SC starts deliberations on appeal vs MOA

The Supreme Court has started deliberating on, among others, a petition seeking to stop the signing of a memorandum of agreement (MOA) between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front over ancestral domain, its spokesman said.

Also to be discussed in this Monday’s en banc session would be the bribery allegations against the Court of Appeals, said lawyer Midas Marquez, information chief of the high tribunal.

Shortly after the high court started its session, government, through Solicitor General Agnes Devanadera, sent its comment to the petition filed by officials of North Cotabato province, asking the high court to dismiss their appeal for a disclosure of the contents of the MOA, Marquez said.

Marquez said the high court gave the government until 12 noon Monday to submit its document, which arrived shortly after the high court began its deliberations.

By invoking executive privilege, in its 26-page comment, the government said while negotiations with the MILF did not involve any foreign power, there were military and national concerns raised.

“This being so, the entire process, the negotiations involving the said MOA and the drafts, documents thereof resulting from said negotiations is covered by the doctrine of executive privilege, which prevents the disclosure of information that could subvert military or diplomatic objectives,” the solicitor general said.

It is not clear whether the high court will issue a decision after the en banc session.(By Tetch Torres; INQ.net)