MANILA, Philippines—Opposition and administration senators Sunday warned that moves to create an expanded Bangsamoro homeland could be a ploy to amend the Constitution and extend President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s term.

The senators were irked that the government had kept them in the dark on Tuesday’s signing in Kuala Lumpur of a memorandum of agreement (MOA) on ancestral domain with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

“My oath of office prevents me from supporting any move to fragment the Philippines. I work for federalizing the Philippines to enhance the just aspirations of Moro people short of allowing secession. But we have to follow the right process and we must be transparent,” said Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr.

Pimentel chided the government for keeping the MOA under wraps just to “railroad” the process without getting approval from Congress. “They probably look on us as robots who’d do whatever they want to tell us,” he said. “We’re not operating under martial law mode.”

Pimentel declined further comment, saying he wanted to see the document first.

A copy of the proposed MOA was expected to be released in the Senate on Monday during its deliberation on a proposal to postpone the Aug. 11 elections in the ARMM.

Sen. Loren Legarda said that while the 1987 Constitution allowed the creation of an Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, “the expansion of the ARMM must also be based on the requirements of the Constitution foremost of which is a plebiscite.”

“I am for a genuine autonomy of this region, but we must be cautious in granting a state status to a region for fear that we violate the current constitutional provisions. A state presupposes that we have a federal form of government,” Legarda said.

Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri said the creation of a new Bangsamoro homeland should pass the scrutiny of Congress to enable representatives of each of these Mindanao districts proposed to be included to express their views on the initiative.

Zubiri said it was an imperative for the government to make the negotiations and any treaty “transparent” to avoid a repeat of the 1970s peace pact where the Christians armed themselves to fight against the separatists.

Zubiri said the government must insist on a full disarmament and guarantee that “there should be no more breakaway groups asking for more real estate.”

Sen. Richard Gordon said his main concern about the MOA was its treatment of Bangsamoro as a separate and independent state that would have implications on the country’s overall foreign policy.

“We were not briefed about the impact of a Bangsamoro Republic on the country and there are a lot of things I want to ask, like how can we enforce joint control over the same space?” Gordon said.

Former Senate President Franklin Drilon said the signing of the MOA could be grounds for an impeachment case against President Arroyo as it goes against the 1987 Constitution.