ISAGANI A. CRUZ (PDI Columnist and former Justice of the Supreme Court) recalls how he once assailed the Constitutionality of the Indigenous People’s Rights Act of 1997 in his capacity as a taxpayer — but failed in a 7-to-7 tie decision in Cruz and Europa v. DENR-NCIP (6 Dec 2000).

Considering it’s pertinence to the MOA-Ancestral Domain it’s especially worth reading the “duelling opinions” on IPRA by two of the most significant writers of decisions to grace the High Bench in living memory; Justice Reynato Puno and Justice Artemio V. Panganiban (neither of whom had yet attained the lofty position of Chief Justice at the time they wrote these opinions).

The interventions of Frank Drilon and Mar Roxas spice up the already explosive mix. Now that the Constitution itself is practically being blamed as the cause of unending war in Mindanao, and we are all being urged to take the Red Pill of Federalism, it seems the issue is ripening for adjudication as they say with morbid delight in some legal circles. The Supreme Court must now confront several radical concepts it tolerated or promulgated in IPRA 1997 such as the existence as private property of ancestral lands and domains estimated to total one third of the Philippine Territory and belonging to some 12 million “indigenous peoples”. (And wait till you find out who are NOT indigenous peoples!) The two concepts of indigenous people and ancestral domain are forever tied together the bold words of Chief Justice Reynato Puno speaking for the prevailing seven Justices on IPRA;

“A. Ancestral Domains and Ancestral Lands are the Private Property of Indigenous Peoples and Do Not Constitute Part of the Land of the Public Domain.”

If IPRA is ultimately implemented and upheld, it will enforce a system of judicially legislated inequality between the enumerted list of 110 indigenous peoples of the Philippines, and the 50 or so non-indigenous peoples, from out of the 160 or so recognized ethnolinguistic group in the archipelago. What may surprise (and even infuriate) constitutional religious libertarians is that the basis for this distinction for any given Filipino citizen now alive, is whether or not one or more of his ancestors did or did not convert to Roman Catholicism during the time of Spanish conquest. But not to worry, the legal test for whether a given person actually is or is not an indigenous person is by simple “self-ascription or the ascription of others.” Another Supreme Court Justice turned pundit is Artemio V. Panganiban to whom goes the honor of being the High Court’s most prolific writer (over ten books and memoirs published) and some say most loquacious communicator. His column this weekend makes no bones about the real chacha goal. I am cold to the idea of a vast, systemic change from a Unitary form of corrupt non-government and malfeasance to a vastly expanded and multiplied Federal form of corrupt non-government and malfeasance just to appease gun-toting rebel insurgents who want their own fully-restored version of the old Maguindanao sultanate handed to them on the silver platter of Ancestral Domain. We are forced to ask, by what warrant or reason does the MILF claim to represent the Bangsamoro? Vice Gov. Manny Pinol is right to ask who elected or appointed the MILF rebels to speak for Mindanao, or why the MILF should have any precedence over the recently elected ARMM/MNLF officials. He is twice right in demanding for <b>disarmament</b> of rebel forces as the true sign of peace, not the sanctioning of an “internal defense force” for the BJE Sultanate. Mercifully, it looks like “All systems go” for the BJE-Federalism idea is going the way of other famous last words marking the other ill fated chacha dance numbers, like “We can’t lose twice” — when the House Majority tried to foist Parliamentarism via a Unicameral Con-Ass. It fizzled. Today’s Federalism via Bicameral Con-Ass would seem to be acceptable to the Senate procedurally, but Joint Resolution NO. 10 is quickly losing support as it no longer passes the “Smell Test” for equine gifts. It’s a Trojan Horse and its timing runs afoul of plans and preparations for the 2010 elections, which are well underway. Heck, even Luis Villafuerte, head of the President’s Kampi faction of the ruling coalition and Administration Senator Dick Gordon, do not support the charter change moves in the Congress before the 2010 elections. Palace operatives are already talking about “Plan B”. All systems gone…

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