consulting them or even the people of the province.
North Cotabato officials said that because of this the province has taken the first move and asked the SC to compel the national government to divulge the contents of the MOA.
The draft MOA had been initialed Sunday July 27 by representatives of the government and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and is set to be inked in formal ceremonies reportedly on August 5. The compromise on the issues of ancestral domain which resulted in the draft MOA came after the two panels resumed stalled talks in Malaysia.
Another petition was also filed by North Cotabato officials for writ of preliminary injunction which asked the SC to stop the government from signing the MOA with the MILF until such time that there has been proper consultations conducted with the stakeholders and the people affected by the MOA.
After the breakthrough on the peace talks Sunday, Piñol said that that they have to double their efforts to ask the SC to act on their prayers for the right to information with preliminary injunction.
Breakthrough
MILF and the government agreed on Sunday to ballot areas within 12 months on whether they wanted to join an existing autonomous Muslim homeland in the volatile south.
While the deal was no guarantee that a final settlement to one of Southeast Asia's most intractable conflicts was in the offing, it was seen as an important step towards ending violence that has killed 120,000 people since the late 1960s.
"A breakthrough has been achieved in the issue of ancestral domain (homeland) in Kuala Lumpur tonight with the signing of a joint communiqué," said Sec. Hermogenes Esperon, the Philippine president's peace adviser, who attended the talks.
"With this positive development and the negotiations, the signing of the framework agreement on ancestral domain is tentatively set for early August," he said.
Under the deal, a referendum will be held in around 700 villages on whether they want to join the existing autonomous Muslim region. With a report from Reuters
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