The Bangsamoro Basic Law is unconstitutional for two principal reasons.

First, the Transition Commission which drafted it is void because President Aquino III
has no power to create a public office. No constitutional provision or law allows its
creation. In no way can it be considered an existing agency prior to its creation. It
cannot be justified as a means by which the President ensures that the laws are
faithfully executed precisely because its creation is for the purpose of abrogating
the existing organic act of the ARMM an existing law the execution of which must
be ensured by the President in the first place. Legally speaking, therefore, the draft
Bangsamoro Basic Law does not exist, and because it does not exist, the President
cannot certify it as urgent, and the Congress cannot act on the same.
Second, allowing the Bangsamoro Government to keep 75% of the taxes in the
autonomous region, to get the lions share of revenues from natural resources in the
region, and to get 50% of the revenues from fossil fuel exploitation there, inevitably
reduces the corresponding shares of the Philippine provinces, municipalities and
cities which are not included within the Bangsamoro region. That reduction in their
shares of revenues will translate to a substantial reduction in government services
and will trigger more taxes if basic state services are to continue to be delivered. In
other words, the Bangsamoro Basic Law affords extra-ordinarily special treatment to
the Bangsamoro Government, to the prejudice of and damage to other local
government units in the Philippines.
Fairness dictates that if the people in Luzon, the Visayas, and the bulk of Mindanao
will end up with a substantial reduction in their shares of the national revenues
pursuant to the Bangsamoro Basic Law, then the plebiscite to be held on the
Bangsamoro Basic Law should not be limited to the Bangsamoro territory. Every
qualified voter all over the country must be allowed to vote in that plebiscite. To
deny the people their right to vote in that plebiscite is to countenance class
legislation. The equal protection clause of the 1987 Constitution forbids class
legislation.
In effect, the Agreement provides for the drafting of a Bangsamoro Basic Law which
President Aquino will forward to Congress for approval. The Basic Law will define the
relations of the central government, the Bangsamoro government, and the local
government units.
After the Basic Law is passed, presumably by the end of 2014, a plebiscite will be
held to ratify the Basic Law and particularly the so-called "core territory" of the
Bangsamoro by 2015. The President will then appoint a 15-member Bangsamoro
Transition Authority to govern the region. Finally, a regional parliament for the
Bangsamoro with 50 seats will be elected during the national elections scheduled
for May 2016.
I regret that, after my preliminary studies, I have concluded that the Framework
Agreement on the Bangsamoro is unconstitutional, for the following reasons:
1. The Agreement is between the Philippine Government (GPH) and the MILF. It is
misleading for the Agreement to identify that one party is the "Philippine

Government." The reality is that only one of the three branches of government - the
executive branch, consisting of the Office of the President acting through a peace
panel of negotiators - represented the government. The executive branch alone
does not represent the Philippine Government. Thus, the executive branch, in
negotiating the Agreement had no power to bind the two other branches legislative and judicial. In negotiating for the government, I am afraid that the
executive branch not only exceeded its powers, but may have infringed upon the
powers of the legislative branch.
2. When the executive branch misrepresenting itself as the Philippine Government
enters into an agreement with the rebel group, the result is not a mere autonomous
region as provided for by our Constitution, but a substate. Thus, the Agreement is
concluded between one branch mistakenly identifying itself as the government, and
what will turn out to be a substate.
3. The Philippine Constitution provides for the powers of the state. The Constitution
is supreme. The Agreement reserves to the central government the exercise of
certain so-called "reserved powers," which are described as powers "retained by the
central government." Thus, the Agreement diminishes the sovereignty of the
Philippine Government by listing what are the powers that the central government
can retain. In other words, the Agreement attempts to redefine the sovereignty of
the Philippine state.
In addition, the Agreement provides that the powers reserved to the central
government will depend upon further negotiation by providing: "This list is without
prejudice to additional powers that may be agreed upon by the parties." Thus, the
Agreement not only reduces the sovereignty of the central government, but also
provides that in the future, such sovereign powers as have been reserved may be
further increased, provided the Bangsamoro agrees. It will therefore be the
Bangsamoro which will determine what should be the remaining sovereign powers
of the central government.
4. That Bangsamoro will be a substate is revealed by the following provisions:
a. The powers of the central government shall be determined by the Agreement,
thus turning Bangsamoro into a substate.
b. The Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao, which is provided for by the
Constitution, will be abolished by mere agreement with the MILF, which is not
surprising if you consider that the Bangsamoro has become a substate.
c. Allocation to the Bangsamoro of all powers exercised by the national government
over local government units.
d. Although the Constitution provides that natural resources belong to the state, in
the Bangsamoro territory, only Bangsamoro will have exclusive jurisdiction over
natural resources.

e. The Annex on Power Sharing gives to Bangsamoro so-called "exclusive powers,"

which is defined as a tautology, as "powers or matters over which authority and
jurisdiction pertain to the Bangsamoro government."
f. Only the Bangsamoro shall be under a ministerial form of government, while the
rest of the country will operate under a presidential form of government.
g. The Agreement in Part 7, para. 4, subpara (b) enumerates the functions of the
Transition Commission which at present is reportedly drafting the Bangsamoro Basic
Law. One of the functions of the Transition Commission is as follows: "To work on
proposals to amend the Philippine Constitution for the purpose of amending and
enriching in the Constitution the agreements of the Parties whenever necessary
without derogating from any prior peace