ARMM to embark on peace accord info drive

COTABATO CITY, Philippines—The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) will spend about P10 million on an extensive information campaign aimed at making ordinary people understand what the so-called framework agreement between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front is all about.

ARMM Governor Mujiv Hataman said the information drive could start after government and MILF  representatives sign the agreement, aimed at ending the Moro rebellion in the south, in ceremonies to be presided over by President Benigno Aquino in Malacañang  on Monday.

“We don’t want a repeat of the past mistake,” Hataman said, referring to the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD), which was heavily criticized and which was eventually stricken down by the Supreme Court.

He said the public regarded the MOA-AD as a “secret document” because there was no information drive on it.

Hataman said the P10 million the regional government planned on spending to make the framework agreement understood by the public would be coming from his office’s special purpose fund.

“Right now, we hear praises and adverse criticisms on the framework agreement— misconceptions and apprehensions — that’s why we need to have this massive information drive that would reach the grassroots level,” he said.

Among those being planned are barangay consultations and the printing of copies of the framework agreement for distribution in areas proposed under the new Bangsamoro entity.

Hataman said the output of the consultations will be forwarded to the Transition Commission, which will draft the basic law of the new entity  for consideration by Congress.