In pursuit of peace in Mindanao, the GRP and MILF agreed to undergo peace talks.

The fruit of the talks

is the MOA-AD of the GRP – MILF Tripoli Agreement on Peace of 2001 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The
parties were about to sign the agreement on 5 August 2008, but petitioners filed for Mandamus and
Prohibition with Prayer for the Issuance of Writ of Preliminary Injunction and Temporary Restraining
Order.

ANTECEDENTS OF THE PETITIONS

The MOA-AD was preceded by a long process of negotiation and the concluding of several prior
agreements between the two parties beginning in 1996.

Way back on July 18, 1997, the GRP and MILF Peace Panels signed the Agreement on General Cessation
of Hostilities. And in the following year, they signed the General Framework of Agreement of Intent

Formal peace talks were held in Tripoli, Libya in 2001 dubbed as the “Tripoli Agreement on Peace of
2001” contained the basic principles and agenda on the three (3) major aspects -- Security,
Rehabilitation, and Ancestral Domain.

In four (4) years – In 2005, several exploratory talks held in Kuala Lumpur, eventually led to the crafting
of the final draft MOA-AD.

And Fast forward in 2008, the signing was scheduled in August of the same year.

However, on July 23, 2008, the Province of North Cotabato and Vice-Governor Emmanuel Piñol filed a
petition, docketed as G.R. No. 183591, for Mandamus and Prohibition with Prayer for the Issuance of
Writ of Preliminary Injunction and Temporary Restraining Order. Invoking the right to information on
matters of public concern, seeking to compel respondents to disclose and furnish them the complete
and official copies of the MOA-AD including its attachments, and to prohibit the signing of the MOA-AD,
pending the disclosure of the contents of the MOA-AD and the holding of a public consultation thereon.
Petitioners also prayed that the MOA-AD be declared UNCONSTITUTIONAL.