Is there hope for peace after the SC decision on the MOA-AD?

By Maugan Buat Mosaid, Ph.D.

Dura lex sed lex

“The law is hard, but it is the law”. So goes that Latin legal maxim.

The Supreme Court decided that the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD), which was supposed to be signed by the GRP and MILF panels last August 5, 2008, was not consistent with the Constitution and existing laws. Its implications, notwithstanding, the decision was part of a “dura lex sed lex” nature of the legal domain.

Plain citizens, some members of the clergy, lawyers and non-lawyers reacted in various ways on the decision of the Supreme Court. The petitioners got their day in court and celebrated thereafter while those who have seen the wisdom behind the MOA-AD can only respect the decision while they ponder on with some degree of disbelief and awe. Pat Diaz, an avid follower of the peace process, like me, said, “on legal grounds, the Court may be right; but, on the import of the MOA-AD, the Court is wrong.” I agree. Not all that is legal is right, not all that is right is moral. In the same notion, not all that is unconstitutional is wrong.