New ARMM greeted with hope, caution

ILIGAN CITY—Political leaders in Mindanao welcomed with guarded optimism  the proposed new autonomous political entity that would replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

“In spirit, I see that glittering light illuminating the just agreed upon points of discussion that appear to embody the Bangsamoro aspirations of long ago,” said Vice Mayor Muslimin Sema of Cotabato City, a leader of a faction of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF).

He expressed support for the outcome of the negotiations between the government and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) peace panels in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday.

The two sides agreed to commit to work for the creation of a political entity in place of the ARMM, among the issues in the 10-point agreement that they signed.

The document embodying “10 decision points on principles” will serve as “general directions of the substantive negotiations” geared at crafting a political settlement to end over four decades of Moro rebellion in Mindanao.

Unimplemented provisions

Sema, however, reminded the government to attend to the unimplemented provisions of the 1996 Final Peace Agreement entered into between the MNLF of Nur Misuari and the government under then President Fidel Ramos.

“Although it appears that these dormant provisions (in the GPH-MNLF peace pact) have been included in the enumerated discussion points, we might as well cross our fingers that both panels would end up signing an official peace document that the Bangsamoro people could be proud of,” Sema said.

He said the new political Bangsamoro entity that would replace the ARMM should be a state within a state “where the inhabitants are truly autonomous.”

Nur Misuari, leader of another MNLF faction, refused to issue a statement.

But other local government leaders gave positive reactions.

Zamboanga del Sur Governor Antonio Cerilles said there was nothing to be bothered about regarding the agreement. “I am sure people will be consulted,” he said.

“(Chief government negotiator Marvic) Leonen is a good lawyer and he’ll make sure any peace deal will be acceptable to all sides. So we must not preempt any effort being undertaken because for sure everyone will be consulted,” Cerilles said.

Proposed Moro substate

The MILF’s proposed substate covers the current ARMM as the core territory. Add to this the six Lanao del Norte towns whose voters opted to be part of the regional government in 1989; and 735 adjacent barangays with predominantly Moro population, subject to the  residents’ consent through a plebiscite.

Last year, the government panel said the proposed territory would account for just 17 percent of Mindanao’s total area.

The geographic scope of a new autonomous government for the Moro people has yet to be defined, according to Leonen.

Basilan Representative Jim Hataman said if a new autonomous government was in the offing, “there will be a plebiscite on that and new laws will have to be created.”

Hataman said the ultimate goal was to “achieve a peace agreement where everyone is fully consulted, not just the Muslims but also the indigenous peoples and the Christian communities.”

Zamboanga Sibugay Governor Rommel Jalosjos said: “We will give our full support for as long as Sibugay is not going to be part of its substate.”

But South Cotabato Governor Arthur Pingoy cautioned the government, saying the latest agreement it signed with the MILF might create trouble.

“We need to know the sentiments of the people, not just of the rebel groups,” Pingoy said.

Secular political unit

Leonen characterized the proposed political entity as “a secular political unit existing within the Republic of the Philippines, located within its territory (and) subject to its sovereignty as a state.”

The recent consensus, which was reached last December and formalized into a document last February, is the sixth time the flesh-and-bones of political autonomy are being firmed up in an effort to address the roots of the Moro rebellion.

But it was only the second time for such a process to be done within the context of peace negotiations.

The first was through the Tripoli Agreement of 1976 reached through a Libyan-facilitated negotiation. That time, the MNLF bowed to pressure from Muslim countries to drop its independence campaign and settle for self-governance over historically Moro-dominated areas.

But the MNLF and government took 20 years to agree on the modality of implementing the 1976 pact.

The original area under the Tripoli Agreement corresponded to the territory of what used to be the Moro Province plus Palawan province and its capital, Puerto Princesa City.

The Moro Province was a special governance unit from 1903 to 1913, during the onset of the American colonial period, comprising the five districts of Cotabato, Davao, Lanao, Sulu and Zamboanga which are historically Moro-dominated and governed areas.

In 1976, these districts became the regular provinces of Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, Zamboanga del Sur, Zamboanga del Norte, North Cotabato, Maguindanao, Sultan Kudarat, Lanao del Norte, Lanao del Sur, Davao del Sur and South Cotabato; and the cities of Iligan, Marawi, Cotabato, Dipolog, Dapitan, Zamboanga, Pagadian and General Santos.

Today, two more provinces were added: Sarangani which was carved out of South Cotabato, and Zamboanga Sibugay, which previously was part of Zamboanga del Sur.

There are five more cities: Isabela and Lamitan in Basilan; Kidapawan in North Cotabato; Tacurong in Sultan Kudarat; and Koronadal in South Cotabato.

In a plebiscite in 1989, only the provinces of Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi joined the ARMM. Cotabato City, where its seat of government is located, voted to be excluded from the regional unit.

Marawi City and Basilan province, minus Lamitan City, voted to join the ARMM during a plebiscite in 2001 in a bid to expand the ARMM as part of the 1996 Final Peace Agreement between the government and the MNLF.

Chief rebel negotiator Mohagher Iqbal said a century of being governed under a unitary political system had turned what used to be a predominantly Moro-populated Moro Province into the home of “minoritized” natives, who are ruled by migrants.

“We also lost most of our ancestral lands… Through legalized land grabbing, only around 12 to 15 percent of our original landholdings remain in our hands, all the rest were lost forever,” Iqbal noted.

No confiscatory powers

But Iqbal said the MILF proposal for a comprehensive compact would not grant the future Moro self-governing entity with confiscatory powers over property.

“Rather, it will recognize and respect vested property rights,  although, rights obtained through fraudulent schemes will certainly be dealt with through the appropriate judicial processes,” he added.

“We are only aiming to protect what remained with us now,” Iqbal said.

Jesus Dureza, former presidential adviser for Mindanao, said negotiating peace was not and should not be the exclusive task of the two sides but a communal effort of all stakeholders.

“It’s a virtual watershed. How to make it cascade is crucial. It’s also a road map that everyone must traverse together. How the other stakeholders will come around and converge will determine the final trajectory,” Dureza said in statement sent to the Inquirer.

“Despite the euphoria it truly deserves, the framework agreement is still a long way off from the final peace agreement. But believe me, it can be done. More than ever, the government and MILF panels now need everyone’s support to make it happen,” he added.

Preliminary testing

Leonen said the recently signed document was a “preliminary listing of common points, which the parties have mutually identified, coming from their respective initial positions.”

The MILF’s original proposal was embodied in its February 2011 Revised Comprehensive Compact, although Leonen noted several points in their discussions when the rebel group’s position had gone beyond the document.

Leonen said the commitments of government spelled out in the decision points “can be properly accommodated by our current legal and political realities.”  Reports from Ryan D. Rosauro, Charlie C. Señase, Julie S. Alipala and Jeoffrey Maitem, Inquirer Mindanao

Originally posted at 07:56 pm | Thursday, April 26,  2012