Brief Description of the Current Philippine Situation (April 2016)

Raymund de Silva

April 2016

(First of the Four Series)

Introduction

In less than three weeks, the Philippines will have its local and national elections. It will be the fifth presidential elections since the Marcos dictatorial regime was ousted from power.

More than fifty four millions (54,363,844) registered voters (including the 1.4 millions Overseas Filipino Workers ) will elect the seventeen thousand two hundred (17,200) national and local officials this coming May 9, 2016.

The current President and current Vice-President, 12 senators (out of 24), 285 members of the House of Representatives (including 50 members of the Party List), 81 governors, 144 city mayors and the same number for city vice mayors, 2,980 municipal mayors and vice mayors, 1 each for governor and vice governor of the Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), 24 ARMM Regional Legislative Assembly members, 772 Sangguniang Panlalawigan members (provincial council), 1610 Sangguniang Panglunsod members (city council) and 11,000 members of Sangguniang Bayan (municipal council) will mostly vacate their positions on or before June 30, 2016.

There are politicians who have not yet reached the maximum allowable

terms who can still be re-elected in the same positions. There are also politicians (542) who are sure to occupy the same positions because they do not have opponents – simply said there is no elections in their areas. Prominently among those 542 officials without opponents are the daughter of the late dictator Marcos – Imee Marcos – running for Governor in Ilocos and the former President Gloria M.

Arroyo – who is running for a seat in the House of Representatives in Pampanga. These are the two areas in the country where the number of voters are among the biggest – and therefore those who are running for national positions and who want to win in these vote-rich areas – have to deal with people like Imee Marcos and Gloria M. Arroyo and their allies.

The May 9, 2016 elections is significant in the sense that it will be an end of the term of a second Aquino presidency (2010-2016) whose election has been mainly due to the peoples’ reaction to a very unpopular presidency of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. His mother (President Corazon C. Aquino) was literally put into power by peoples’ uprising against the Marcos dictatorship-a very hated and unpopular president in the country’s history. Such electoral process has come full circle. The two Aquino presidencies have greatly failed to institutionalize the democratic principles and peoples’ power which put them into office.

Coming from the bourgeois landlord elite of the country, the people do not expect the Aquino-Conjuanco regime to institute a system change but at least they could have started some democratic reforms and pro-people programs and policies.

The first Aquino Presidency had greatly failed in making sure that Marcos and his family were made to answer their crimes against the Filipinos. She (Corazon C. Aquino) has even agreed to honor all the debts of the country (including those incurred by the Marcos cronies) by putting this commitment in the country’s 1987 Constitution (30% of the national budget is yearly and automatically set aside for debt payment). The most glaring failure of the first Aquino Presidency is to recover the more than 10 billion dollars stolen by the Marcos family from the impoverished people of the country. The same stolen wealth and money have been used to hire high caliber lawyers by the Marcoses to fight the legal blocks and processes thrown along their way in getting back to power. But more than anything else, the first Aquino presidency had failed to prosecute the Marcoses and made them accountable to the human rights violations they committed against the more than seventy thousand (70,000) human rights victims. It has been thirty years now since the Marcos dictatorship was ousted and yet the victims have yet to see justice.

At present, under the watch of the second Aquino presidency, the Marcoses have not only recovered the Ilocos areas but also consolidated them to become one of the formidable electoral block in the country .This block together with other allies is about to put another Marcos and namesake of the dictator into a heart bit away from the Presidency. Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. is currently running for Vice President of the country and in fact leading in all the poll surveys conducted before the May 9, 2016 elections.

The two Aquino Presidencies have gravely failed to institute genuine and truly democratic land reform-again a clear manifestation of their haciendero hearts and interests.

They (the Aquinos) have been credited in allowing the bourgeoisie and the elite (of the pre-dictatorial period to gain back and in fact control some of the strategic businesses in the country. The Lopezes, Ayalas and Aboitez among others have been building and consolidating their business empires during the Aquino administrations.

In the case of Mindanao, the current Aquino government has shown the same historical failure as his mother did to the dictator and his family by not acting decisively on the case of the 2009 Maguindanao massacre. The 2009 massacre of 52 people, including more than 30 journalists was the single biggest election related crime in the country and even in the world involving journalists. Obtaining justice to the massacre victims became one of the bottle cries of the Aquino in 2010 presidency campaign.

This single deadly event is very significant because it is the result of giving special favors and accommodation of then President Gloria Arroyo of a Maguindanao influencial clan who became a powerful warlord in the island. Before November 23, 2009 Maguindanao Massacre the clan had been committing murders and crimes basically with impunity. The clan had total control of the ruling political

machinery of then President Arroyo in the area as well as the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP).

The second Aquino presidency has again failed to continuously prosecute and consummate the hearing of cases against the Ampatuans (the clan behind the Maguindanao Massacre). It is in effect, continuing the policy of impunity of the Arroyo government. Peoples in Mindanao will pay a high price to this historical inaction.

At present, the Ampatuans have almost recovered their old power and glory in some areas in Mindanao. They have maintained their arsenal of weaponry and the money they have accumulated during the Arroyo administration. They are participating in the May 2016 elections in the second district of the province of Maguindanao.

The appreciation of this context will help people to understand the current national political landscape and the actual conduct of politicians in their campaigns to win in May 9, 2016 elections. Will there be changes in the conduct of the electoral campaigns of the candidates? Will the political platforms or the personality centered campaign styles prevail during these elections? What will be the role of the political-electoral parties and their machineries in these electoral activities?

I.                    The Presidentiables and Their Machineries

Five politicians are vying for the 2016 Presidency. The four are running under political parties while one is running as an independent candidate. The current Vice President is running as President under the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) – a multi-party electoral alliance replacing the former United Nationalist Opposition (UNO) which was launched as a single political party on July 1, 2015 by Vice President Jejomar Binay for his Presidential candidacy in 2016. The alliance is composed of Bagumbayan-Volunteers, Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino (PMP) ER Ejercito wing, Nationalist Peoples’ Coalition (NPC) Mark Conjuangco wing and LAKAS-CMD and affiliated local parties.

Currently, UNA has three members in the Senate (out of 24) and 8 members in the House of Representatives (out of 282 in the 16th Congress). UNA has a nationwide machinery with local candidates running under its name.

The second candidate is Davao Mayor Rodrigo Duterte who is the last candidate to file his candidacy for the presidency and he is running under the Partido Democratiko Pilipino (PDP). Senator Aquilino ‘Koko’ Pimentel is the current President of the party while Mayor Rodrigo ‘Rody’ Duterte is its national chairman. The Secretary General of the party is Martin Diño who had filed first for the presidency while Duterte was not yet ready and who was later substituted by Duterte as the party’s candidate in the last minute of filing and substituting candidates for presidency. PDP members are mainly coming from Mindanao especially after the resignation of Vice President Jejomar Binay as its party chairman.

The third Presidential Candidate is Senator Grace Poe who is running under the Partido Galing at Puso (Wisdom and Empathy). It is an umbrella coalition party between support groups for the 2016 presidential candidacy of Senator Grace Poe and the 2016 Philippine Senate election line up. The Wisdom and Empathy Party is composed mostly of non-affiliated supporters of Poe and a current Senator of the Philippines and her vice prsedential running mate, Francis “Chiz” Escudero) and supporters from the Nationalist Peoples’ Coalition (NPC). Basically, they (Poe and Escudero) are running as independent candidates. They are building their party machineries while campaigning.

The fourth candidate is Mar Roxas who is running under the Koalisyon ng Daang Matuwid (Coalition of the Straight Path). It is the umbrella of the administration-backed presidential and senatorial line up for 2016 Philippine elections. It is composed of mostly supporters of former Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Mar Roxas who announced his presidential bid after the endorsement of President Benigno Aquino III during the event dubbed as a “Gathering of Friends” at the historical Club Filipino on July 13, 2015. It is the remnant of the Team Pinoy which was formed by the Liberal Party along with Akbayan (Citizens’ Action Party), Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino, Nationalista

Party, Nationalist Peoples’ Coalition and the National Unity Party as its coalition members.

The fifth Presidential Candidate is Senator Miriam Santiago of the People’s Reform Party (PRP). It is a center-left political party founded in April 12, 1991 of former Agrarian Reform Secretary Miriam Santiago for her bid as President in the 1992 Presidential elections. In this 2016 elections, Santiago invited Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos to be her running mate (Vice President). The PRP Senatorial Candidates are all guests’ candidates – who principally run in the other political parties.

II.                  The Conduct of the elections

As the election day is nearing the conduct of the Presidential campaigns has intensified and has reached its lowest level. Daily the voters and their families have been hearing and witnessing in the tri-media the below the belt styles of campaigning of the presidentiables and their followers.

Earlier on, when the current Vice President jejomar Binay announced his bid for presidency he has been subject of various attacks. The most notable one is the Senate investigation conducted by senatorial allies of both the administration and opposition who have been planning to put their own candidates. For more than one year, Vice President Binay and his family have been subjected on issues of corruption heard live in national television. It is no wonder then that from being number one in the earlier poll surveys, the Vice President has been tailing two other candidates in the current poll surveys.

It has become a trend then, that whoever tops and is the leading candidate in poll survey he or she will always be subjected to different issues and attacks by those tailing in the said surveys. This is a big advantage for those candidates who have not been on the top’s spots notably Mar Roxas-the administration candidate and Miriam Santiago who have never been in serious campaigning because she is under medication for cancer.

The three candidates who have been topping the poll surveys namely Binay, Poe and Duterte have been the center of attacks and harassments mainly coming from the followers/supporters of the administration and for those candidates who are not on the top of the surveys. So after Binay, Poe has been attacked on the issues about her citizenship and number of years of stay to qualify for the Presidency.

These attacks have persisted even after the Supreme Court has declared that Poe is qualified to run as President. At present, it is Mayor Duterte who has been leading the latest survey and therefore everybody has attacked him from all angles.

In the last three to four surveys conducted nationwide, the Mayor (Duterte) led all other presidentiables. In fact, many has expected him (Duterte) to drop his rating after his famous or infamous statement on rape case of an Australian woman missionary in the 1989 hostage case in Davao City. But the opposite is happening – the mayor has still topped the latest survey (conducted after his rape statement).

Seemingly, there are reasons for this phenomenon. The people or the voters for that matter are so fed up with all the bad news that they have been exposed that they simply want a change. The rape case for instance happened when people have heard about the killings, intensifying drug issues, lawlessness and the inability of the current Aquino government to act and prevent such crimes and implement basic social services. Many people have reacted especially to the failure of the government and its agencies to give adequate and timely assistance to the victims (mostly farmers) of the El Niño or the long drought which affected many farmers in the rural areas.

It can be observed that Duterte has been consistently showing in his campaigns and speeches a decisive and determine leader to act on the most pressing problems like drugs and corruption. He shows that he is not bothered by bureaucracies and even legal processes when solving these heinous crimes. People

want to see immediate action to solve these crimes. Duterte promises to deliver solutions in the first three to six months of his presidency. And the people seem (as shown in the latest survey April 12-17) to approve such method and swiftness in solving such crimes. On the other hand, it might also be that Duterte’s statement on the rape case has not yet reached and digested by the people/voters so that it has not yet manifested in the result of the poll surveys.

Surely this phenomenon is affecting the administration-backed candidate Mar Roxas. He has been tailing in all the surveys and some administration supporters in the provinces have continue to jump ship (Governor Joey Salceda of Albay has declared his support to Grace Poe) and the Almarios in Davao Oriental have supported Duterte and not Mar Roxas).

This trend is showing the voters’ preference of the hard line approach or even dictatorial tendencies of leadership styles as personified by Duterte. This is indeed bringing some serious concerns. This is even alarming when one sees that in the vice presidentiables – Senator Bongbong Marcos – the son of the former dictator Marcos – is also leading in the poll surveys for the vice presidency. What is even worst is that the voting preferences for both Presidency and Vice-presidency is coming from the voters from the people in Metro Manila and the upper and middle classes of the country. And to think that it has just been thirty years (this year), that the people had ousted the Marcos dictatorship. Today, all signs have shown that the dictatorship in another form is coming back and this is having chilling effects on the democratic and progressive forces in the country. A Duterte and Bongbng Marcos presidency and vice presidency respectively is becoming a reality.

It is simply that the people is so desperate of the current miserable situation that they are ready to cling and believe to any promise (solving these problems in three to six months) that people like Duterte and the younger Marcos have promised them.

Despite the administration’s difficulties in running its campaigns on the slogan of the continuity of the “matuwid and daan” (The Right Path), it has tried other stocks and reserves in its arsenal to hit a surprise to its opponents.

The administration has been maximizing its resources (finances and influence in the other branches and agencies in the government) to hit or debase its opponents. For instance, the Ombudsman and the Sandigang Bayan not mentioning the Department of Justice, the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to file cases against well-known supporters of other Presidential candidates. Not a few governors and local officials have been unseated to their offices during the crucial periods of the campaigns. This method of campaigning is running the elections by eliminating the opponents and their supporters before the actual elections. The areas affected by this method is the vote-rich provinces like Laguna (the suspended governor is a well-known Binay supporter, The Mayor of Cebu city- the highest registered number of voters in the country but also a known Binay supporter was also recently suspended by the DILG.

At this stage of the campaign, funds have been seen changing hands among local politicians identified to the administration, to put hold and control their supporters and machineries while the elections are nearing. This is an attempt to prevent them from jumping ship and prevent a bandwagon effect of the leading trend of other candidates. The funds are coming from the national leadership of the ruling coalition.

It is not circumstantial that drugs-related crime and kidnappings have intensified during this period. This is obviously to raise funds for the elections. Everybody has been fully aware that in the coming election funds coming from drugs related activities are flooding the communities especially in those areas where people are experiencing extreme miseries and hardship because of the long drought. Buying votes have reached Php 5000 per family. This is known as narcopolitics – using drug money to influence the results of the national and local elections. The drug lords have supported candidates who can protect their interests.

- o0o -

STORM SURGING for Peace in Mindanao (9th Series)

Raymund de Silva
May 26, 2015

Last Wednesday (may 20, 2015), the 75-member Ad Hoc Committee on the Bangsamoro Basic Law of the House of Representatives had approved the draft law for the House Bill 4994.  The proposed bill has been renamed as Basic Law of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region or BLBAR.  It had undergone three amendments and 95 revisions on the versions of the so-called Chair and Vice-Chair working drafts.

Mindanao’s 27 provinces and 33 cities are duly represented in the Ad Hoc Committee since all representatives of 59 Congressional districts of the country’s second biggest island are members of the 75 members of the Ad Hoc Committee.

President Noy Aquino with some members of his Cabinet but especially with Secretary Butch Abad of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) had met twice with the members and  officials of the Ad Hoc Committee the weekend before the deliberations of the draft law.  Obviously, after three day marathon sessions from the 18th, 19th and 20th of this month, the Malacanang version of the BBL was approved.  The votes were as follows: 50 representatives voted in favor, 17 against and 1 abstained.  Rep. Rufus Rodriguez of Cagayan de Oro City, who chaired the Ad Hoc Committee had said that there was consensus among members of the committee that the 6 provisions which had some Constitutional issues will be discussed in another level.  Representative Rufus Rodriguez had successfully steered his committee to approve the Malacanang version of the draft law.

Several weeks ago, one could not imagine that the House of Representatives Ad Hoc Committee on BBL headed by R. Rodriguez, would vote in this manner.  The latter had strongly and openly advocated that unless the 44 SAF murdered in Mamasapano last January 25, 2015  would get justice, he would lead in the activities of blocking the deliberations, much more the approval of the BBL.  In fact, the leader of the Ad Hoc Committee had raised 9 Constitutional questions of the draft BBL.  But this was before the President and Secretary Abad had talked with them.  And this was before the so-called 1 million in cash and the 50 millions worth of hard projects for each member of the Ad Hoc Committee, who would vote in favor of Malacanang and MILF version of the BBL.

From the Ad Hoc Committee, the Malacanang approved version had easily passed two more committees; the Ways and Means and the Appropriation Committees, which discussed the resources and their generations and the budget and their utilization.

By the first week of June, it is expected as far as the House of Representatives is concerned that the draft version of the BBL will be discussed in the plenary level.  The target will be to approve the House Bill before June 10, 2015, the last day of the second regular session of the 16th Congress.  This is also the House of Representatives’ attempt to include the BBL or its version for the July 27, 2015, the 6th and last State of the Nation Address (SONA) of President Noy Aquino.

The bicameral nature of the legislative branch of the government of the country, the Senate and its approved version of the BBL is needed together with the House of Representatives’ version to complete the two versions of the BBL and bicameral discussions and approval for the Basic Law of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region.

As far as the Senate is concerned, the deliberations of the BBL is still in the Committee level. There are two main committees which have deliberated on the BBL; the Committee on Constitutional Reform – headed by Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago and the Committee on the Local Government – headed by Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos.

The Committee, headed by Senator Santiago, has just finished and submitted to the Senate leadership its reports on the BBL.  The main content of such report is saying that the BBL as submitted by both peace panels of the Government of Philippines (GPH) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and as strongly endorsed by Malacanang and the President is unconstitutional.  The aforementioned Committee is strongly suggesting that there should be Constitutional amendments of the 1987 Constitution of the country first in order to provide a broader framework for the BBL.  For Senator Santiago, it will be a waste of time if they will hastily approve the BBL now but will be found unconstitutional later by the Supreme Court and everybody will be back to zero.

Twelve senators (more than 50% of the 23 members of the Senate) have signed the Committtee report of Senator Santiago.

With regards to the Committee on Local Government, Senator Bongbong Marcos – the Chair of the Committee, it has continued to have consultations with different stakeholders – in order to make sure that an inclusive BBL will be approved by Congress.  So far, the Marcos Committee, have launched consultations with the stakeholders in the island province of Sulu, Zamboanga City, the Sultanate of Sulu and the members and officials of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF). This week, the Committee on Local Government has consulted the Indigenous Peoples (IPs) in the core area of the proposed Bangsamoro Political Entity.  Just like the different Sultanates (Sulu and Maguindanao) and the traditional political structures of the Maranaos and other ethno-linguistic groups of the Bangsamoro, the IPs were never given considerations in their political and economic interests within the core territory aside from giving them verbal promises that their interests will be protected and developed when the Bangsamoro political entity will be in place.  Concretely, the MILF leadership has been saying that laws will be legislated in the Bangsamoro Legislative Body(the 50-member body), where the IPs will never have a chance to have their own representatives except the ones appointed by the MILF and therefore laws cannot be made if they will not serve the interests of the ruling political body.  The IPs’ experience with the MNLF and the expanded ARMM (RA 9054) has still been fresh in their midst to forget.

It should be recalled that IPs’ representatives have been giving their inputs in both GPH and MILF peace panels since early stages of the peace process between the two, the GPH and the MILF to no avail.

Now, the Committee of Senator Marcos has been finding the hard truth that the proposed BBL is obviously very exclusive.  Senator Marcos plans to end his consultations with the rest of stakeholders in the 3rd of June 2015.  This means that the Senate will start its plenary discussions after the 1st week of June and will not surely finish them before they adjourn on the 10th of June 2015. Such finding is also consistent on the result of the latest survey of the Social Weather Station (SWS) that after two years of signing the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro, peoples’ awareness regarding BBL has not risen.

It has been announced by the allies of the Malacanang that the proposed BBL will be endorsed by the President as urgent bill.  This means that both Houses of Congress will try their best to unify their versions of the BBL (HB 4994 and SB 2408) in the bicameral meetings of both houses and approved it in time before the President’s term expires.

It has also been openly announced that the President is planning to have dialogues with the Senators (that is if the Senators will invite the President to shade light on the BBL).  This Presidential move is emitting different signals – mostly dangerous.  Many observers are worried that a repeat of the President’s meeting with the members of the Ad Hoc Committee of the House of Representatives will happen in the Senate.  The harder the positions against the BBL by the representatives, the higher the amount the DBM will produce for the unmoderated greed of these representatives.  The scenario is that, at the end of the day, the President will buy his way for the approval of the BBL before his term expires.

Serious concerns have been raised with regards to  the proposal of the Senators, who support the Committee report and proposal of Senator Miriam Santiago – that is – to call for Constitutional amendment to accommodate the BBL.

If such steps will be followed, it will be done by early next year or before the May 2016 elections.  Meanwhile, what will happen to the peace timeline set by both the GPH and MILF?  There will be no legal basis for the putting-up of the transitional mechanism – the Bangsamoro Transition Autonomy (BTA) before the May 2016 elections. Unless there will be no May 2016 elections (or it will be postponed) there can never be the BBL and there can never be the Bangsamoro Political Entity.

There can be some bases for serious concerns for such political development in Congress.  In the House of Representatives, the Constitutional amendments on Economy has already passed on the second reading.  The proposal of the Committee on Constitutional Reforms in the Senate, which strongly recommends Constitutional amendment in order to accommodate the proposed BBL and the political initiatives in the House of Representatives to amend the economic articles in the Constitution can be related.

Not a few people have the belief that once the Constitution will be opened for amendments although only the economic provisions, nobody could stop anybody in Congress who will prepare other amendments to amend the 1987 Constitution.  This will not be a bad timing because moves for Constitutional revisions are coming from both Houses of Congress albeit with different reasons and purposes.

In addition, if one tries to follow the peace timeline of the current government and the MILF, after both Houses in a bicameral meetings and both versions will be reconciled, the President will sign it into a Law replacing the R.A. 9054  creating the expanded ARMM, a plebiscite will be held in the proposed Bangsamoro territory, so it is the people directly approving the Law.  So, why is it still a Constitutional amendment needed, as recommended by the Committee of Senator Santiago?

Meanwhile, the MILF will be waiting on the side and continue to politically prepare for the setting-up of the transitional mechanism or the Bangsamoro Transition Authority.  The ARMM with the President’s chosen person will be continuing their governance.  And meanwhile, the investors will continue to have a “wait and see” attitude and have their economic interests in the Bangsamoro be protected and developed.

With regards to the concerns of people within and outside the ARMM areas that if the BBL will not be approved as targeted in the peace timeline, the existing peace or the absence of war wll be broken has some bases.  The problem can come from some members of the MILF who can be frustrated because if the delay of the BBL and the putting-up of the Bangsamoro. It can be like the 2008 disapproval of the Memorandum Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA AD), when several Base Commands (105 led by Ombra Kato and 113 led by Bravo and Pangalian in Lanao) attacked and killed more than 100 civilians and dislocated more than 750 thousand people in the areas as their protest to the government’s failure.  Eventually, Ombra Kato founded the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) and could not be reached and disciplined by the leadership of the MILF while Bravo has remained in the MILF and has not been meted justice for his crime.  In fact, it has been known that Bravo was promoted in the MILF hierarchy.

The MILF leadership in the main will try to hold on with the peace process, especially in the context that the present government administration has been supported to the interest of the MILF.  Besides, it has been known that the MILF has invested so much political and economic capital in the peace process.  Billions of pesos have been invested in agricultural fields and MILF has increased their followers on the ground because they (followers) are promised to get back their lands from the non-Bangsamoro if the BBL will be signed.  In fact, some troubles have erupted already in Maguindanao and Lanao area because the MILF followers could not wait any longer to lay their hands on the lands of the IPs and the  Christians or the migrants in the Bangsamoro area.  In addition, not so few people have been promised employment by the MILF when the Bangsamoro will be in place.

The abovementioned situation can possibly happen even if the government and MILF version of BBL will be approved.  In fact, it can even be worst because the MILF leadership and followers are basing their claim on ancestral domain and the resources within the Bangsamoro areas in an exclusive framework.  The non-Bangsamoro, within and the periphery areas, have been preparing themselves to defend their lands and resources against the Bangsamoro.  One can already observe during this period that the non-Bangsamoro have been arming themselves for any eventually.

It is in this context that one can understand when the only Cardinal of Mindanao said that, the role of the passage of the BBL is eminently one of peacemaking – that is an inclusive BBL and not the version of the GPH and the MILF, which can bring about long lasting peace.

In the same regard, the statement of the Peace Council (created by President Aquino) that the BBL is not just an ordinary legislation but a product of almost two decades of peace negotiation and a concrete result of exhaustion with war, should be understood.

It simply means that the BBL should be a legislation for sustainable peace of the three peoples in Bangsamoro in particular which will not definitely end with the signing of the BBL but will be a lifetime process for the different communities within and outside the Bangsamoro areas.

The MILF will definitely have prominent role in the Bangsamoro Political Entity but definitely the BBL will not and should not only benefit the MILF and its followers.  Sustainable peace can only be achieved and nurtures if all the stakeholders will be included now and the days to come.

STORM SURGING For Peace in Mindanao (Series 8)

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

STORM SURGING for Peace (Part 7)

Raymund de Silva
April 11, 2015

ACCEPTING REALITY of Defeat to Save more Lives is Bravery in its highest form

Several days ago, President Noy Aquino had made statement to convince everybody once and for all to approve the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL).  The President has been very consistent with his position that only through the BBL and the setting up of the Bangsamoro political entity can peace be attained in Mindanao.  He made this latest pronouncement on the occasion of the 73rd anniversary of commemorating the fall of Bataan to the Japanese on April 9, 1942.  He described the bravery of those who defended Bataan as the same spirit of bravery that it is needed to pass the BBL.

The timing of the statement was intentional because, the President was calling for the same spirit of bravery and unity of the Filipino people and American soldiers to defend Bataan but they (brave soldiers) had realized the futility of putting up more resistance to the overwhelming forces of  the advancing Japanese – that was why they (Filipino and American soldiers) had surrendered and caused the so-called fall of Bataan on April 9, 1942.  This is a clear manifestation that the President had missed an important point – that is – bravery can be in the form of surrender or even accepting defeat to save more lives or for the interests of the greater majority and broad sectors of the peoples.

At this stage, the President and his administration should be candid enough, to show that the agreed version between the (Executive - Office of Presidential Adviser on Peace Process (OPAPP) and the Government Peace Panel) and the MILF could never pass Congress.  Aside from the questions of Constitutionality, the BBL cannot be acceptable to the three peoples’ of Mindanao or even in the Bangsamoro because it is not inclusive.  This point is very basic because if one builds peace in the Bangsamoro it must not only cater to the interest of one group like the MILF but it should also consider the interests and needs of other peace stakeholders especially in territories claimed by the MILF.  Compartmentalized peace can never be durable and sustainable. Inputs coming directly from stakeholders through a democratic process are the non-negotiable and should be principally considered. 

In order to capture the spirit of bravery of the Bataan heroes, the Aquino government and the MULF should be humble enough to accept at this point that they have failed in negotiating and building sustainable peace in the Bangsamoro.  Both of them have negotiated in a very narrow framework of answering the interest and needs of only one group like the MILF and they have mutually agreed to work this out during the specific term of the President. Exclusivity here does not only refer to the scope and content of the BBL but also the term of the sitting President.  That is why, both of them became frustrated that Congress has taken a longer time to pass the proposed BBL.

The January 25, 2015 Mamasapano police operation fiasco has contributed a lot to strongly remind the people and Congress on the big democratic deficit of the proposed BBL which its proponents (GPH and MILF) have maneuvered to have the proposed law submitted directly to Congress without democratically discussed and broadly consulted with the concerned stakeholders.

The Mamasapano violent incident seems to greatly help put things in proper perspective.  Few days ago, the Chair of the MILF peace panel said in a forum that the approval of the BBL (their version) and th setting up of the Bangsamoro government will make the existence of other revolutionary groups irrelevant.  One can never know where the MILF chair of their peace panel came from.  He seems as well as the Aquino government to strongly believe that the BBL and the Bangsamoro government is a cure all formula.  One can never think that the Chair should be reminded that the reason for being  a revolutionary group like MILF is to lead in the struggle for right to self determination of the whole Moro people and not only the MILF.  The basic purpose of such struggle is to eliminate the existence of the national oppression in whatever manifested forms they exist today.  If it (the struggle for RSD) is not directly addressing the elimination or at least steps towards such political direction then it (the struggle) can only be allowing oneself to be mainstreamed to the existing and current national state or government e.g. the Aquino government.

One should be reminded that unless the root causes of the problems like poverty and extreme social inequalities are effectively addressed, the revolutionary movement will continue to flourish and revolutionary groups continue to exist.

The worst thing is that, in the proposed BBL, the MILF will help the Philippine government to go after and neutralize other revolutionary groups just like what was stated in R.A 9054 or the expanded ARMM as agreed by the MNLF and the Philippine government in 2001.

This a standing challenge for the MILF, which consistently claims itself to be a revolutionary organization.

In a different forum, the MILF Vice Chair for Political Affairs, was heard saying that armed problems and conflicts like the clan wars can be effectively addressed if the Bangsamoro government is set-up.  Again, the Vice Chair has been thinking of an instant miracle.  As revolutionary, the MILF is already in a position to effectively intervene in facing and resolving conflicts between and among Moro families (big or small clans).  One should not wait and depend for the existing government structures, which it wants to be part with, before effectively intervening in such conflicts among the people we claim to represent.  If the MILF leadership in resolving the clan wars (rido) cannot take actions now, one cannot expect that, the Bangsamoro government that will definitely be composed of the MILF can effectively solve such real problems in the future.

The PEACE Council and the VOICES from BELOW

In the last few days, the Peace Council which has been created by President Aquino and which claims itself to be independent has started deliberating different issues on the BBL.  Again, as mentioned earlier, with this kind of panel one can expect hearing exclusive voices from above.  In its present composition, one cannot imagine businessman Zobel de Ayala discussed economic issues while one hears that he is the businessman and his family and their various companies in Mindanao, who have non-stop invested in almost all business fields like oil, natural gas exploration and mining.  At present, he is involved in putting-up various coal-powered electric plants in Mindanao as supposed to be an instant answer to the power deficit experienced by the peoples in Mindanao.  Coal-powered plants are the dirtiest source of energy and no country in the world has used them anymore because of the worst pollution it can create.  But of course, in terms of return of investments, it will be the most viable source of huge profits.  Right now, for instance, it has started construction of this kind of power plants in Kauswagan, Lanao del Norte and Brgy Dalipuga in Iligan City. People like the Ayalas are just happy to work and approve the BBL in the form and substance that they (elite) can use as license to explore and exploit the still untapped natural resources of Mindanao and the Bangsamoro territory. These constructions have been done without consultations with the people who will be affected by the pollution.  But the worst is, they are constructing these kind of plants almost few kilometers from the hydro-electric plants in Lanao province and Iligan City. 

And now everybody sees Ayala as part of the Peace Council involve in discussing the economic provisions of the BBL.  If this is not a joke then the President who appointed Ayala must be coming from another world.  This is not just an insult to the people of Mindanao, this is a manifestation of none knowledge the President has for Mindanao.  If this is a glimpse of peace that the President is thinking for Mindanao then he should stop hallucinating – at the expense – of the real lives of peoples.

At this stage, the Senate has already planned to invite the Peace Council for further deliberation on the BBL.  And in this period, one can just imagine the impact of the inputs of the Council.  The Senate had to contend not only the question of Constitutionality of the BBL but also the economic framework that people like Zobel de Ayala has brought in into the proposed BBL. Surely, the economic framework that the Ayala’s will lobby will be the neo-liberal globalization which will be applied in the Bangsamoro territory. Resources and social benefits will be privatized and the economic policies to protect the local products will be liberalized. 

In the same manner, the House of Representatives had just finished their investigation on the Mamasapano and sooner they will also continue to deliberate on the BBL and might invite the Peace Council to attend their sessions.  

ACCEPTING RESPONSIBILITY and ACCOUNTABILITY – GIVING JUSTICE to the 44 PNP/SAF

It will be very helpful to mention about the results of the House’s investigation of the January 25, 2015 botched police operation.  Aside from the confirmed cracks on the relationships between the government’s two main security sectors, the task to ensure peace and order and solve criminality or international terrorism is the main role of the Philippine National Police (PNP). The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is mainly tasked to secure the country from external aggressors and to help in ensuring security in peace processes with revolutionary groups like the MILF.

In the January 25, 2015 Mamasapano bloody incident these tasks of the two security sectors of the country seemed to have clash.  It has become crystal clear from the deliberations of the House that the AFP has hesitated to give reinforcements to the beleaguered SAF/PNP which was under heavy attacks from the MILF/BIAF, BIFF and private armed groups because such action can possibly jeopardize the about to be concluded peace process of the Government with the MILF.  It has been proven in the exchanges of discussions that the principal consideration of the President and the AFP during those decisive moments was to save the life of the peace process with the MILF and to abandon the SAF/PNP to die on the ground.  Obviously, the President had approved the Oplan Exodus but did not want the peace process with the MILF affected.  He wanted to capture or neutralize the international terrorists in the middle of the three base commands of the MILF, the BIFF and private armed groups but did not have in mind to help the successful extraction of the SAF/PNP who bravely obeyed his order to have the mission accomplished.  These hard facts came out in the House of Representatives two-day investigations.  Now is the time for the President to answer why he abandoned the SAF/PNP and take his responsibility as well as accept his accountability.  This can be good start of attaining justice for the 44 PNP/SAF and the start of the healing period of the nation.

Legislating or Making Political Statement?

In both Houses of Congress, another reality has unfolded while the issues on the peace process with the MILF, the BBL and the Mamasapano bloody event have discussed.  The allies and friends of the President and his Liberal Party (LP) have stood differently in the abovementioned issues.  In fact, from the outside, it seemed that the debates and legal conflicts are between the Executive with the MILF and the Legislative or the Congress.

Others will say that in those discussions, one has to differentiate giving political statements, mostly done by the President and people from OPAPP and the GPH peace panel, and the deliberations of the legality or constitutionality of the proposed BBL.  Hence, one can remain an ally and friend of the President but will have his/her attention on whether the BBL can pass the constitutional parameters. The people in Mindanao has already spoken their opposition with the peace panel’s version of the BBL. Politicians has become conscious of this position because the 2016 elections is fast approaching. These politicians have begun to secure their political interests at this period of time.

The whole debates on the MILF’s claim of its being revolutionary organization and that its negotiator like Iqbal is still revolutionary and therefore continues to use his nom de guerre, is really a question of constitutionality or its (MILF) appraisal of its transition from a non-state armed group to being part of the state.  The government and its negotiator have been consistent that their framework is the Constitution in talking with the MILF.  On the other hand, the MILF has tried to use its framework of being not part of the government (non-state armed group) and therefore cannot yet accept the constitutional framework.  It has argued that its relationship with the Philippine government is as good as the documents it has signed.  This means that after signing the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro (FAB) in 2012 and the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) in 2014, it has already partly entered into the constitutional framework of the government.  The full approval of the BBL will be the decisive document from which the Bangsamoro government will be established then and only then, the MILF becomes part of the Philippine government with its unique autonomous status.

Both Houses of Congress have promised to finish their deliberations of the proposed BBL by the end of June 2015.  This is in time for the last State of the Nation Address (SONA) of President Aquino.

Several possibilities can happen here, one is that Congress will approve the BBL not in the form and substance of the one mutually agreed by GPH and MILF panels.  The MILF might accept this version but they will try to settle such issue on the Plebiscite which will be conducted 60 days after the President signs the BBL.  Another possibility is that the MILF will never accept such approved version by Congress and therefore go back to square one and will declare that they are still open for peace talks with the new administration but will seek the international intervention like the United Nations or the ASEAN to present and argue their case. Meanwhile, the RA 9054 remains valid and legal and ARMM elections will take place in 2016, which the LP (Party of the President) and United Bangsamoro Justice Party (UBJP) can work together, and put-up common candidates as part of the transition period of the Bangsamoro government.  A third possibility will be the start of unpeace situation and where all the stakeholders will be affected.  This will be a situation when everybody is not a winner.

Conclusion

Time now is of an essence here.  Both the government and the MILF peace panels should be brave and candid enough that their mission to fast track the phases of the peace process and the signing of the final peace agreement cannot be realized during the term of President Aquino.  There can never be business as usual from this period. A peace process cannot be shortcutted. It is a continuous process where on gets and learns to appreciate the small victories along the way. This will surely build a peace, which will durable and sustainable.  One should not count the years of the process of the negotiations. This is not a contest. This is the peoples’ lives that we are working and building peace with.

The most appropriate steps that can be taken by both panels and all interested and affected stakeholders are the works to make the BBL more inclusive and the peace, which should be built, should durable and sustainable.

The involvement of elite Peace Council can provide the BBL a new perspective but these deliberations and discussions should always be validated from the ground.  Stakeholders should always be vigilant that people and elite businessmen like the Zobels and the Ayalas can never take a decisive role in crafting the BBL which will be the legal basis for building the Bangsamoro government.  This government should be established by the people for their own interest and should be managed by people coming from the broadest section of the three communities in the Bangsamoro. The people should freely determine their economic, political and cultural lives.

STORM SURGING for PEACE in Mindanao (Part 6)

Raymund de Silva
April 3, 2015

The Building of Physical Infrastructures: Do the People NEED THEM?

After the declaration of an all out war against the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) on February 25, 2015, the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) General Gregorio Pio Catapang, Jr. had announced an end of this war on March 26, 2015 or almost a month later. The general has claimed that the BIFFs were effectively paralyzed and dispersed and are not anymore capable of launching further offensives. 

Yesterday, the AFP had to fire several rounds of their artillery because there were sightings of the BIFF closing in on Datu Unsay municipality (highway municipality). It seems that General Catapang has prematurely declared the incapacitation of the BIFFs. Indeed they (BIFFs) have dispersed in small groups but they still have capacity to regroup on their own time and place.

Three days ago, a much projected activity of national and regional officers which included Secretary Butch Abad of the Department of Budget and Management, General Gregorio Pio Catapang, Jr and Governor Mujiv Hataman had trooped to the municipality of Mamasapano to launch the building of the famous bridge of Mamasapano and other infrastructures. A not so good acting and posturing to cover up the past and long neglect of the national and regional governments to municipalities like Mamasapano. It would help very much if one tries to look at the miserable situations of other municipalities in the Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) or particularly in the province of Maguindanao. Amidst the billions of pesos which have been poured in and made available to these areas, the people remained incredibly poor or even have become poorer as administration changes from one to the other. In fact it will help a lot if a thorough and objective audit will be done from the time of the creation of an expanded ARMM (2001) to the present. At least people can see where are Tens of billions of pesos they paid as taxes have been spent. This becomes more important in the context of President Aquino slogan of having “Matuwid na Daan” as applied in the ARMM. This is very timely since the six year term of the President is about to end. But, this audit activity becomes most important in the current context of building the Bangsamoro which again requires several billions of pesos coming from the peoples’ tax and in effect depriving the budgetary needs of other regions for the sake of building peace of the government with the MILF.

The budgetary needs in building the Bansamor;o is now subject of Congressional debates (between Senate and the Government Peace Panel – GPH Peace Panel). It should be made clear that the peace building activities are priceless. One can never put a price in pursuing peace - that is – if this peace is both sustainable and inclusive. But this is another story. 

The much projected national and regional activity of building bridge in Mamasapano and other socio-economic projects for the people there should really be put into its proper perspective. If this is a cover up of the past neglect – then it should really start in building the economic-socio and political infrastructures. Just like in many if not all areas in Maguindnao or other parts of ARMM what have been functioning are the informal or non-formal social, economic and political structures. State institutions (except schools) have not functioned in these areas and the financiers and its kind are the ones who have the control of the State functions in underground and informal manner. In events like wars, armed conflicts and clan wars (rido) those people involve in these activities have to run to the financiers to loan money to start and sustain their activities. Even for the Internal Revenue Allocation (IRA) which a government unit receives regularly (but always delayed) the LGU has to run to the financiers in their own way to make a loan with excessive interests. In effect the financiers have the effective control of the LGU and its activities.

A very good case in point is the 5th class municipality like Mamasapano. Next year there will be the local and national elections and yet Governor Toto Mangudadatu – the governor of Maguindnao has never set his foot in Mamasapano and in many if not all municipalities of the second District of Maguindanao. This is for obvious reason and that is- the Ampatuan controlled these territories. The governor of the ARMM, if not for the January 25, 2015 failed police operation could not have come and visit the Mamasapano municipality or other municipalities of Maguindanao for that matter. It would mean that for the need of the municipality the Mayor has to rely on other means – like loans from the financiers.

While the bamboo bridge of Mamasapano is a clear sign of past government neglect – the stress here should not be literally the bamboo bridge – but the abject poverty and miserable situations of the people. This leads to many questions. What has happened to the much projected Sadja Hatra or the poverty alleviation program which the President himself launched two (2) years ago in the MILF main camp – Darapanan? Where have those millions go? It has been known that Sadja Hatra projects are under the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace Process (OPAPP) which deals directly to the identified beneficiaries of the MILF/BIAF.  Assuming that the January 25 Mamasapano bloodlust did not happen, and the Bangsamoro Transition government (BTA) would have been set up by June 2015 to May 2016 (election). What could have happened to those municipalities like Mamasapano? Will there be various projects from both Regional and National governments? Will there be miracle overnight transforming the municipalities into vibrant and dynamic political and economic activities? What will be the composition of United Bangsamoro Justice Party (UBJP) the electoral body set up by the MILF to govern the Bangsamoro and LGUs late last year? Should the commanders of the three base commands (Base Commands 105, 106 and 118) compose it? Is Mayor Benzar Ampatuan, the current Mamasapano mayor be included? What about the BIFF, should it morphed into MILF to be part of the government under the Bngsamoro? These questions can also be addressed to other municipalities within and outside the Bangsamoro. But since peoples’ money would have been spent to make this some kind of miracle to happen, further studies should be done so as to help the Congress and the Office of the President to decide in favor of a Sustainable and Inclusive peace.

BUILDING POWER BLOCKS: SPENDING PEOPLES’ MONEY

It will be good to pursue the case of the province of Maguindanao. Since 2001 – when the expanded ARMM was approved through RA 9054, the provincial government has to build three (3) provincial government centers. One is in the town of Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao. This was built up earlier during the time when the Mastura Clan (with Candao) had controlled of the province. The Clan has its own power based in the town of Sultan Kudarat. When the Ampatuan Clan took over the province, they had to create an “ambush me” situation so as to have serious reasons to have the provincial seat of power transfer to Shariff Aguak – the power base of the Ampatuans. They have to build (just like Sultan Kudarat) another multi-million pesos (if not billions) building for the province. But just like the buildings in Sultan Kudarat, the Shariff Aguak provincial government buildings have not been used and have been fast deteriorating. Peoples’ money have been spent to these buildings and people every time they pass by on the roads where they can literally see the shameful and wasteful spending of their own money. When Governor Toto Mangudadatu was elected provincial governor (after the 2009 Maguindanao Massacre) he also set up his own provincial center in his own power base – Buluan, Maguindanao, where one has to pass the provinces of North Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat to reach the place. When can we stop spending peoples’ money to build buildings to satisfy the interest of a particular clan and group? It should be but proper to call for audits on all those projects because peoples’ money have been spent in the most wasteful manner.

No government official from the President to ARMM governors have raised points on these blatant abuse in spending the peoples’ money. For instance, in the case of the Ampatuans, the government or even the BIR Commissioner Henares have not raised the points of their excessive wealth and money. Are they paying exact taxes? Currently, they are trying to buy justices from the courts and to the relatives of the 2009 Maguindanao Massacre victims in order to be free in time of 2016 elections. One of them has been freed already by posting bail bond worth Php11.5Millions.

As mentioned earlier, one of the topics to be discussed in Congress will be about finances and the budget needed to set up the Bangsamoro, it will be very helpful to consider the abovementioned points. It is even timely to consider now or to anticipate such important point since a new Bangsamoro Political entity should be build up. How many more buildings should be build? Cotabato City has decided through a Sangguning P0anlunsod resolution late last year, to be excluded in the Bangsamoro, what will happen to the multi-million ARMM building located in the city? Will the MILF build a Regional complex in its main camp – Darapanan?

The stress here is not the physical buildings but the manifestations and symbols behind the physical infrastructures. Obviously, the need for unity among and between clans is urgently needed in the province of Maguindanao lone. How can one build a Bangsamoro political entity amidst this great divide? How can the MILF unite these clans because they are part of the Bangsamoro? And we are just talking here about Maguindanao, what about Lanao del Sur and the island provinces?

Again, building a bridge in Mamasapano is a good propaganda for President and his Administration but it needs more than the physical infrastructure – it is the socio-economic and political infrastructures which are badly needed. If billions of money will be poured in in these areas and the people, there should also be infrastructures to ensure that taxes be collected and should be give priorities as well. One can not always justify the blatant neglect and historical injustice to be passive and mendicant in the current quest for just and equitable society we want to build. The government that should be build as result of the struggle for right to self determination should be the one which will help eradicate economic exploitation, political isolation and cultural alienation – in short erase the National Oppression and its current manifestations. Anything short term than this, is simply mainstreaming activities – and no political and economic value added to the national liberation movement. One should deserve the government that it wants to have.

ARMM – A FAILED POLITICAL EXPERIMENT? OR FAILED POLITICAL WILL?

At this point one cannot really understand the Statement of both the President and the MILF that the ARMM (expanded) is a failed political experiment. In fact they both agreed that a new Bangsamoro cannot be set up on this kind of political entity.

But if one tries to examine the content of the BBL, many in its provisions have been culled out from the RA 9054 which created the expanded ARMM, like the terms of territorial scope. It (BBL) even includes the result of 2001 plebiscite expanding the areas of Bangsamoro (six municipalities of Lanao del Norte and 39 barrios of North Cotabato) when people decided to be included in the ARMM, they did so because they believed that it was the MNLF who were leading in the conduct of the 2001 plebiscite (Nur Misuari group boycotted the plebiscite) but it is besides the point – that is- it was an MNLF activity and possibly if it was done by the MILF people might have different view and could have opted not to be included in the ARMM.

One can also see many economic provisions from the expanded ARMM which have become integral part of the proposed BBL.

SO ONE WONDERS, WHY DID the ARMM Fail? It has not been perfect but it has been a product of the political settlement between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) which for a while the MILF had been part. It has also been a product of the historical struggle for Right to Self-Determination of the Moro People to eliminate the national oppression which brought about so much miseries and sufferings on the Moro Peoples. More than 150,000 lives had been lost because of such struggle. The blood of the martyrs of the Moro Mujahiddens from both MNLF and MILF and those who died in OPLAN MERDEKA had been offered as sacrifice to the altar of justice and freedom.

It could not be a failure. The struggle of the Moro people now as led by the MILF is an integral part of the century-old struggle of the Moro People for Self-Determination. The Bangsamoro Politicial Entity is the current manifestation of the Bangsamoro struggle. As it has been shown, it (political entity) does not just fall from heaven, rather it is a political block build on other blocks set up by the Mujahiddens ad its martyrs in the past and has continued at present in its current form and substance and led by the MILF. Forgetting such historical past will be fatal for it could only bring a very uncertain future.

If the failure has been referred to the ARMM administrations after the MNLF (Misuari and F. Hussien) especially the Ampatuan period then it was because they did not follow or not be consistent with the struggle for right to self determination as manifested in the provisions in the RA 9054. It is very clear that it was not RA 9054 which has failed, it was the people including Misuari who did not fully agree with the autonomous provisions as part of their political settlement with the GRP. It has been the failure of the MNLF and those who supported them, including foreign governments and entities which helped in the failure to realize the appropriate political expression as well as appropriations at that time of the struggle to right to self determination in the form of autonomy. The appearance of people and clans like the Ampatuans is the most concrete picture of what failure means. The coming into existence of radical Islamic fundamentalist groups like Abu Sayyaf and other networks of Jemaah Islamiyaah is a clear proof that Moro Revolutionary groups like MNLF had failed in the realization of the Bangsamoro’s quest for national liberation and freedom. These Islamic Fundamentalist groups and their movements have tried to fill in the gaps left vacuum by the MNLF – and they seem to fall and take roots in the fertile ground on the Moro peoples sufferings and miseries. These concrete political experiences should give valuable lessons especially for the MILF. Because if by failure, they have in mind the people behind the past and current ARMM officials then it is just a little part of that failure. They should study and review what the framework of the ARMM is. Does it address those reasons behind why there is such a national oppression and has never faded away inspite of so many economic and political investments poured in and allocated into it? What are the reasons behind of the MNLF’s divisions into several groups especially after the 1996 final peace agreement? Answers to these questions can help very much in setting up the new Bangsamoro political entity. There is an urgent need to have an objective appraisal on the historicity of the Moro struggle for their right to self determination in order to understand the current set up and become much prepared for the future.

NATIONAL PEACE SUMMIT (NPS): HEARING ONLY THE VOICES FROM ABOVE

The setting up of peace council by the President to further discuss the provisions of the BBL, is no different from the act of physical building the Mamasapano bridge. If there is one thing that should be learned from these Presidential initiatives – it is the superficial if not a very shallow appraisal and understanding of the situations of Mindanao and of the country. Any activity with this regards should be part of the macro development framework of the country. Activities like the much projected building of a bridge in Mamasapano is just for show at best and band aid solution at its worst. What will be the purpose of a physical bridge if the essential bridge for life will not be facilitated to flourish? Priority should be given on building economic and political structures to replace the informal political and economic machineries which currently exist in the municipality of Mamasapano and in many if not all the municipalities in the ARMM and the whole country. The setting up and strengthening of formal government infrastructures can help government officials to become responsible and accountable to the people.

The people who were appointed by the President to compose the Peace Council are indeed well known personalities in their own fields. But they simply belong to the elite and can hardly hear the voices of the broad section of the three peoples from below in Mindanao in whose name the BBL is proposed. One can just imagine what will happen in April 6, 2015 the day when the National Peace Council is convened to discuss the BBL.

Besides one wonders why the President has called for the convening of the National Peace Council. Actually it is an indirect admission that the so called wide spread and broadest consultations with different stakeholders initiated by the OPAPP and the GPH and MILF Peace panels before the Mamasapano bloodlust were just information drives and not hearing the voices of the peoples.

But assuming that after a lightning which hits the President and illuminating his mind to call for a national Peace summit, it should be a some kind of wakeup call which tells them the basic truth that their version of the BBL has not been acceptable to the majority of people in Mindanao or in the ARMM. This means that if there was no January 25, 2015 Mamasapano fiasco of the police operation these oppositions and genuine peoples’ voices would just be permanently stifled and silenced.

The convening of the NPS to discuss important political issues like the BBL is indeed very important but is should be done as integral part of the democratic consultative processes and not to neutralize and deodorize the Presidential blunders.

Conclusion

It is just a little more than one year (14 months to be exact) before the national and local elections, the President and his administration should unite its acts together in order to face squarely the burning political issues at hand. For instance, the meeting of minds between the executive and the legislative is very important. It should be best if the judiciary can come in and join in the unifications so as to face MILF and its peace proposal as one. Disunity among and between the government branches and machineries are not only giving the BBL and the peace process  for free and exclusive for the MILF but will be again a huge waste of peoples’ time and resources.

The worst thing to happen will be creating a political entity in Mindanao which divides the people rather than unites them to work together for the attainment of just, sustainable and inclusive peace.

This is just like building walls of division rather than building unity among and between the three peoples in Mindanao.

The failure to do these basic activities of unification can result to another serious blunder and it will be the thousands if not millions of people in ARMM or in Mindanao who will pay the price and become collateral damage.

The building of the Mamasapano Bridge and the convening of the NPS should be seen in the context of correcting the past neglect of the government in planting the seeds and nurturing them to bear fruits of peace. The government as well as the MILF should always transcend from their own needs and interests. After all the Bangsamoro Political Entity is not only exclusive to the MILF – people in a realized Bangsamoro do not only belong to the MILF, they include other people and other political groups.

The Bangsamoro government should be built in a strong foundation – that is – based on justice. The struggle to get justice to the families of the 2009 Maguindanao massacre should be given due attention and priority. The loss of lives in the botched PNP/SAF operation in Mamasapano should be given immediate attention and the perpetrators must be brought to justice. It will be very decisive moves if justice and indemnification of the victims of the massacres of the 2008 MOA-AD should be given priority as well.

Making these steps for justice and indemnification will surely pave the way into looking and correcting the historical injustices done to the Bangsamoro as well as the Indigenous People in the ARMM areas and in Mindanao.

These processes if done immediately and correctly should soften the way of building just and sustainable peace.

The remaining days of the Aquino administration if done properly and work towards such direction can rightly claim a durable legacy in the country during the last phase of his term. Surely he will be remembered on the same level if not higher than his parents. This is more than receiving a prestigious award of the Nobel Peace Prize.