In August of 2008,GPH,or the Government of the Philippines, came within a millimeter of signing a document that would have effectively served as an FPA, or Final Peace Agreement with the MILF. The document, known as the MoA-AD, or Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain, had been more or less secretly negotiated by the Chairmen of both Peace Panels, Mohagher Iqbal who still sits at the helm of the MILF Panel, and retired AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) Chief of Staff, Hermogenes "Gene" Esperon leading the GPH Panel. Literally hours before the unpublicised signing was to take place in Kuala Lampur, Malaysia a group of Mindanowan politicians led by then Vice Governor Emmanuel "Manny" Pinol of North Cotabato Province ran to the Supreme Court and filed for a TRO (Temporary Restraining Order).
Having been provided with a copy of the secret document by a source within the Arroyo Administration former Vice Governor Pinol was aghast at what he felt was a complete sell out by the President. The reasons why deserve their own entry but in the end the Supreme Court finally ruled that the Moa-AD was un-Constitutional. One of the main rationales offered by the Majority in their Opinion was the lack of disclosure by the Government, particularly to stakeholders (those personally effected by the document).
As the new Administration of President Aquino dove headfirst into the GPH-MILF Peace Process the President was extremely conscious of the many blunders made by his predecessor and so he instructed the re-constituted GPH Peace Panel to keep transparency near the top of the agenda. With that in mind present GPH Panel Chairman Mario Victor "Marvic" Leonen has held three rounds of Forums, or Consultations, averaging ten Forums per round while the Government makes it a point to tell whomever will listen that it has been doing this. However, it fails to disclose that one third of all Forums were nothing more than cups of coffee shared between Chairman Leonen and one or two city officials in key Mindanowan cities. For example, Forum #26 on Tuesday, May 17th, 2011 was a coffee klatch between Leonen and Mayor Celso Lobregat, local warlord of Zamboanga City, joined by Lobregat's self-effacing Vice Mayor. The three spent 45 minutes sitting around Lobregat's grand desk and then onto Forum #27 that same afternoon with 30 Muslim clerics from the Zamboanga Peninsula and the island province of Basilan.
The last Forum, #31, was suprising in that Chairman Leonen, Panelist Senen Bacani and Consultant to the GPH Peace Panel Hamid Barra actually travelled to Mindanao's most southern province (and of course the Philippine's as well) Tawi Tawi to hold court with LGU (Local Government Unit, meaning municipal and provincial governments) officials on June 10th. Usually the Panel ensconces itself in one area and has LGU executives brought to them, as was the case in the Sulu LGU Forum, Forum #28, on May 18th when the Forum was held at Zamboanga City's Lantaka Hotel. Surely it would be so much less expensive to billet six Government officials (including three Military Advisors) in Sulu than to have 22 officials from different islands in Sulu take commercial flights into Zamboana City and stay in individual rooms at the city's best hotel. Of course the Government has never had much common sense.
Each and every one of the Forums followed an absolutely predictable route. Chairman Leonen gave an opening speech, Panelist Bacani gave a power point presentation, followed by a Question and Answer Session. In reviewing transcripts from all 31 of the GPH Forums I have yet to find any new or thought provoking inquiries aside from ones I have noted in earlier GPH-MILF Peace Process entries. Valid questions such as the juxtaposition of the envisioned MILF FPA against the already signed MNLF FPA seems to be first and foremost on everybody's mind and well it should be. More to the point, the MNLF FPA still hasn't been fully implemented, how will its implementation correspond with the MILF FPA? Both entities are focused on the exact same geographical area.
Though hind sight is 20/20 vision, the Governmemt should have joined both Processes symbiotically. The endgames of the MILF and MNLF aren't that far apart. A simple requisite of having the two organisations co-operate on any settlement could have avoided many of these worrying issues. Naturally the Government wouldn't consider pushing the MILF and MNLF closer to one another. Factionalisation and division usually offer a solid advantage to an opponent. Yet, how does the Government expect to solve this conundrum?
The answer is the ARMM, or Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao. By finally obtaining a delay in the heretofore scheduled August 8th, 2011 ARMM Election, President Aquino gets to appoint 50 odd OICs, or Officers in Charge, to govern the region in place of elected officials. Ideally these will include members of both the MNLF and the MILF. On June 22nd in Solo City, Indonesia the Indonesian Government facilitated a secret meeting between the MNLF and the Government vis a vis this ARMM scheme. The truly suprising facet of this meeting was that it included not only the MNLF-Misuari, the original MNLF with which the Government conducts its Peace Talks, but it ALSO included the MNLF-EC15, or MNLF-Executive Committee of 15, chaired by Cotabato City's Vice Mayor and KFR (Kidnap for Ransom) kingpin, Muslimin Sema. I would have enjoyed being a fly on the wall as Sema and Misuari talked face to face for the first time in nearly a decade. Sema being one of two men who led the putsch against Misuari that ended up sidelining him without an organisation for nearly two years. Both MNLF factions agreed to play ball in the Aquino ARMM scheme though I still haven't been able to find out which positions have been promised to the MNLF, let alone WHICH MNLF.
I will relegate additional discussion about the MNLF to my next GPH-MNLF Peace Process entry.
In terms of the MILF and the ARMM plan, I used a recent GPH-MILF Peace Process entry to discuss the coallescing factionalisation within the MILF Central Committee when I touched upon the three-way meeting between Davao City Vice Mayor Rodrigo "Roddy" Duterte, former North Cotabato Governor Emmanuel "Manny" Pinol and BIAF (Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces,military wing of the MILF) mouthpiece Eid Kabalu at Davao City's Marco Polo Hotel on June 13th. At the meeting, Kabalu, who had been deployed by a strong faction within the MILF Central Committee had pushed the envelope in trying to secure the top OIC slot in the ARMM, the Governor's seat. Though Kabalu didn't mention it during the 2.5 hour meeting he sees himself filling that position. This was the inference drawn by both Duterte and Pinol and was later confirmed by Kabalu himself after his resignation slash firing from the MILF/BIAF a week later over the meeting. With the election now delayed until May 13th, 2013 it will be very interesting to see just how creatively President Aquino stacks the 50 odd positions. Even more interesting will be the implosion within the MILF/BIAF, or merely an exacerbation of an already ongoing implosion that began in the Summer of 2010 with the resignation of the BIAF 105 Base Command's Kumander Ustadz Ameril Ombra Kato.
Not to be outdone by the GPH Forums, the MILF has been beating about the campaign trail as well. On June 11th the Panel Chairman Mohagher Iqbal was joined by Panelists Datu Michael O. Mastura and Maulana "Bobby" Marohombsar Alonto at MSU (Mindanao State University) at Iligan City, in Lanao del Norte Province. First the group met with non-Islamic NGOs,or as most Filipinos refer to them, Civil Society Organizations [sic]. Afterwards, in the afternoon, they moved to a different building on that same campus for a Forum with Iligan City LGU executives. This particular meeting was quite interesting for a number of reasons. Mayor Lawrence Cruz made himself conspicuously absent, refusing to meet with the MILF. Mayor Cruz was one of several Mindanowan politicos who joined then North Cotabato Provincial Vice Governor Manny Pinol in trashing the aforementioned MoA-AD in the Supreme Court.
One politician who DID show up, albeit against all odds, was Municipal Councilor Moises Dalisay Jr. Dalisay turned to Alonto and asked about the MoA-AD's Annex B. The concept of Ancestral Domain, in the context of the MoA-AD, refers to areas that would have been included within the MILF's BJE, or Bangsamoro Juridicial Entity which was the tongue twister of a name applied to the MILF-controlled territory that would have resulted from that failed document. The BJE had two separate lists of communities, known as Annex A and Annex B. Annex A were to be communities controlled by the MILF immediately after the signing of the MoA-AD. Annex B on the other hand referred to those communities that were to be given socio-economic incentives for a fixed number of years and then subjected to a plebescite which would denote inclusion OR exclusion from the BJE. Almost all the communities in Annex B were areas with small Muslim minorities but because of stratefical interests were desired for inclusion. Eight of those communities happened to be barangays within Iligan City. Ergo the comment, which was designed to put the MILF on the defensive. Before Alonto could open his mouth though, both Iqbal and Mastura angrily interjected and said that a plebescite will handle it.
What is most interesting about that exchange is that it tips the MILF's hand on its list of communities to be included in the evolved BJE, the so called "State:sub-State." I have to say, BJE is a lot easier on the tongue.
Dalisay was only one of five Councilors, nobody else showed up. Aside from Mayor Cruz, Congressman Varf Belmonte (Lone District of Iligan City) ALSO pointedly snubbed the invitation.
Mastura's interjection was also notable if only for its relative restraint. In one memorable Forum, held on March 23rd, 2011 at UP (University of the Philippines) Dilman, in Metro Manila's Quezon City, it took the obnoxious attorney slash ex-Congressman all of 90 seconds (literaly) to alienate is entire audience. The comment in question? "While I do not wish to speak here as an academic, because my audience is not the professional body of scholars [sic]..."He then continued in typical obnoxious fashion, that they should congratulate themselves for having had sense enough to invite him to speak. Maybe Mastura is Autistic, unable to emphathise emotionally, or maybe his anti-psychotic medications simply stopped working.I could mine that particular 11 page speech of his but it would probably be best left for an entry all its own. OK, OK, you convinced me, one more Mastura tidbit, or as I tend to call them, "Mastura-isms"..."What has caused the long delay in Process [sic]? The precociousness of political culture." I am sure he is eloquent enough when speaking in his native tongue, Maguindanowan (Maguindanaon) but his English? Hmmmmm...
Another MILF Forum was held on June 19th at Upi Agricultural School's Social Hall in the municipality of Upi,in Maguindanao Province, sponsored by a joint Teduray Lambangian Tribal organisation. The Teduray and Lambangian are two Lumad (Animist Hilltribes) Tribes native to Maguindanao Province and since Islamisation reached that area of Mindanao in the late-16th Century they have lived as subjugated peoples. Periodically subjected to terrible violent depredations that lasted well into the late-1990s they are now regarded by the MILF as a politically convenient demographic. Lumad in all areas targetted by the MILF/BIAF have been loudly clamouring to have their voices heard. Every tribe has opposed the MILF's political goals, partly because of historical animosity but more so because they believe that the MILF will gain control over their ancestral lands. The MILF has been trying to mitigate this opposition by portraying themselves as inclusive, for example, B'laan Tribesman, Datu Antonio Kinoc serves as an Alternate Panelist on the MILF Peace Panel.
The June 19th Forum was attended by roughly 400 tribal dignitaries as well as Upi officials and playing the race card, the MILF deployed Datu Kinoc to lead its presentation. This is actually the second Teduray-focused presentation in the Upi area within the last 12 months so that the purpose of THIS forum doesn't seem to be the Teduray and Lambangian themselves but rather other Lumad Tribes who will hopefully (in the minds of the MILF Central Committee) notice the effort. The get together was billed as a "Reunion" of Mamalu and Tabunway, in reference to area tribal lore. Mamalu and Tabunway were two brothers who were said to have lived in the Cotabato River Basin (corresponding to today's Maguindanao and North Cotabato Provinces) in the late-16th Century. With the arrival of Islam, at the hands of a half-Malay/half-Arab conqueror from the Sultanate of Johore on the Malay Peninsula, Tabunway accepted Islam while his brother Mamalu rejected it. The Teduray and Lambangian Tribes point to Mamalu as their progenitor (as do a variety of other Lumad Tribes) while the Maguindanowan (Maguindanao), Maranaw (Maranao),and Iranun Tribes all point to Tabunaway as theirs.The idea of course is that despite religious,cultural,and linguistic differences the tribes are brothers. I guess it makes sense IF brothers enslave and rape each other...
No comments:
Post a Comment