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Bangsamoro Juridical Entity or BJE. The establishment of the BJE is anchored on the
recognition of the right of the Bangsamoro to have their own government. This right to selfgovernance is rooted on ancestral territoriality exercised originally under the suzerain
authority of their sultanates and the Pat a Pangampong ku Ranaw. The MOA recognizes
that the Moro sultanates were states orkarajaan/kadatuan resembling a body politic
endowed with all the elements of nation-state in the modern sense.
Moreover, the Philippine Government concedes historical international recognition of the
Bangsamoro People as First Nation with defined territory and with a system of
government having entered into treaties of amity and commerce with foreign nations.
1. What is this BJE?
The BJE is the system of governance that shall be entrenched in the Bangsamoro
ancestral domain (land, sea and air) after the signing of the Comprehensive Peace
Compact and Charter change.
2. Does the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity or BJE require a Charter change?
Yes, the BJE requires both a change in the present legal framework and a Charter change,
for the simple reason that the powers and jurisdiction granted to the BJE are beyond the
limits set by the 1987 Constitution and the present Autonomy Law or RA 9054. In the
initialed MOA, the Comprehensive Peace Compact should be negotiated within 15 month
after the signing of the MOA and immediately thereafter, the GRP commits to deliver the
necessary changes both in the Constitution and the legal framework.
3. What if the Charter change will not push through? Does this mean that the
Bangsamoro Juridical Entity is hinged entirely on the amendment to Constitution?
Yes, the BJE is hinged entirely on a new Constitution that shall allow for it. If Charter
change does not happen, there is NO way that the BJE can be entrenched and GRP has
failed to deliver its obligations as contained in the Comprehensive Peace Compact.
4. What then would be the binding power of the MOA between the GRP and the
MILF? Is the GRPs giving recognition of juridical entity to the MILF binding? Is it not
subject to the interpretation of the Supreme Court as to its Constitutionality? Under
what law will the GRP be bound?
The MOA on Ancestral Domain is not the agreement that will give "recognition of juridical
entity". The BJE will be entrenched by both the signing of the Comprehensive Peace
Compact and the necessary changes both in the Constitution and the present legal
framework. The MOA sets the framework and the principles.