Estrada tells Aquino Moro ‘substate’ bid a rehash
What substate? Ridiculous!
Deposed President Joseph Estrada on Friday took aim at President Benigno Aquino III’s emerging policy on the secessionist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), criticizing Mr. Aquino’s vaunted secret meeting with MILF chair Murad Ebrahim and declaring the rebels’ demand for a Muslim substate as “ridiculous.”
Estrada, who waged an all-out war against the MILF during his abbreviated term, said Mr. Aquino gave “far too much importance” to Murad when he agreed to sit down with him in a secret meeting in Tokyo last week to “fast-track” the peace talks.
He warned Mr. Aquino to be wary of the rebel group’s demand for the establishment of a so-called substate as a condition for any peace agreement.
Same old demand
He said the new demand was no different from the MILF’s failed effort to establish a so-called Bangsamoro Juridical Entity (BJE) under the 2008 Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) which was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court following an outcry from legislators and various interest groups.
“What substate? They’re just changing the names. In the long run, you’ll see that they will still go for a Bangsamoro republic,” he said, noting that it was contained in the old BJE proposal to establish a sovereign region in the south complete with its own security force and banking system.
Sovereignty non-negotiable
“If that plan pushed through, we would have been required to secure a visa to travel to Mindanao—that’s how ridiculous that idea was,” he said.
Estrada said the President should remain resolute against any effort to “dismember the country.”
“We can negotiate with them, give in to some of their demands, but sovereignty is non-negotiable,” he said.
“The duty of the President and commander in chief of the Armed Forces is to protect our territorial integrity at all cost,” Estrada said.
Estrada said the government should hammer out a peace agreement with the MILF within “three to six months.”
Mr. Aquino earlier said he wanted a deal before he stepped down in 2016, a time frame which Estrada considers as “too long.”
“Our people in Mindanao have long been suffering. We have to have a peace agreement soon,” he said.
Revert to secession
An MILF negotiator, Michael Mastura, on Thursday said the Muslim rebel group would settle for nothing less than a “substate” whose political structure he described as being similar to those of Scotland and Northern Ireland.
(The latter two, with England and Wales, comprise the four countries in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. There are three devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.)
Should the demand not be met, Mastura said the MILF would revert to its old position calling for secession.
“We will not move out of substate. We have already moved from independence,” Mastura said.
Reacting to Mastura’s remarks, Mr. Aquino on Friday said peace negotiators should “be problem solvers rather than antagonists.”
He said this was what Murad himself had told him at their Tokyo meeting.
Apprehensions, reservations
“I am very hopeful that this is indicative that there is an intense desire to achieve a just and comprehensive peace agreement,” the President said.
A Mindanao-based Catholic bishop on Friday joined various individuals and groups who have expressed reservations over the MILF demand for a Muslim substate.
“If the provisions and components of the ‘substate’ are that of the MOA-AD, then there are reasons to be apprehensive on this issue,” said Basilan Bishop Martin Jumoad.
He noted that the MILF has said that the new proposal would incorporate elements of the rejected MOA-AD.
Jumoad said the government and rebel negotiators should ensure that there would be no repeat of the problems that surrounded the MOA-AD.
He said the people should also be informed thoroughly concerning all further negotiations and discussions about the peace proposals.
“This issue must be discussed and brought to the village level. Consultations must be exhaustive. It should not be done in a hurry as a small mistake may result in a lifelong regret,” Jumoad said.
Also on Friday, Mr. Aquino said it was still premature to talk about the constitutional amendments that would be needed to accommodate the MILF proposal for a substate.
“The actual details of the agreement have yet to be produced. The agreement between the negotiating panels will be brought before all stakeholders. Then that would tell us what is necessary,” he said. With Norman Bordadora and Jerome Aning
