SPECIAL REPORT: WILL POLL DELAY HELP MOVE PEACE PROCESS, MORO SUB-STATE?
[PHOTO - Philippine President Benigno Aquino (R) meets Al Haj Murad Ibrahim, a chairman of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), in Tokyo, August 4, 2011. Aquino met the leader of the country's largest Muslim separatist rebel group at a Tokyo hotel]
MANILA, AUGUST 9, 2011 (MANILA TIMES) Written by : Claire Mercado, Writer-Researcher - Although some leaders are against the delay of the elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), a negotiator and an ex-head of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) believe that it may help advance the peace process.
How about the creation of the MILF's proposed Moro sub-state?
MILF's official position on the regional election delay is non-involvement. But last June 24, InterAksyon.com reported that MILF chief peace negotiator Mohagher Iqbal "has acknowledged that postponing the regional polls…can have 'practical benefits' to the Mindanao peace process."
Advancing the peace process and instituting reforms in Muslim Mindanao are two of the well-intentioned objectives of President Benigno Aquino 3rd for aggressively pushing for the passage of Republic Act 10153, which provides for the synchronization of ARMM polls with the 2013 national elections and for the appointment of officers in charge (OICs) for the interim ARMM government and the officials of the provinces of the region.
Interestingly, lawyer Eid Kabalu, former head of the civil-military affairs department of MILF, told Manila Times columnist and former North Cotabato governor Manny Piñol that a reformed ARMM could help improve the lives of Moros. He even admitted that he wants to be appointed interim head of the ARMM.
But since the MILF Central Committee is enjoining officials of the organization "from participating [in] and accepting political positions in the ARMM," Kabalu said he tendered his resignation from his very important MILF position.
The current issue of Luwaran, the official website of the MILF Central Committee, has a copy of the MILF Central Committee June 23 resolution "confirming the termination of Eid Kabalu as chief of the Civil-Military Affairs Department and Spokesperson of the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF) of the MILF." The resolution also "enjoins MILF officials to refrain from participating and accepting political positions in the ARMM."
The resolution was signed by the MILF Central Committee's secretary Muhammad Ameen and attested by Chairman Al Haj Murad Ebrahim.
It is not clear if the resolution conflicts with what Iqbal had in mind when, according to the Aksyon report, he said "having an interim leadership for the ARMM will ease the needed adjustments towards establishing new institutions and mechanisms for Moro self-governance, granting that the MILF and government agree on the creation of a Moro sub-state and seal a final peace agreement in the 21 months before the 2013 elections."
The MILF formally proposed the creation of a Moro sub-state as part of the final peace agreement in February at the peace talks in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The proposal reportedly aims to define the powers of the national government and their relationship to that of the Moros.
"Iqbal said that under the sub-state, the Moro people will have control on all aspects, except on national defense, foreign affairs, currency and coinage and postal services," according to a report in Manila Bulletin.
In the same report, Iqbal clarified that the sub-state would still be under the national government of the Philippines. It would not be an independent state and it would not have soldiers only internal security. He also said that should the sub-state be established, "the MILF, chaired by Al Haj Murad, [would] only have a role in the transition period."
This may be what induced President Aquino to hold a meeting on August 4 in Tokyo with the MILF chairman. Philippine government chief negotiator Marvic Leonen said no deals were made in the meeting. But it was a precedent, for that was the first time a Filipino president ever met the head of the MILF.
However, non-Moros are reportedly wary of the creation of the Moro sub-state, fearing that it might be detrimental to them.
For instance, businessman Pedro Rufo, president of the Zamboanga Chamber of Commerce and Industry Foundation, opined in a report in the Philippine Daily Inquirer that this proposed peace agreement "was not different from the previous Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain."
This pact was said to be giving the MILF a larger area of control, but it was ruled by the Supreme Court as unconstitutional.
On one hand, Prof. Julkipli Wadi, dean of the University of the Philippines Institute of Islamic Studies, said in a report in Bulatlat.com that "the MILF is just trying to be creative in presenting an arrangement that would be acceptable to the government."
The UP professor was also quoted in the report saying that the setup of the ARMM is "complicated" and that "there are duplications of functions." He further opined that although federalism is the most systematic arrangement, it would hardly push through as it requires charter change.
"At a time when independence is blasphemous to the Philippine government, the MILF has to resort to political euphemisms so that an arrangement could be formed," Wadi said in the report.
Meanwhile, Nur Misuari, the Chairman Emeritus of the Moro National Liberation Front, called President Aquino's meeting with Al Haj Murad as an act "of abandonment of the MNLF" which signed a "permanent" peace agreement with the Philippine government in 1996. Misuari and the MNLF leadership contends that any new peace agreements between the Phi-lippinmn government and the MILF must only be a development of the 1996 agreement.
That agreement is recognized by the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), the powerful body that groups all the Muslim majority countries.
The Moros who founded the MILF, including Misuari's original MNLF deputy chairman, the late Hashim Salamat, were ex-MNLF members.
EARLIER NEWS REPORT FROM MANILA STANDARD
Clamor mounts against ARMM poll delay by Rey Requejo
Former Negros Oriental Rep. Jacinto Paras has asked the Supreme Court to stop Malacanang from resetting the August election in the Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao to 2013 and appointing officers-in-charge to replace the region's incumbent officials.
In the latest of several petitions opposing the deferment of the poll, Paras sought the immediate issuance of a temporary restraining order to stop the Palace from implementing a new law on the ground that it violated Section 15, Article X of the Constitution that provides autonomy to Muslim Mindanao.
That law (RA 10153) signed by President Aquino last June 30 synchronized the ARMM elections scheduled on Aug. 8 with the mid-term polls in May 2013.
This makes the ARMM no different from the regular cities, provinces and municipalities of the Philippines, Paras said. "Under this set-up, the autonomy guaranteed by the 1987 Constitution to the ARMM is rendered meaningless by Republic Act No. 10153," he said.
Paras assailed a provision in the law signed by President Aquino last June 30 allowing the replacement of all elective ARMM officials with officers-in-charge appointed by the Palace.
"Since these officers-in-charge will owe their office to President Aquino, they will be beholden to the President and not to the constituents of the ARMM. Under this set-up, the autonomy of the ARMM is reduced to fiction," Paras warned.
According to the former congressman, the Aquino law violates Sections 1 and 3, Article XVII of RA 9054 (Expanded Organic Act of the ARMM) that require two-thirds of separate votes of both houses of Congress.
"An Organic Act is the equivalent of the Constitution of a local government unit. For this reason, an Organic Act may not be amended or modified like any ordinary or regular legislative enactment. Republic Act No. 10153 moved the said [ARMM] election to May 2013. Therefore, Republic Act No. 10153 amended Republic Act No. 9054. To be valid, Republic Act No. 10153 must comply with Sections 1 and 3, Article XVII of Republic Act No. 9054," he said.
The new law signed by President Aquino last June 30 has synchronized the ARMM elections scheduled on Aug. 8 with the mid-term polls in May 2013.
Paras filed the case as a taxpayer and claimed he has legal standing since he was among the members of the House of Representatives in 2001 who passed RA 9054 into law. He named as respondents Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa and the Commission on Elections.
Similar cases were earlier filed by House minority leader Rep. Edcel Lagman, election lawyer Romulo Macalintal, Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban), and Muslim leaders.
The high court has not granted the prayer for TRO and has yet to resolve the consolidated cases barely three weeks before the original schedule of the ARMM polls.
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Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
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