THE explosion in the face of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo following the revelation of the contents of the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) on establishment of an expanded Bangsamoro homeland is still too fresh for Sen. Joker Arroyo to ignore.

Before he could brush off the fallout, Arroyo has come forward to propose the suspension of the Supreme Court hearings on the MOA—to “give the executive elbow room to prosecute the military campaign against the MILF … and make a thorough and unimpeded study of the MOA.”

Senator Arroyo is not clear how long the suspension will last (whether it will be infinity, he does not say); but from what he says, he seeks to throw the case into a vacuum. “The executive will not press for dismissal, the petitioners will not press for a decision,” he says. “No one will be prejudiced because the TRO (temporary restraining order) will be maintained and enforced to maintain the status quo and protect the petitioners.”

This is a formula for immobility, opening the door for the resolution of the conflict by means other than negotiations. Arroyo’s proposal is a recipe for a protracted war to determine the new terms of peace settlement in Mindanao to replace the now suspended MOA. It can lead to a wider and open-ended war at great cost to the nation.

Whether or not the suspension of the Supreme Court hearings on the petitions seeking the abrogation of MOA (on the grounds that it is unconstitutional) would give the armed forces the “elbow room” to crush the fresh outburst of MILF [Moro Islamic Liberation Front] insurrection in Mindanao is highly problematic. It is problematic because, first of all, the suspension of the Supreme Court hearings would throw back the conflict to the hot coals that sparked the renewed hostilities—the secrecy that surrounded the negotiations on MOA. The suspension of the hearings “until the smoke clears” would bring back the information blackout that blanketed the negotiations on MOA. This time the blackout will be on the premises of the Supreme Court. Wherever the venue of the blackout, done under the excuse of legislative privilege in the Senate or executive privilege, there is a total and instinctive public revulsion to this secretive procedure.

The senator tends to forget that it was precisely the secret negotiations that provoked the officials of Lanao del Norte and Zamboanga City to petition the Supreme Court to strike down the MOA after they were shocked by its contents and learned that large portions of their territories and their inhabitants had been surrendered to the proposed Bangsamoro homeland, in a carve-up that was done without the consent of the local population and authorities.

In these petitions, three issues were pronounced: first, public abhorrence to the secrecy under which the territorial carve-out was made; second, the annexation of territories to the expanded Bangsamoro homeland; and, third, the sweeping political authority and autonomy vested by the MOA to Bangsamoro Juridical Entity, without constitutional mandate.

These features provoked a wide public outrage among common citizens, as well as legal authorities on constitutional law. The outrage exploded in the face of the Arroyo administration with a fury more powerful than any it has encountered since the “Garci tapes” scandal that rocked her government in 2005. The administration underestimated the sensitivity of the public to these issues and the explosive force of the public backlash.

These issues had instantaneous resonance with the public that once again was treated by the government with contempt and whose intelligence it insulted. The public did not need the learned lectures of constitutional experts to recognize the full import of the sell-out crafted into the secret codicils of the MOA. It did not need the legal expertise of Senator Arroyo or Fr. Joaquin Bernas to react the way they did in bringing a case to the Supreme Court.

Senator Arroyo does not yet realize that the administration has reaped the whirlwind it sowed in initialing the MOA. He is now provoking a new explosion by repeating the secrecy that has angered the public with a scheme seeking the suspension of the Supreme Court hearings on the MOA. He is stretching public tolerance and is pouring oil on the flames provoked, in part, by the secrecy that shrouded the negotiations on the MOA. Had the offending articles of the MOA been revealed at the earlier stages of the negotiations, its imperfections and constitutional infirmities would have been corrected before they ignited a new civil war in Mindanao.

Senator Arroyo argues that it would be unwise to continue with the hearings against the backdrop of war, saying it would “perhaps be better to take a breather—to hold in abeyance the hearings … until the smoke clears.” He says it would be “disheartening for our troops to be fighting while we argue over the MOA that brought them to war.” Would it not be better, for their morale, if they knew more of the facts of the cause they are fighting for?

The past two hearings at the Supreme Court clarified the constitutional issues raised by the petitions and highlighted the flaws of the MOA. The proposal follows the government’s decision not to sign the MOA in its present form and to review it in consultation with the affected communities. A definitive Supreme Court ruling on the MOA is absolutely necessary to provide guidelines for a review or renegotiation of the MOA—on what is constitutionally possible or not possible. It would remove the ambiguities.

Rather than exacerbate the conflict, the hearings would aid clarity. Judging from the recent developments, secrecy has done more to inflame war than to avert it. Senator Arroyo is courting an explosion in his face.

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