JPE: PEACE TALKS W/ MILF DOOMED FROM START / BOC CHIEF QUITTING POST
MANILA, AUGUST 25, 2011 (TRIBUNE) By Angie M. Rosales, Mario J. Mallari and Gerry Baldo - Peace negotiations with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) have been doomed from the start, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said yesterday, pointing out the constitutional issues hampering the demands made by the separatist group.
"I expected that it (peace talks) will bog down, and I expect that it will always bog down. I never had any doubt that it will bog down. How can you negotiate something when in effect it will violate your Constitution? All of us, we do not want our Constitution to be violated," he said.
The Senate chief pointed out that nowhere in the provisons of the Constitution does it call for the creation of a sub-state in the southern region of the country.
Enrile noted that reports on the demands made by the MILF, to establish a sub-state in Muslim Mindanao, separate from the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), is similar to dismembering the country.
"No self-respecting president of this country will accept a dismemberment of the country during his watch or any violation of the Constitution," he said.
"I don't think any president, including President Aquino, would be willing to violate the Constitution," Enrile added.
He warned that if President Aquino agrees to the creation of a subs-state, "he will expose himself to a possible impeachment if he will violates the Constitution."
He stressed that a sub-state does not exist in the Constitution as provisions of the country's Charter only talks of the "Republic, provinces, cities, municipalities, barangay. That's all. There is no sub-state, there's no such thing...and autonomy of course, that's specified, Cordillera autonomy and ARMM. I have not read any word about the sub-state in the Constitution."
The MILF also cannot demand for two seats in the Senate.
"By what right do they have that? And then we will also demand 100 seats in the substate. Is that what they want?" he asked.
In his pessimism on the success of the peace negotiation, Enrile said an internal conflict could not be settled "unless one side will give way and I don't think a Filipino will agree to surrender the government...to surrender the prerogative of the Filipino people."
Enrile, however, said Aquino cannot be faulted for engaging in a supposed exploratory talks with MILF leaders in Japan saying that such did not actually put to naught government's efforts in reviving peace talks with the group.
Aquino ally in the House of Representatives, Deputy Speaker Erin Tañada yesterday said the government peace panel should not get discouraged by the refusal of the MILF to accept the economic and political solutions proposed by the GRP (Government of the Philippines).
"It should not discourage the government. What is important is that both sides continue to talk to each other," he said, maintaing that the setback should, all the more, encourage the Aquino government to find other solutions that would be acceptable to both parties.
Cavite Rep. Joseph Emilio Abaya, chairman of the House committee on appropriations, explained the rejection from the MILF camp is part of the negotiation process.
Rep. Tupay Loong of Sulu, chairman of the House committee on Muslim affairs, said the peace talks should continue in the light of the coming ARMM elections.
House committee on good government and public accountability chairman and Iloilo Rep. Jerry Trenas said that a peace agreement with the MILF can catapult the entire nation from being a Third World nation into a major economic power in Asia.
Trenas said that a 2006 "unclassified/for official use only" cable from the US Embassy in Manila showed that based on US assessment "the Philippines may have untapped mineral worth between US $840 billion and US $1 trillion" in Mindanao.
He noted that Mindanao's mineral wealth alone can jumpstart the country's economy and turn the nation into an economic giant in a very short period of time.
"However, this can only become a reality if peace and security have been established and secessionist groups such as the MILF have returned to the fold of mainstream society and armed bandits such as those belonging to the Abu Sayaff Group have been completely neutralized," Trenas said.
"With this report, I'm convinced more than ever that our key to finally become a first world nation is to bring peace and development in Mindanao... Peace in Mindanao can be President Aquino's single, most important legacy for the Filipino people," he added.
Trenas also appealed to the minority bloc, which demanded the disclosure of government peace panel members' proposal for MILF, and instead support the Aquino administration in its bid to secure a peace deal with the MILF that instead of throwing all sorts of impediments.
For its part, the MILF peace panel yesterday said the government's proposed draft is not meant to solve the Mindanao conflict, instead it is designed to prolong it.
In a statement over www.luwaran.com, MILF chief negotiator Mohagher Iqbal officially recommended the rejection of the GRP proposed draft agreement, citing several reasons, before the MILF Central Committee.
Iqbal branded the GPH panel draft as "way below the MILF expectation. The MILF peace panel thought that the Aquino administration had a better formula than the previous administrations in addressing the Moro question and armed conflict in Mindanao."
The draft has no meeting point with the MILF peace panel draft; hence, will not fast track the negotiation as agreed by Aquino and Murad in Japan last Aug. 4, said Iqbal.
Iqbal also said that the unbridled domination of the Philippine government over the Moros through the unitary setup of government is not only maintained but reenergized or reentrenched.
Lastly, Iqbal said that "practically, the GTP draft derogated all signed agreements or documents including the historic Tripoli Agreement of Peace of 2001."
According to Iqbal, the MILF Central Committee has the final say whether it will sustain or reverse the panel's recommendation.
He explained that the MILF proposal is the product of 14 years of bargaining and compromises, while the GRP draft, except for a few lifting from the botched Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MoA-AD) and the Feb. 9, 2011 MILF draft of the proposed comprehensive compact, started practically from scratch.
Iqbal said many of the provisions of the MILF draft were earlier agreed by the GRP and MILF especially those referring to the "consensus points", which the GRPand MILF peace panels agreed to "reframe" in order to bring them over to the proposed comprehensive compact.
The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) meanwhile is not making any security adjustment even after the MILF's rejection.
At a press briefing yesterday, AFP spokesman Commodore Miguel Jose Rodriguez said the military does not see the latest development as the end of the peace negotiations.
"What is being said as their rejection has no effect to our deployment of forces. We are not looking at any direct linkage to what is happening on the ground," said Rodriguez
"We understand that when they (MILF) don't agree, it's not the end of negotiation…there is still processes and we understand that," added Rodriguez.
The AFP is not also looking at possible treacherous attacks coming from the MILF ranks after the MILF did not accept the government proposal.
However, the AFP spokesman acknowledged the possibility that violence may erupt again as in 2008 but stressed the AFP is ready to thwart any disruption to peace in Mindanao.
Relatedly, MILF vice chairman for political affairs Ghadzali Jaafar also yesterday said the MILF leadership is studying the government's proposal submitted during the Kuala Lumpur meet.
Jaafar, however, said the government's proposal did not answer the MILF's proposed comprehensive compact agreement, instead, presented a totally different proposal.
The MILF official said the MILF peace panel does not have the authority to adopt official position of the MILF as an organization.
"The MILF peace panel cannot accept the proposal of the government right there and then…the MILF peace panel will present the GRP proposal to us (MILF Central Committee), the central committee will study and discuss this during a meeting," said Jaafar.
Aquino unaware of Alvarez resignation; Biazon likely to replace Customs chief 08/25/2011
Malacañang yesterday downplayed speculations that Customs Commissioner Angelito Alvarez (photo) has resigned and that former Muntinlupa City Rep. Ruffy Biazon, a colleague of President Aquino in the Liberal Party (LP), will be taking over the Bureau of Customs.
"The President is not aware of the resignation of Commissioner Alvarez," presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda clarified, reiterating that as far as Aquino is concerned, Alvarez remains at the Customs helm.
Deputy presidential spokesman Abigail Valte made the same remarks when asked by Palace reporters.
"We can't say at the moment because we have not been advised of any other appointments other than the one of (Neric) Acosta," she said, referring to the Liberal Party stalwart's designation as presidential adviser for environmental protection, a Cabinet rank that is under the Office of the President.
Biazon is the son of former senator and now Muntinlupa Rep. Rodolfo Biazon, who served as chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines during the time of the late President Cory Aquino, the mother of Aquino.
Alvarez earned the ire of several members of the House of Representatives due to the reported 2,000 missing container vans in the port of Manila, where the government allegedly lost some P240 million in potential revenues recently.
But the BoC chief refused to step down, describing calls for his removal from office as "unjust and undeserved."
"Some people have lost sight of the fact that it was I who uncovered the missing container scam and that I had ordered the concerned officials of the bureau to explain the discrepancy in the transhipment data long before the start of the congressional inquiry on this matter," Alvarez said.
But no less than Aquino himself had expressed his displeasure at how things are going at Customs, where smuggling apparently goes unabated, and told Palace reporters earlier that Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima wanted to keep Alvarez.
Purisima is Alvarez's boss, since the BoC is under the Department of Finance. 30
Meanwhile, election losers allied with the Aquino are now beginning to reap rewards of their defeat by getting government posts now that the appointment ban on defeated candidates had lapsed.
After the appointment of defeated vice presidential candidate Manuel "Mar" Roxas as Transportation and Communications secretary, now comes defeated senatorial candidate former Bukidnon Rep. Neric Acosta.
Acosta's announcement came almost three months since Aquino announced that he will create an office for his LP ally, who lost in his bid to become a senator in the May 2010 elections.
His appointment papers were signed yesterday.
"By virtue hereof, you may qualify and enter upon the performance of the duties of the office, furnishing this office (OP) and the Civil Service Commission with copies of your oath of office."
Acosta is the second defeated senatorial LP candidate who has joined the Cabinet, next to Roxas, who was appointed to the DoTC last June 30 following the resignation of Jose "Ping" de Jesus. Virgilio Bugaoisan
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Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
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