IN ITS FIRST serious attempt to revive the stalemated peace negotiations with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), President Benigno Aquino III?s chief negotiator, UP College of Law Dean Marvic Leonen, reignited the controversy over the autonomy of the proposed Bangsamoro homeland by revealing that the government was amenable to considering proposals to amend the Constitution to break the impasse.

The contentious statement sparked a storm of criticism that the new administration was laying down the basis for the partition of Philippine national territory to make way for a separatist Bangsamoro state in its eagerness to cede concessions to the MILF even before the negotiations could be restarted.

It was immediately criticized as a colossal blunder of the Aquino administration, whose mettle in negotiations over foreign policy and over tough domestic issues involving national sovereignty, such as the Islamic separatist conflict in Mindanao, is now undergoing a baptism of fire.

Leonen came in from the cold and startled the public with a statement at a forum hosted by the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines on Aug. 16.

?If necessary, and when acceptable to all sides, then perhaps amendment might be possible...but we are not yet there...We?re just saying we are open to talks,? he said.

?We are not shutting down negotiations just because there would be a proposal to amend the Constitution...We will consider it because that is the nature of negotiations.?

Rank amateur

As a negotiator grafted out of the theoretical ambience in the academic community and thrown into the real world of diplomatic give and take, Leonen quickly revealed himself as a rank amateur.

Mr. Aquino surely did not have a lack of recruits for delicate negotiations available to him from the academics and experienced diplomats in the foreign service.

Some senior senators quickly expressed fears that the administration might be laying the ground for offering another memorandum of agreement (MOA) as a carrot to the MILF to return to negotiations due to resume next month.

The senators said they would oppose amendment to the Constitution that would lead to the dismemberment of the country.

Territorial dismemberment touches a sensitive nerve of Philippine sovereignty. Leonen himself was shaken by questions whether the President had authorized him to offer concessions over issues that had yet to be raised in the talks, and had not been proposed by the MILF.

State of disarray

Mr. Aquino was put on the spot by Leonen?s statements at the Focap, and the peace negotiator quickly backed off in messages to the journalists, saying that it was ?too speculative as of now to talk whether the Constitution needs to be amended.?

Leonen then gave a lecture on diplomatic practices, of which he did not appear to have a nuanced knowledge.

?Good faith negotiations require that we consider the universe of possibilities. That does not necessarily translate to a certainty that amendment can or will happen,? he said.

Why should the government bring up the hypothetical issue of constitutional amendment that has not yet been laid on the table of the negotiations to resume soon?

Malacañang was in a state of disarray over Leonen?s faux pas.

The President?s adviser on the peace process, Teresita Deles, said it was ?premature? to talk about constitutional revision when the new government panel had not even sat down with its MILF counterpart.

Confusion on the government side was compounded by a statement by one of Mr. Aquino?s spokespersons in the chaotic Presidential Communications Group, Secretary Ricky Carandang.

Gaggle of voices

Adding his two cents worth, Carandang said that while Mr. Aquino was open to the possibility of constitutional change, it was not a priority for him. ?There are many others that he has to resolve first, more pressing problems,? Carandang said.

He did not, however, say that one of these ?pressing problems? could include the gaggle of voices pretending to present the President?s views accurately.

Leonen also asserted that the MILF had abandoned its quest for a separate homeland and was prepared to settle for the highest form of autonomy.

Who appointed Leonen to be the spokesperson for the MILF?

Leonen came forward to say that the ?level of confidence? in the Aquino administration was high, and that the President has enormous ?political capital? to get the backing of the majority Christian community to endorse a new peace agreement.

Leonen is too optimistic and unrealistic to assume that a new peace agreement that requires a constitutional amendment and that dismembers the national territory to accommodate a separatist entity, called the Bangsamoro homeland, would be acceptable to the rest of the nation.

Sobering lesson

To push for such an agreement would recklessly squander Mr. Aquino?s political capital on a dubious scheme.

The collapse of the MOA drafted by the Arroyo administration in July 2008 to end the 40-year separatist group should be a sobering lesson to the new government panel.

The MOA on ancestral domain signed in July 2008 established a new state in Mindanao with ?a defined territory? and ?a system of governance suitable and acceptable to the Bangsamoro as a distinct dominant people.?

Under the draft, the planned Bangsamoro homeland would have its own ?basic law, its own police and internal security forces, and its own system of banking and finance, civil service, education and legislative electoral institutions, as well as full authority to develop and dispose of minerals and other natural resources within its territory.?

Politically draining

The proposed agreement would require amending the Constitution, an explosive proviso that sparked a protest nationwide over what was denounced as a treasonous partition of the national territory. The protest aborted the signing of the MOA in Malaysia in August 2008.

Timely intervention by the Supreme Court aborted the signing. It issued a temporary restraining order on the agreement after local government units in Mindanao protested and went to the Supreme Court to cancel the MOA.

The court subsequently ruled that the agreement was illegal and unconstitutional. The MOA sparked a resumption of armed clashes in Mindanao between the MILF and the government.

An inept handling by Mr. Aquino?s negotiators of the new talks is likely to present it with its first crisis over the Mindanao Islamic separatist rebellion.

Such a crisis would drain the administration of its massive political capital from its electoral mandate.