Counter-intuitively, the favourite sport of the Philippines is...basketball. In any corner of this country, a nation with 7,107 islands and well over 120 ethnicities, one can rest assured that they will see a paved basketball court in or around the municipal compound. Indeed, most barangays have one as well. Filipinos love basketball. Therefore, a metaphor that should be recognisable to most Filipinos. "Three Pointers," for those readers who are unaware, involves a basket shot from a long distance. In other words, a player, against all the odds, shoots- most often hurls- the ball down court in a desperate attempt to save the game...
On Thursday, November, 3rd 2011, the Chairmen of both the Government (GPH), Mario Victor "Marvic" Leonen, and the MILF Peace Panel Chairman, Mohagher Iqbal, sat across from each other on sofas in a carefully orchestrated, casual environment. Joining each man were two members of their respective Peace Panels, for the GPH:
1) Professor Miriam Coronel Ferrer
2) Senen Bacani
and for the MILF:
1) Datu Michael Mastura
2) Maulana "Bobby" Alonto
Additionally the MILF brought along a third Peace Panrlist, Professor Abhoud Syed Lingga but Mr.Lingga, like the nerd in gym class played the bench warmer (this I'd truly turning into a sports themed post). In any event, Professor Lyngga wasn't lonely as there were more than the usual gaggle of hangers on. Worth noting is that two men who wouldn't have usually even been in Kuala Lampur not only got a free but very short trip, but also got one of the highly coveted seats on those big comfy' couches;
1) Brigadier General Ariel Bernardo, Chairman of the GPH CCCH contingent. The CCCH, or Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities is the leading entity in a four-faceted Ceasefire Support Mechanism. The other three being:
A) IMT, or, International Monitoring Team, a consortium of foreign governmental and NGO (Non-Governmental Organizational) delegates who investigate any breeches that may lead to conflict and or any actual violations. Led by Malaysia, it has four facets itself:
a) Military
b) Rehabilitation
c) Socio-Economic
d) Civilian Protection
B) AHJAG, the Ad Hoc Joint Action Group, composed of representatives from the MILF/BIAF and the AFP, or Armed Forces of the Philippines. This entity was created specifically to allow the AFP to effectively deal with the large number of criminals who hide in and operate from MILF/BIAF controlled areas. An Anti-KFR (Kidnap for Ransom) operation in 2003 inadvertantly caused the Buliok Complex War when the AFP's aerial assault of the Pentagon Group (KFR organisation) came too close to the Buliok Complex, a MILF/BIAF camp that then served as the organizational headquarters and home of founder and then-Chairman, Hashim Salamat. All AHJAG really does is serve as early warning device, benefiting the MILF/BIAF, alerting it to AFP and/or PNP (Philippine National Prison) operations, a number of which aim to neutralise certain MILF/BIAF members.
C) LMT, the Local Monitoring Team, composed of five members from the following demographics:
a) MILF/BIAF (the BIAF being the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces, the military wing of the MILF), although the Terms of Reference (TOR) mandate that the representative be a member of a provincial political committee of the MILF. In practice this has rarely been the case.
b) LGU, or Local Government Unit (munucipal or provincial government) representative
c) Representative from an NGO nominated by the MILF
d) Representative of an NGO nominated by the GPH, or Government of the Philippines
e) Religious sector
Designed to allow the CCCH and IMT to keep one foot in the thick of it. A good illustration of this entity's utility was the July of 2007 Al Barka incident on Basilan. As the composite detachment led by Marines were pinned down by two BIAF, brigades the LMT was able to implement a Local Ceasefire through the effort of a LMT member who happened to be a high ranking BIAF "officer." The LMT has been un-officially mothballed since the beginning of 2008, though the MILF Central Committee recently issued a Resolution seeking to revive the group (in late September of 2011, ironically, two and a half weeks before the latest Al Barka Incident).
As for the CCCH, the aforementioned Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities... The CCCH is composed of two teams, one from the AFP, the other from the MILF, and is used as an interface between the AFP and MILF/BIAF in that it serves as a notification conduit, much like the AHJAG though the latter is more specialised in only co-ordinating the Government's anti-crime maneuvers. If an AFP detachment is scheduled to conduct a maneuver of any type in the vicinity of a BIAF camp the CCCH is used to notify the MILF/BIAF so that the group doesn't mis-construe the AFP action as aggressive, thereby sparking an armed conflict.
Also on hand at the Kuala Lampur meeting:
2) Major Carlos Sol, Chairman of the GPH CCCH Secretariat, which handles the administrative end of the CPH CCCH contingent.
3) Brigadier General Alan Luga, Chairman of the GPH contingent of AHJAG.
The purpose all three were serving of course was to convey the seriousnes of the October 18th, 2011 Al Barka incident. The three were there for show since anything worth knowing from a less than 6 hour meeting could have easily been conveyed through the de riguer post-meeting briefing back in Manila.
Also joining the GPH contingent was:
4) Chairman of its Peace Panel Secretariat, Iona Jalijali, the Secretariat being the entity responsible for administrative and other important but less noticeable activities.
Along with Ms.Jalijali:
5) Secretariat member, Johaira Wahab
Joining Professor Abhoud Syed Lingga in the waiting room:
6) Jun Mantawil, Chairman of the MILF Peace Panel Secretariat
7) MILF Peace Panel Secretariat Member, attorney Mike Pasigan
8) MILF Peace Panel Secretariat Member, Mohajirin Alim.
Also present in the waiting room was an unusually large ICG contingent. The ICG, or International Contact Group, consists of foreign Governmental representatives and Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs). It may be recalled that 72 days prior, at the 22nd Formal Exploratory Round, it was the ICG that prevented the entire Peace Process from going up in flames and that is certainly apt imagery given the guaranteed consequences of the Process ending abruptly. On the second of that planned three day 22nd Round, the MILF Peace Panel ended up screaming at their GHP counterparts after digesting the Government's long awaited Draft Comprehensive Agreement, a long awaited Interim Agreement meant to rapidly pave the way for an FPA, or Final Peace Agreement.
The GPH Chairman, Marvic Leonen, handed his MILF counterpart Mohagher Iqbal a watery mush that Leonen ridiculously describes as a "Three-in -One Agreement." The problem however, as the MILF correctly noted, was that the the "Three" major points- all of which I discussed at length on my Third Quarter entry analysing both the Round and the Draft so that for the sake pf brevity I will continue without touching upon both- is that nothing offered was new, and nothing offered even required negotiation. Three weeks before that Round both Chairmen had met at what was initially a secret meeting in a Tokyo suburb as President Aquino held his (initially) sectet tet a tet with MILF Chairman al Haj Murad Ebrahim. That meeting- again, analysed in depth in another one of my Third Quarter entries- was a bait and switch scam to alleviate some of the pressure coming to bear on the Aquino Administration after it had repeatedly failed to provide that Draft in repeatedly re-scheduled meetings since its actual due date in April of 2011. The date was pushed back to August 22nd when both sides were to convene for that repeatedly mentioned 22nd Formal Exploratory Round.
Then, after handing over the Draft, the Round imploded. Amid screaming GPH Chairman Leonen and his Panelists stormed out of that very same Boardroom where the couches had replaced the boardtable. Upon leaving the Talks the GPH Peace Panel pointedly sat down to a huge spread in the hotel's Chinese Resturant, on the same floor. Seeing as how it was Ramadan, the Islamic holiday in which adults forgo all food during daylight hours, Leonen's choice of meeting place seemed to many- myself included- to be a direct statement aimed at Iqbal, his Panel, and the MILF/BIAF on general.
It was then that the ICG represenatives on hand saved the day, quickly walking between the Boardroom and the resturant, ferrying messages and replies between the two Chairmen. In the end it produced tangible results with the GPH Panel returning to the Boardroom in the late afternoon, just enough time to agree to disagree but with civility and an eye on future Rounds.
Therefore, the ICG's cache has gone up considerably. At this "Informal Meeting," the ICG was represented by Political Officers from the Turkish, British, and the Japanese Embassies to Malaysia. On the NGO end, David Gorman from the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, Dr.Markus Sudibyo from the Indonesian-based Islamic-centered NGO "Muhammidiyah Foundation," Emma Leslie of Conciliation Resources and lastly, Dr.Stephen Rood of the Asia Foundation. I find the Asia Foundation's inclusion highly questionable in that it is a CIA front although it supposedly went independent back in the late 1960s, nearly two decades after it first began meddling in Mindanao from its Cotabato City offices. I could go off on a riff about the MILF hypocritically portraying itself as "Anti Colonialist" and "Anti Imperialist" and yet it pays fawning obesiance to both the American Embassy to the Philippines as well as to the Asia Foundation but alas, this is neither the time nor place for such observations. Don't despair fair reader because I do intend to out both sides in due time ("due time" being whenever I finally catch up in more pressing entries).
Regressing to attendees, one must not neglect to mention the Malaysian Facilitator, Dato Abdul Ghafaar Tengku Mohammed, who himself continued the ICG's Shuttle Diplomacy by spending the better part of the two and a half intervening months between the 22nd Exploratory Round and this latest meeting by flitting to and from in the Philippines. To his credit he even made what must have been excruciatingly maddening trips to the current MILF Headquarters, Camp Darapanan in the municipality of Sultan Kudarat (not the province of the same name) in Mindanao's Maguindanao Province. It was mostly due these exertions that this latest meeting was at all possible.
There was no Joint Statement at the end of the 6 hour meeting though it is clear that both unilateral Statements had been co-ordinated with each other, being nearly identical. I will not waste time analysing them because they offered absolutely nothing. Both sides agreed to meet again, sooner rather than later. Both sides agreed to allow the investigation being performed by the Ceasefire Mechanism entities- CCCH, IMT, and AHJAG- to serve as the Official Investigation of the October 18th, 2011 Al Barka incident, as opposed to the individual, parallel investigations performed by the MILF Central Committee and the AFP, the latter having been completed even before this November 3rd meeting transpired. Finally, the MILF agreed to co-operate with the AFP on operations in and around MILF/BIAF camps so long as the AFP abides by the protocols bi-laterally
implemented via the aforementioned four Ceasefire Mechanism entities: CCCH, IMT, AHJAG, and LMT. In other words, it is merely re-iterating its agreement from 2004 when it agreed to create and implement AHJAG.
Showing posts with label Maulana"Bobby"Alonto. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Maulana"Bobby"Alonto. Show all posts
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Friday, July 1, 2011
GPH-MILF Peace Process,Second Quarter of 2011,Part II: GPH Stakeholder Forums
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...
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...
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