THE Supreme Court (SC) yesterday ordered the consolidation of the petitions filed by the Philippine Constitution Association (Philconsa) and former Negros Oriental Rep. Jacinto Paras against the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) and the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro (FAB). This came even as the SC dismissed an earlier petition against the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) filed by Rolando Rojo Mijares. Mijares has questioned the constitutionality of the proposed law. SC spokesman Theodore Te said, “In the matter of UDK 15297 (the petition to declare the BBL unconstitutional filed by Mijares), the Court dismissed the petition for being premature.” At the same time, the SC also ordered the respondents––the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), government peace panel chair Miriam Coronel Ferrer, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), and the Commission on Audit (COA) to submit their respective comments on the petitions of the Philconsa and Paras within 10 days from notice. The SC also required the respondents to comment on the prayer of the petitioners for the issuance of a temporary restraining order (TRO) against the FAB and the CAB, which paved the way for the proposal to create the political entity to be called Bangsamoro. Associate Justice Marvic Leonen, who was the chair of the government panel that negotiated the FAB before being appointed to the SC, voluntarily inhibited himself from participation in the pending cases and any future cases involving the FAB, the CAB and the BBL. -pna