By Tetch Torres
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 13:30:00 08/04/2008
MANILA, Philippines -- The Supreme Court has stopped the signing of the memorandum of Agreement between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front over ancestral domain and set the hearing on August 15, its spokesman said.
The high tribunal also ordered the executive to provide the court and the parties that petitioned concerned a copy of the MOA not later than August 8, said lawyer Midas Marquez, information chief of the Supreme Court, Monday.
“The court issued a TRO [temporary restraining order] restraining the respondents from signing the MOA,” Marquez told reporters, hours after the high tribunal met in an en banc session to deliberate on the petition filed by officials of North Cotabato who asked for a full disclosure of the contents of the MOA ahead of its signing.
The court also discussed the allegations of bribery at the Court of Appeals involving the settlement of the dispute between the Manile Electric Co. and the Government Service Insurance System.
Shortly after the high court started its session, government, through Solicitor General Agnes Devanadera, sent its comment to the North Cotabato petition, Marquez said.
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 that were raised.
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 13:30:00 08/04/2008
MANILA, Philippines -- The Supreme Court has stopped the signing of the memorandum of Agreement between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front over ancestral domain and set the hearing on August 15, its spokesman said.
The high tribunal also ordered the executive to provide the court and the parties that petitioned concerned a copy of the MOA not later than August 8, said lawyer Midas Marquez, information chief of the Supreme Court, Monday.
“The court issued a TRO [temporary restraining order] restraining the respondents from signing the MOA,” Marquez told reporters, hours after the high tribunal met in an en banc session to deliberate on the petition filed by officials of North Cotabato who asked for a full disclosure of the contents of the MOA ahead of its signing.
The court also discussed the allegations of bribery at the Court of Appeals involving the settlement of the dispute between the Manile Electric Co. and the Government Service Insurance System.
Shortly after the high court started its session, government, through Solicitor General Agnes Devanadera, sent its comment to the North Cotabato petition, Marquez said.
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 that were 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.
With a report from Agence France Presse
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