DAVAO CITY, Philippines—All presidential candidates except the three who have consistently topped the surveys were at the presidential forum at the Ateneo de Davao University here on Tuesday, and they disappointed sectoral representatives on their stance on such Mindanao issues as the peace process, mining, agriculture.

Present during the forum were Senators Richard Gordon and Jamby Madrigal, former Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro, JC Delos Reyes, Eddie Villanueva and Nicanor Perlas.

Liezl Bugtay, media officer of the non-governmental group Alternate Forum for Research in Mindanao (AFRIM), said the forum exposed one thing: “most presidentiables delivered general statements on their take on Mindanao.”

“The peace process for instance— they said something about fast-tracking the peace process but on how to go about it? It was not clear,” she said.

Madrigal was cheered on when she took a swipe at Villar’s advertisements, and Teodoro’s failure to check the proliferation of firearms and the presence of private armies in Mindanao.

“The private armies are the product of traditional politicians. Private armies are the cheating machineries of the people in power… of the government. The loose firearms and the private armies show the failure of the Department of National Defense,” she said, after which the crowd cheered loudly.

The Arroyo administration, she said, allowed a man— Andal Ampatuan Sr. whose sons were allegedly involved in the November 23 Ampatuan Massacre of 57 people— to “amass power, money only because he cheated for GMA (Presidents Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo).”

“Private armies, without the support of the government, will fall... what has to be done to them (Ampatuans) is to put them to jail, if not cut their heads off,” she said.

She also faulted the Arroyo administration for the “mismanaged peace talks.”

“The Arroyo administration mismanaged the peace process because it never wanted Mindanao to have peace. (The President) sent eleven infantry battalions in Mindanao instead of pursuing a genuine peace agreement with the parties involved,” Madrigal said.

Perlas, on the other hand, said the peace process in Mindanao was a big failure because of the political patronage system not only of the present administration but also of the previous ones. What happened in Nov. 23, he said, was a symptom of this failure.

“We have to shatter the structural problems of the society that creates the problem. We have to dismantle private armies as we pursue peace negotiations with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and try to forge a peace agreement with the New People’s Army,” Perlas said.

For Teodoro, Mindanao can become a peaceful region if the national government will support local peace initiatives.

“There is no one peace process in Mindanao. We have the products of the previous peace negotiations—the 1970s Tripoli Agreement, 1996 Final Peace Agreement, and now we are trying to come up with a final peace agreement,” he said.

He said that peace in Mindanao must be based on the realities of Mindanao. This paradigm, he said, must be laid down by the people of Mindanao and must be supported and strengthened by the national government.

Gordon, on the one hand, said the peace initiatives in Mindanao failed because of lack of consultations with the people.

The candidates’ answers were not the only source of frustration. Although most of the students present at the Panaghisgut-hisgut (Debate) sa 2010 sponsored by the Integrated Bar of the Philippines Davao Chapter were obviously fans of Teodoro, many of them said they would have wanted to see presidential candidates Benigno Aquino Jr. and Manny Villar.

Ash Lagon, a business administration student, said the failure of Aquino and Villar to join the forum robbed the students of the right to be informed “first hand.”

Lawyer Petite Principe, an officer of the IBP-Davao, said Aquino never confirmed his attendance at the forum because of his conflicting schedules. His staff, Principe said, told the organizers that Aquino was in Tarlac at the time of the forum.

Villar, on the other hand, begged off last week, citing previous schedules. Also absent was former President Joseph “Erap” Estrada. Principe said that Estrada declined the invitation.

Student Tom Louis Herrera, an Aquino fan, said he felt bad when he learned that Aquino was not coming over. He, too, wanted to hear Aquino lay down his platform. Some of his teachers, he said, were campaigning for Aquino.

Also wanting to see Aquino and Villar in the flesh were students Maria Kaylan Sy and Allyssa Pasilbas who both admitted to have been impressed by the answers of Teodoro. The two were among those who loudly cheered every time Teodoro answered questions.

“The forum was not complete because they’re not here. I am kind of frustrated because I was expecting that I will be able to hear them lay down their plans for the country, for the youth, for Mindanao today,” said Sy, an information technology student.

Representatives from the sectors of women, lumads, youth, and civil society groups also attended the forum, which ended with the candidates signing a manifesto for clean and honest elections.