POSITION PAPER

This paper aims to address the issue: whether or not Proclamation No. 871 which
was issued on February 26, 1992 by former President Corazon Aquino has been
effectively repealed by Republic Act No. 11054, otherwise known as the Organic Law for
the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao to the effect that the power
of management over the concerned reservation has been transferred to the Bangsamoro
Government.

It is respectfully submitted that the answer is in the affirmative. This conclusion

is anchored on the following provisions of law:

1. Section 4, Article XVIII of R.A. No. 11054 provides that:

“All other laws, decrees, orders, rules and regulations, and

other issuances or parts thereof, which are inconsistent with
this Organic law, are hereby repealed or modified
accordingly.”

2. Section 1 and 3, respectively of Article III of R.A. No. 11054 provides that:

“Territorial jurisdiction is the land mass as well as the waters

over which the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region has
jurisdiction, which shall always be an intergral, indivisible,
and inseparable part of the national territory of the Republic
of the Philippines as defined by the Constitution and existing
laws.”

“All inland waters such as lakes, rivers, river systems, and

streams within its territorial jurisdiction shall form part of the
Bangsamoro Autonomous Region inland waters. The
preservation and management of the inland waters shall be
under the Bangsamoro Government as provided for in Section
22, Article XIII of this Organic Law.”

3. Section 22, Article XII of R.A. No. 11054 further provides that:

“The Bangsamoro Government shall have exclusive powers

over inland waters, including lakes, marshes, rivers, and
 tributaries within its territorial jurisdiction x – x – x – x – x – x
– x.”

The Parliament to enact laws on the regulation conservation,

management, and protection of these resources, and may
classify waters in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region. It
shall create a Bangsamoro Authority and offices for
specific inland bodies of waters that shall exercise
management and regulatory powers over these
bodies of water

4. Section 9, Article XIII of R.A. No. 11054 further provides that:

“The management and protection of nature reserves and

aquatic parks, forests, watershed reservations and other
protected areas in the territorial jurisdiction of the
Bangsamoro that have already been defined by and
under the authority of the National Government shall
be transferred to the Bangsamoro Government.

Within three (3) months from the establishment of the

Bangsamoro Transition Authority, the Bangsamoro
Government and the Department of Environment and
Natural Resources, as well as other relevant government
agencies, shall start the process of transferring the
management of these areas to the Bangsamoro
Government, including the conduct of surveys of all affected
areas and the planning and transition for each and every
protected area. The transfer shall be completed within a period
not exceeding two (2) years.”

It bears stressing that the Supreme Court held in one case that in the
interpretation of laws, endeavour should be made to harmonize the provisions of law or
of two laws so that each shall be effective. In order that one law may operate to repeal
another law, the two laws must be actually be inconsistent. The former must be so
repugnant as to be irreconcilable with the latter act. (U.S. v. Palacios, 33 Phil., 208.)
Merely because a later enactment may relate to the same subject matter as that of an
earlier statute is not of itself sufficient to cause an implied repeal of the latter, since the
new law may be cumulative or a continuation of the old one. (Statutory Construction,
Crawford, p. 634.)1

1
DISCLAIMER: This paper merely expresses a position and/or legal opinion relative to the legal issue presented.