Steer clear of MOA on ancestral domain, Zamboanga mayor tells MILF peace panel

MANILA, Philippines – Zamboanga City Mayor Celso Lobregat said on Thursday that the junked Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) cannot be used as a kick-off point by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in its proposal for the institution of a Bangsamoro sate.

“The Supreme Court had declared the MOA-AD as unconstitutional so they cannot, they should not be used as a reference point,” Lobregat told reporters in a telephone interview.

The Zamboanga Mayor, one of the leaders in Mindanao who are against the MOA-AD, urged the peace panel to “learn from their past mistakes.”

When asked if he is suggesting that government negotiators reject the MILF’s proposal anew, Lobregat said the panel has “to take note of this.”

The statement came after the MILF leadership confirmed that they used the junked MOA-AD as the reference for their proposed Bangsamoro state, adding that they had eliminated the portions of the rejected agreement which the Supreme Court had deemed unconstitutional.

The MILF also insisted that only parts of the MOA-AD were deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, not the whole agreement.