SC to give ‘highest attention’ to MOA-AD case--Chief Justice
By Tetch Torres
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 12:18:00 08/28/2008
MANILA, Philippines -- The Supreme Court will give the “highest attention” to the petitions lodged before it concerning the memorandum of agreement on ancestral domain (MOA-AD) between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), Chief Justice Reynato Puno said Thursday.
“The court will give the highest attention on this case more than in any other,” Puno said in an interview after his speech at a forum on economic, social, and cultural rights at the College of Law of the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City.
The high tribunal is currently holding oral arguments to determine the constitutionality of the MOA-AD amid several petitions against its enforcement.
The government, led by Solicitor General Agnes Devanadera, will present its own arguments on the case, along with its own motion to dismiss the anti-MOA petitions since the agreement would no longer be signed.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo had ordered a review of the talks and announced a shift in government strategy that would involve channeling the negotiations directly to the communities from armed groups.
Puno said the petition filed by the government would be resolved in a “shorter period” so that the court could determine how it would act on the merits of the petitions to declare the MOA-AD unconstitutional.
“That’s why it’s important to hear the arguments of the government tomorrow [Friday],” Puno said.
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