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BANGSAMORO RIGHT TOSELF-DETERMINATION

Presented at the MILF Committee on Informationof the Central Committee

14 th General Meeting and Seminar-WorkshopBy

MICHAEL O. MASTURAMILF Panel Member

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Moro Question is about IDENTITY that is determinate.

Analyze this dimension: Do Bangs@moros have a body politic?

What am I?

This is an assertion of distinctiveness throughculture or community.

Many people reveal their membership and sense of belonging to some entity .

Group focus is on what asit concerns about politics of

NATIONAL IDENTITY .

Who am I?

This is an assertion of continuity via genealogyand residence.

Most people point to their lineage, family status, and place of birth.

As for individuals, thetwo questions areintertwined. I then

becomes We.

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Understand the boundary between Self-Determinationand Sovereignty via Intervention

Sovereignty

Self-DeterminationIntervention

Earned/SharedSovereignty

Ad HocIntervention

HumanSecurity

NationalSecurity

Territorial Integrity(border & authority)

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Balancing Sovereignty and Self-Determination

What is the right to self-determination of people?

The right to aspire for freedom and independenceexists under UN Conventions. Two principles areenshrined under international law: sovereignty and self-determination .

Can you find an objective definition of people or nation ? Assert collective rights based on theUN Charter and Declaration of Human Rights.

Self-determination could be interpreted as a rightof every ethnic community to full autonomy. Itimplies even to secede unilaterally from themajority state.

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RSD is not only a treaty obligation inthe text of the UN covenants.

The right to self-determination is a generallyaccepted principle of international law havingthe character of erga omnes i.e. bindingtowards all.

The right to self-determination has the statusof jus cogens making it a peremptory norm,obligatory on the part of the State not to

interfere with its exercise.How can we demand that the Philippines adhere

to the principles of self-determination?

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Homeland,Territory(Not just

associationwith it)

Shared historyMass public,education-basedculture

Common legalrights and dutiesfor all members

Commoneconomy with

territorial mobilitythroughout

Terminal pointof cycle viaCompact

to determinefinal status

Ad hocIntervention

viaProtocol

to provideOption

Entrenchmentmechanism viaTransition

process ,in sequence andtime periods for building institution leading to Option,ending in resultsof a referendum

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Are government units to be defined in terms of

people rather than territory? At stake in GRP-MILF peace negotiation for self-determined identity and homeland is not merely therelationships between State and ethnicity (tri-peoples)in Mindanao.

Rather, it is the totality of ties associative relationships.

between people , state , and territory .Territorial sovereignty principle accounts for a right to

secede more than self-determination defined in term of rights of peoples.Re-territorialization through ad hoc intervention endsthe national-stage conflict with transition mechanism,sequence and time periods.

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Quest for International and Domestic Legitimacy

BangsamoroIdentity

PoliticalAspiration

DeterminateStatus

Others perceptions Own perceptions

Bangsamoroautochthonous potentials

Criteria

- Claim to statehood

- Organic bonds

- Popular process

- Monitor legitimacy

Foundations

- Geographic homeland

- Equality of all peoples

- Entrenchment of rights

- Juridical institutions

OrganizationLeadersForces

Common goal

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How to write sovereignty?

Full sovereign authority manifests itself in the idea of representation .

Sovereignty in international relations takes the form of recognition (or intervention) .

In sovereignty-based conflict, lack of protection, or representation for people call for the right to self-determination.

Methods of self-determination range from sovereignty

referendum to an armed struggle. Optimal method to resolve sovereignty-based conflictrequires consent of the territory to be administered oftenexpressed in signatures to written agreements.