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Early last week, the Supreme Court of the Philippines declared the draft agreement between the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Manila government unconstitutional.

Essentially, the move brought to a complete stop the peace process behind the 30-year conflict in Mindanao, the southernmost region of the country.

The two sides were set to sign the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD), the culmination of 11 years' negotiations, in Kuala Lumpur on August 5. But local officials in the restive region of southern Philippines petitioned the Supreme Court. And on October 14, the court ruled that the MOA-DA was unconstitutional because the local community was not consulted about the content.

As expected, the aftermath of the court ruling led to renewed fighting. The Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG) said the fighting should not lead to a full-scale war because of the lack of resources on both sides.

Still, renewed fighting between both sides erupted immediately after the August injunction had displaced nearly 400,000 people by mid-October.

Adding to the already tense situation is the demand by the Manila government that any future talks with the MILF must be centred on the policy of disarmament, demobilisation and rehabilitation (DDR).

Out of the blue, the Philippines government has upped the stakes, telling the MILF they could forget about autonomy in spite of the fact that the two sides have been talking about it for 11 years.

The initial response from observers, not to mention the MILF, was that such measures were absurd. After dangling the hope of limited self-rule, Manila wanted to yank it away in just one move?

According to the ICG, the MOA was an extraordinary document intended as a roadmap for a so-called Comprehensive Compact or final peace treaty. It acknowledged the Muslims of Mindanao, the Bangsamoro, as a First Nation and laid the groundwork for setting up a Bangsamoro Juridical Entity (BJE) as their homeland.

The BJE's relationship with the central government was defined as "associative", suggesting almost-equal. This, and the definition of ancestral domain, the territory to be included in the BJE, were the most controversial parts of the agreement. The revelation of the planned geographic scope led outraged local politicians, whose land would be affected and who had not been consulted during the negotiations, to demand an injunction. President Arroyo's opponents and potential successors after the 2010 elections also saw political advantage to be gained from condemning the MOA.

But jump-starting the peace talks again will not be easy this time around. "Peace talks have broken down before but never in this way, with government institutions and the political elite fundamentally rejecting the achievements of the negotiators. It will be much harder this time, even if talks resume, to simply pick up from where they left off", said ICG senior adviser, Sidney Jones.

But even amid despair, there is hope. International communities have been urging both sides to keep the current cease-fire mechanisms in place and give the DDR a chance.

MILF said it was willing to take up the DDR policy as a guiding principle should another round of negotiations be held. But DDR should be the very last item for the two sides to touch on.

Needless to say, the ball is in Manila's court. MILF has showed its willingness to make concessions and it would be a mistake for the Philippines government to let this opportunity go. After all, DDR was Manila's idea.

DDR operates on the principle of shared security. Instead of requiring the MILF to surrender their arms and place all security duties to the Philippines military and police, DDR would, in theory, permit MILF troops to evolve into a form of paramilitary.

Both the MILF and the Manila government should not treat the DDR as a form of handout. If anything, it must be understood that this is a dignified way for all sides to achieve permanent peace.