Moro leaders to study Catalan autonomy for peace framework

Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu. AP FILE PHOTO

COTABATO CITY – Moro government leaders will fly to Barcelona, Spain in a bid to draw lessons from the Catalan autonomy, which could be used as input in drafting the final peace deal with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

“This is an ocular study on how to help resolve the demand of the people for self-determination,” Maguindanao Governor Esmael Mangudadatu said.

Mangudadatu said the weeklong sojourn to the Spanish autonomous region – which will be participated in by the five governors of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao provinces, regional lawmakers and other Moro officials – would start on October 23 and will be headed by Presidential Peace Adviser Teresita Deles.

Why Catalonia?

Mangudadatu said the centuries-old struggle for independence by the Catalans was akin to the struggle of the Bangsamoro.
Like the Bangsamoro, the Catalans have their own languages (Catalan and Occitan), which are mixtures of French, Polish and Spanish and other Roman-based languages.

Catalonia first became an autonomous region in 1931 but that status was ignored by General Francisco Franco, who came to power when the Spanish Civil War ended in 1939.

When Franco died in 1975, Catalonia reverted to its autonomous status and was now even considered a “nationality” under the Spanish constitution.

It is now one of Spain’s economically dynamic regions, with Barcelona as its center of government.

Mangudadatu said Catalonia was still restive and Moro leaders wanted to know why.

He said they were hoping that they could draw lessons from the Catalan experience so that problems besetting the region could be avoided when the Bangsamoro entity finally comes into form.

Governor-in-charge Mujiv Hataman said among the lessons they wanted to derive from the Catalan experience was how wealth was being shared between Madrid and Barcelona.

Under the Framework Agreement, the national government and the Bangsamoro entity will divide revenues although the scheme would later be defined in the formulation of the final peace treaty, he said.