These are the initial list of applicants/nomineeswhose applications/nominations were received by the ARMM Screening Committee Secretariat before the issuance/publication of the Notice to the Public on 19 August 2011. These applicants/nominees are requested to resubmit their applications with complete documentary requirements listed in the Notice on or before 5pm of August 26, 2011.

OIC-Regional Governor

1. Abantas, Zulfikar J.
2. Abubakar, Ismael B.
3. Ali, Omar “Solitario”
4. Ali, Sanchez
5. Alonto Abdani T.
6. Alonto, AbulKhayr D.
7. Alonto-Lucman, Datu Norodin
8. Amir – Hussin, Datu Salipada A.
9. Balangi, Maulana A.
10. Barra, Dr. Hamid A.
11. Boyog-Mama, Datu Yusoph
12. Camlian, Al
13. Candao, Zacaria A.
14. Datimbang, Sultan Bobby M.
15. Dianalan, Jiamil M.
16. Dilangalen, Datu Didagen “DIGS”
17. Dimaporo, Hatta Dimakuta
18. Djamla, Sultan Aleem Abdulmajeed D.
19. Esmael, Abdelnasser V.
20. Hadjinor, AlimAbdulbasit A.
21. Halipa, Sulay H.
22. Hassan, Hatimil E.
23. Hassan, Nur Abubakar
24. Hataman, Mujib S.
25. Husein, Dr. Jaypee Basheer A.Y.
26. Isnaji, Alvarez C.
27. Jaafar, Ghazali
28. Jamhal, iHadja Jeanette D.
29. Kabalu, Mustapha “Eid”
30. Langkuno, Abdulkarim T.
31. Lanto, Macabangkit B.
32. Lucman, Datu Alrashed A.
33. Lucman, Datu Norodin Alonto
34. Maglangit, Raida B.
35. Mambuay, Cader B.
36. Mamondiong, Guiling A.
37. Mangudadatu, Esmael “Toto”
38. Mangudadatu, Pax
39. Mastura, Al – haj, Datu Tucao Ahmad
40. Mastura, Kudarat V, Sultan Abdulaziz Salim D.
41. Mastura, Michael
42. Mimbatas, Aleem Abdul Aziz
43. Moner, Aleem Ansarodin S Lucman
44. Muhammad, Yusoph I. “Datu Oskie”
45. Mujiv, Hataman
46. Pangarungan, Saidamen B.
47. Pundato, Dimasangcay A.
48. Saludin, Saidina Eysa
49. Sani, Punduma B.
50. Saud Al – Haj, Sultan Mangakop U.
51. Sayre, Datu Said Ja- Alain
52. Sadain, Mehol
53. Sema, Datu Muslimin G.
54. Sharief-Ador, Dra. Norma M.
55. Solaiman, Ali – Asgar M.
56. Tago, Paisalin D.
57. Tamano, Salipada S.
58. Tillah, Ide
59. Timuay, Ust. Jayton Jala
60. Ulangkaya, Salipada T.

OIC-Regional Vice Governor

1. Abubakar, Hji Lad Jakaya S.
2. Alonto, Zafrullah M.
3. Datimbang, Bobby M.
4. Hadjinor, Alim Abdulbasit
5. Ladjalahal, Hamid K.
6. Mamondiong, Atty. Guilling
7. Pacalna, Baguinda – Ali Acmad
8. Tago, Paisalin D.

OIC-Regional Legislative Assembly Members

Basilan
1. Abasal, Atal J.
2. Abdurahman, Taib A.
3. Akbar, Omar M.
4. Alam, Mursidi M.
5. Al-Amin, Ahmad Y.
6. Awilun, Abdalun H.
7. Hamja, Jarah A.
8. Hussein, Jaypee Basheer A. Y.
9. Ibama, Amad Julian
10. Insung, Nathan B.
11. Mamang, Mario M.
12. Mujahid, Alim Abdulmuhmin A.
13. Sahao, Albert A.
14. Said, Jubaira S.
15. Salajin Al Hadj, Sakib A.
16. Sampang, Ustadz Datu Jhularab
17. Samsa, Mohammad Alih Mustal
18. Wahi, Abdulsalim K.

Lanao del Sur (1st District)
1. Alonto, Datu Haj Ansari D.
2. Amate, A’lim Saad Ibrahim
3. Balangi, Maulana A.
4. Bansao, Amrosi D.
5. Cali, Paisal I.
6. Disamburun, Alinog M.
7. Dumarpa, FaydahManiri
8. Gandamra, Majul U.
9. Gutoc, Samera A.
10. Ismael, Aquil P.
11. Lanto, Maamor D.
12. Macalangcom, Yussuf Candidato R.
13. Macabangkit, Zaragoza
14. Macaumbos, Datu Jubair L.
15. Madid, Nomaire M.
16. Mapandi, Jr., Gonoranao U.
17. Mitmug, Jr., Rasul Yap
18. Naga, Yasir Pangadapun
19. Pacasum, Saripada Lucman Jr.
20. Rasuman, Magombaya D.
21. Solaiman, Ali-AsgarMacabago
22. Tomawis, Ismael M.

Lanao del Sur (2nd District)
1. Amatonding, Bai Pindao L.
2. Ampaso, Abdulasis L.
3. Balindong, Yasser A.
4. Bantao, Zahrain M.
5. Bashier, Owaida T.
6. Hadjinor, Alim Abdulbasit A.
7. Macadato, Macacuna B.
8. Macapanton, Datu Ibra
9. Pamaloy, Madaraop B.
10. Paramihan, Alonto P.
11. Sumay, Camar D.
12. Tago, Paisalan P.
13. Yahya, Ahmad Tambas L.

Maguindanao (1st District)
1. Abdula, Odin T.
2. Adamat, Dr. Ronald L.
3. Algabre, Shiela
4. Ambolodto, Datu Habib S.
5. Bajunaid, Baglaph M.
6. Baraguir, Manan O.
7. Blao, Datu Khadafy Dilangalen
8. Kusain, Arafat A.
9. Lauban, Datu Marhomsal K.
10. Lidasan, Armando D.
11. Mangutara, Mimbalawag
12. Mastura, Camarod P.
13. Mastura, Habib M.
14. Mastura, Ishak V.
15. Sabpa, Datu Nestor B.
16. Sinsuat,Datu Bimbo Q.
17. Sinsuat, Datu Roonie Q.
18. Zaman, Saipona U.

Maguindanao (2nd District)
1. Amolan, Ramon Mike Z.
2. Ampatuan, Abdel Roden A.
3. Ampatuan, Aladdin I.
4. Ampatuan, Settie Farah M.
5. Bagundang, Kim M.
6. Esmael, Basit K.
7. Lumenda, Bensadie T.
8. Makakena, Saidali M.
9. Mangudadatu, Khadafeh G.
10. Mentang, Datu Pike T.
11. Midtimbang, Datu Nathaneil S.
12. Midtimbang, Midpantao M.
13. Mohammad, Edzrael L.
14. Sabpel, Abdullatip P.

Sulu (1st District)
1. Abubakar, Halman Rene Hernandez
2. Annil, DM, Dr. Amildasa D.
3. Burahan, Nedra S.
4. Gumbahali, Edmund C.
5. Hassan, Alhabsi M.
6. Indanan, SR. Abdurhaman S.
7. Izquerdo-Isahac, Dr. Charina (MPH)
8. Salahuddin, Abijar-E Anam
9. Timuay, Jayton Jala
10. Tingkahan, Rizal Jr. A.
11. Tulawie, Nevocadnizar
12. Ynawat, Nazir H.
13. Tulawie, Benhajar T.

Sulu (2nd District)
1. Alih, Nadia A.
2. Anni, Abdel S.
3. Burahan, Anton
4. Daiman, Nouh M.
5. Daud, Dehama T.
6. Estino, Abdullajid S.
7. Estino, Bensar S.
8. Jauhari, Abdulbasit A.
9. Karimuddin, Abdulwahab Jala
10. Sangkula, Nurudum A.
11. Tulawie, Nurwiza S.

Tawi-Tawi
1. Abubakar, Ponchita S.
2. Ahaja, Bahidjan Rowena K.
3. Alih, Eddie M.
4. Bawasanta, Rodolfo Antoyan
5. Dayan, Al-Trekee Pon
6. Hajiri, Hadji Hadar M.
7. Kadil, Nasser M.
8. Kamaluddin, Mabibi Kiram H.
9. Mahalan, Teddy H.
10. Matolo, Shameera S.
11. Mustapha, Joe Omar
12. Tambut, Amirbahar A.

Province not Indicated
1. Cali, Aboali J.
2. Kamaluddin, MabibKiram H.
3. Lucman, Salamudin
4. Suenan, Romeo D.
5. Abdulwahab, Jala Karimudin
6. Rejie M. Sahali – Generale
7. Adiong, Ansaruddin Abdul Malik Alonto
8. Amirbahar A. Tambat
9. Albert A. Husin
10. Nujay M. Sahali
11. Benito Agham

On other hand, I’m thinking of updating Moro Herald on a regular bi-weekly basis like Monday and Thursday for releases of relevant commentaries on issues and news that deals with Moro People rights to self-determination vis-a-vis with the Filipino People.

If you have questions nor suggestions to improve this blog site nor want to contribute or help in some ways to keep this website running and relevant, go to Contact Us page.

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This RA 9997 pertains to the creation of the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos (NCMF) which then abolishes the name of Office on Muslim Affairs (OMA) and will take over its powers, functions, responsibilities and appropriating funds. It replaced the 23-year-old Office on Muslim Affairs (OMA).

On Section 2 – Declaration of Policy:

It is henceforth the policy of the State to ensure the rights and well-being of Muslim Filipinos with due regard to their behefs, customs, traditons and institutions, as well as to further ensure their contribution to national goals and aspirations and to make them active participants in nation-building.

NCMF coverage shall be both local and national affairs involving Muslim Filipinos that include the implementation of economic, educational, cultural, and infrastructure programs for Muslim Filipino communities.

The Mandate of the Commission is to preserve and develop the culture, tradition, institutions, and well-being of Muslim Filipinos, in conformity with the country’s laws and in consonance with national unity and development.

Composition of the Commission

The Commission shall be composed of nine (9) full-time members who are Muslim Filipinos and shall be headed by a Secretary: Provided, That one (1) of the Commissioners shall come from the women sector, one (1) from the youth sector and another Commissioner shall come from the Ulama sector: Provided, further, That not more than two (2) Commissioners shall come from the same Muslim Filipino tribe at any given time, to ensure a more equitable representation in the Commission. The President shall appoint the regular members of the Commission. The Commissioners shall be academic degree holders and must speak and write fluently the Enghsh and/or Arabic languages. They shall be individuals who possess the highest degree of integrity and have the endorsement of their respective tribes or sectors.

New Commissioners

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo appointed Secretary Bai Omeira Dimakuta Dianalan Lucman – a Moro woman leader as secretary or head of office of the newly created National Commission for Muslim Filipinos (NCMF). Sec. Lucman, is a former undersecretary of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and also served for five years at the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA). She is married to former Ambassador Dr. Alibasher Lucman.

Also appointed as commissioners by the President are Alladin I. Ampatuan (Maguindanao), Solaiman C. Mutia (Lanao del Norte), Hatimil E. Hassan (Basilan), and Raida B. Maglangit (women sector), former mayor of Kapatagan, Lanao del Sur.

Four others are Mufti Jaafar (Tawi-Tawi), Prof. Moner M. Bajunaid (Maguindanao), Atty. Edilwasif T. Baddiri (Sulu, youth sector), and Aleem Sharief Julasiri Abirin (Sulu, ulama sector).

National Commission on Muslim FiIipinos Act of 2009

MILF: New commission for ‘Muslims’ antidote to Moro RSD

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) branded the creation of the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos (NCMF) as nothing but counter-insurgency measure to liquidate the current struggle of the Bangsamoro people for right to self-determination (RSD).

“We have never been Filipinos in our entire life; only those subjects of Spain can rightly assume ‘Filipino” as their nationality,” Muhammad Ameen, chair of the MILF Secretariat, told www.luwaran.com.

He said this showed the government is not really focused and serious in the ongoing GRP-MILF Peace Talks.

“This is imposition, he said, citing a provision of the Tripoli Agreement on Peace on June 22, 2001, to wit: “The negotiation and peaceful resolution of the conflict must involve consultations with the Bangsamoro people free of any imposition in order to provide chances of success and open new formulas that permanently respond to the aspirations of the Bangsamoro people for freedom.”

However, Ameen took exception to the good intention of the legislators who sponsored the bill and all those who supported it.

(The series is an analysis of the draft peace pacts exchanged between the government and Moro Islamic Liberation Front peace panels on January 27, 2010 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The MILF did not show up for discussion the next day claiming the GRP [Government of the Republic of the Philippines] presented nothing new, that it offered “enhanced autonomy” again, an offer rejected in 2000 and 2003.

The two panels met again on March 4 in Kuala Lumpur for a Q and A session on the MILF’s draft Declaration of Principles on Interim Governance Arrangements, an 11-page extract from its proposed Comprehensive Compact. The GRP peace panel vowed to submit its counter-proposal but as of March 18, panel chair Rafael Seguis told MindaNews he has not submitted it because “I have to clear with the National Security Cabinet Group.”

Dialogue Mindanaw, a series of consultations organized by the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP), is supposed to “engage the people by informing them about the issues being discussed in the GRP-MILF peace talks, and by securing their honest feedback on these issues”

OPAPP Secretary Annabelle Abaya announced before Mindanao’s state university presidents who attended a peacebuilding conference in Penang, Malaysia in January that the Dialogue Mindanaw consultations will be specific as to the issues the government and MILF peace panels will be discussing at the negotiating table.

“The idea is to get back to the people on the issues they (panels) are discussing. What do they want?“ Abaya said.

But issues like “state-sub-state relationship” which was allegedly part of the proposal of the MILF in late January, has not been discussed in the consultations.

MindaNews’ Patricio P. Diaz got hold of copies of the draft peace agreements exchanged on January 27 from sources who asked not to be named.

This series is intended to help the readers understand the drafts and the issues being resolved now. Prof. Rudy Rodil has also written a separate commentary — MindaNews editor)

I. The Agreed Guidelines

GENERAL SANTOS CITY – From the various reports of the stalled peace talks of the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the inference is: The peace process to arrive at a political solution to the Mindanao Problem is not in a state of impasse; rather, it is in a state of by-pass: the MILF is resisting and the GRP is insisting on.

This interesting, yet intriguing, twist in the Kuala Lumpur negotiation the GRP and the MILF drafts of agreements tell, the media reports notwithstanding.

[Author’s Note: Incidentally and presumably, in response to my latest three-part COMMENT: “Peace Pact Still Possible?”, posted in MindaNews February 16, 20, 21 and 22, sources who asked not to be named sent copies of the GRP and MILF Drafts]

Moral Issue

The present stalled negotiation raises the moral issue of sincerity and honesty. The two Parties – GRP and MILF – have agreed to follow the talks agenda. On reading the Drafts, it is to be wondered: How sincere and honest are they to their agreements?

A year after the Supreme Court restrained the Government from signing the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) and later declared it unconstitutional, the two Parties “re-established official contact” on July 29, 2009 and issued the four-point “Joint Statement” to do so. This is a key reference of the resumed peace talks.

Joint Statement acknowledged the following:

1. Mutual effort to sustain the Government’s Suspension of Military Offensives (SOMO) and the MILF’s Suspension of Military Actions (SOMA).

2. Acknowledgment of MOA-AD as an unsigned and yet initialed document, and commitment by both parties to reframe the consensus points with the end in view of moving towards the comprehensive compact to bring about a negotiated political settlement;

3. Work for a framework agreement on the establishment of a mechanism on the protection of non-combatants in armed conflict;

4. Work for a framework agreement on the establishment of International Contact Group (ICG) of groups of states and non-state organizations to accompany and mobilize international support for the peace process.

What does Item 2 imply? Since the MILF never abandoned the MOA-AD, the acknowledgment of it as an “initialed document” was solely that of the GRP after having disowned it publicly and before the Supreme Court.

The GRP and the MILF, in committing “to reframe the consensus points with the end in view of moving towards the comprehensive compact to bring about a negotiated political settlement”, agreed to re-start the talks from where they had stopped – the initialed MOA-AD. That is a defining statement.

In so agreeing, the MILF acknowledged the Decision of the Supreme Court and, by extension, the 1987 Constitution. However, the Court ruling should be noted well:

Its final resolution reads: “The Memorandum of Agreement on the Ancestral Domain Aspect of the GRP-MILF Tripoli Agreement on Peace of 2001 is declared CONTRARY TO LAW AND THE CONSTITUTION.”

Paragraph 4 of the Summary of the Supreme Court’s October 14, 2008 Decision reads: “The MOA-AD is a significant part of a series of agreements necessary to carry out the GRP-MILF Tripoli Agreement on Peace signed by the government and the MILF back in June 2001. Hence, the present MOA-AD can be renegotiated or another one drawn up that could contain similar or significantly dissimilar provisions compared to the original.”

What are to be noted well?

First, the Court declared unconstitutional only the MOA, not the AD as an aspect of the Tripoli Agreement on Peace of 2001.

Second, the Court recognized the Tripoli Agreement on Peace of 2001 and the series of agreements already done to carry it out. The Court acknowledged the MOA-AD as a significant part of that series.

Third, the Court restrained the Government from signing the MOA-AD; however, on recognizing its significance to the GRP-MILF peace negotiation, it recommended three options to save the peace process: (1) renegotiate it; (2) draft a new one with similar provisions; or, (3) draft another with significantly dissimilar provisions compared to the unconstitutional MOA-AD.

Item 2 of the four-item agreement of the July 29, 2009 Statement is consonant with these options.

On December 9, 2009, the GRP and MILF agreed to cut short the negotiation by exchanging draft agreements drawn up following a seven-item guideline: (1) Identity and citizenship; (2) Government and structure; (3) Security arrangement; (4) Wealth-sharing, natural resources and property rights; (5) Restorative justice and reconciliation; (6) Implementation arrangement; (7) Independent monitoring.

The seven-item specific guideline, another key reference of the resumed peace talk, is consonant with Item 2 of the July 29 Statement and the final ruling of the Supreme Court on the MOA-AD. To reiterate the moral issue: Do the GRP and MILF draft agreements adhere to their agreed guideline? The drafts will tell how sincere and honest the Parties are.

Restatement

The Supreme Court decision recommends three options to revive the negotiations on the Ancestral Domain aspect of the Tripoli Agreement on Peace of June 2001.

The GRP-MILF Joint Statement of July 29, 2009 is a general agreement to reframe the consensus points of the MOA-AD to re-start the peace talks and move it toward the Comprehensive Compact.

The December 9, 2009 Seven-Item guideline sets the details of the Joint Statement as reference of the two Parties in drafting their Peace Agreement Proposal to shorten the negotiation to five months or less.

Last March 10, 2010, the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), Nur Misuari faction, held its 4th Bangsamoro People’s National Parliament (BPNP) in Lanao del Sur. I understand Prof. Nur Misuari was there himself. The BNP came out with a curious resolution, among others, that needs to be reacted upon.

Among the resolution is a warning – repeat, warning – to Malaysia not to block the implementation of the GRP-MNLF 1996 Final Peace Agreement (FPA). We find this curious, not to say outrageous, because we don’t see the relevance of this particular resolution which points an accusatory finger at Malaysia on the presupposition that the latter is blocking the FPA.

Our brothers in the MNLF, most of whom are, or became, Philippine government officials or employees are barking at the wrong tree. Is this “warning”, which is an open display of arrogance, an oblique reference to Malaysia’s facilitation of the MILF-GRP peace negotiations? The nuance seems to indicate so. Regardless of the reason, Malaysia, which is a member-state of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), has never blocked the implementation of the MNLF-GRP 1996 FPA.

To call a spade a spade, if there is an entity that is responsible for the non-implementation of the FPA, it is the Philippine government (even the OIC now realizes this); and if there is an obstacle to it, it is the FPA itself that provides that obstacle! This infirmity in the FPA is very clear that even a high school student who reads English will not fail to notice it if he were to go through it thoroughly. Why did our brothers in the MNLF accept this infirmity? They themselves signed this document!

Come to think of it, brothers and sisters, how can you even urge the UN to recognize the right of self-determination of the Bangsamoro people when you, yourselves, recognized, acknowledged and accepted without question in the FPA the supremacy of the Philippine constitution and all “existing laws” over you? The Philippine government can easily demolish your arguments before any international body using the FPA as a ‘weapon’ against you.

Unless you abrogate, nullify and void the FPA your legitimacy as “sole spokesman and representative” of the Bangsamoro people holds no water. It’s mere rhetoric that doesn’t mean anything.

Let me quote the ‘Totality Clause’ of the 1996 Final Peace Agreement: “This Peace Agreement, which is the full implementation of the 1976 Tripoli Agreement, embodies and constitutes the totality of all agreements, covenant and understandings between the GRP and the MNLF respecting all the subject matters embodied herein. This Agreement supersedes and modifies all agreements, consensus, covenants, documents and communications….Any conflict in the interpretation of this Agreement shall be resolved in the light of the Philippine Constitution and existing laws.” (underscoring mine)
With this ‘Totality Clause’, the MNLF has provided the Philippine government with all the excuses, pretexts and reasons for obstructing the implementation of the FPA on the basis of the Philippine constitution and “existing laws”. So who’s to blame? Malaysia? Come on! Grow up, my brothers and sisters in the MNLF! You’ve been had at the negotiating table. Admit it.

I hate to say this (and it bleeds our hearts even to think of it) but you’ve been defeated politically by the adversary.

But you also personally benefited from this defeat by accepting plum positions in government, foremost of whom is MNLF Chairman Nur Misuari who became regional governor of ARMM and is now running for governor of Sulu for the second time in the May 10 Philippine elections. Now that many of you are out of power, or about to be out of power, you’re whimpering like small children deprived of their goodies. Stop these childish acts and unite with your brethren in the MILF instead of issuing resolutions with ridiculous ‘warnings’ which people never even give a hoot about. For once, think revolutionary and act revolutionary! We are all brothers and sisters in Islam, brothers and sisters in the struggle for our people’s right to self-determination, and sons and daughters of the Moro Malay nation. Let not the fitna of our adversary come between us.

Again and again, the MILF has stated that it is not negotiating with the Philippine government solely for the MILF but on behalf of the entire Bangsamoro people. These include us, you and me, and all those brothers and sisters who may or may not even be supportive of the MILF.

Brother Al Haj Murad Ebrahim and the entire leadership of the MILF stand on the firm ideological and political position that we have to struggle together as a nation – one Moro nation – regardless of organizational affiliation, ethno-linguistic identity or class status. ‘Unity in struggle and struggle for unity’ is the call of the time.

Can you not see that?

Let us, therefore, do away with these foolishness and stupidity, stop blaming those who have helped us and are helping us rise from this dire condition we are in today because of colonialism.

Contemplate on this: seriously and objectively.

-end-

The term “right to self-determination” – more popularly known by its acronym, “RSD” – and particularly in the context of Mindanao and the centuries-old struggle of the Bangsamoro people, has been widely misunderstood, especially by the mainstream majority of Philippine society. It is because it is always associated with the armed struggle, waged by the two major Moro Fronts against national government.

The sharp and sometimes violent reactions of Non-Moros (and also some Moros) against the struggle of the Bangsamoro is borne out of their ignorance of the latter’s history as a people, their way of life, their present problems, and their present struggles and aspirations. It is also caused by their fear of how the Bangsamoro will treat them and their properties if the Bangsamoro will be restored of their RSD. These imaginary fears (sometimes real) are partly due to not only by how the Moro were portrayed by the colonizers – which was carried over to the neo-colonial times, as traitors, villains and untrustworthy people – but also because of past bad experiences against the Moro, thus the stereotyping.

However, what many in the mainstream majority do not know of, or maybe even refuse to know of, is that Bangsamoro RSD is not only a simple armed struggle. It is an assertion that is being made by all the Moro groups that constitute the Bangsamoro spectrum. Like a prism, it has several facets to it, almost all (if not all) of which are based on a very long historical antecedent. Without this antecedent, there would not have been an impetus for an armed struggle or an overall assertion in the first place. Three of these stand out the most over the rest.

First, Bangsamoro RSD is anchored on the often-denied fact that the Bangsamoro, as a people and a nation, has existed centuries before the Declaration of Philippine Independence in 1898, much more so by the Grant of Philippine Independence of the United States in 1946. Prior to these dates, the Sultanates of Sulu and Maguindanao, the four Principalities of Lanao, and their respective tributary domains have been recognized in the Far East by the middle-aged Malayan states and even by such giant as the Chinese Empire. The treaties made by the Spanish government, and later the American government, with these sultanates are also proof that they have indeed been regarded as nations long before the Philippine Republic.

Second, Bangsamoro RSD has stemmed from age-old injustices done by Philippine colonizers, and then later by the Filipinos themselves, to the Bangsamoro people. According to Archbishop Orlando Quevedo himself, injustice was meted out on the Bangsamoro’s identity, on their ancestral territory, on their political sovereignty, and their integral development. These injustices have been done upon the Bangsamoro for many decades, not only by the foreign colonizers of the past, but also by the Filipino mainstream majority upon their assumption to power.

Third, Bangsamoro RSD is also hinged on the fact that the Bangsamoro people were forcibly made part of a nation that they did not want to be a part of in the first place, let alone asked if they wanted to be part of it at all, and then later treated as second class people, given the oh so rare privilege of being milked heavily of their ancestral territory’s rich natural resources in the name of nation building and receiving mere scraps and hand-me-downs in return for such humongous “forced tributes”. No wonder the assembled Moro leaders of the 1924 Zamboanga Declaration and the 1939 Dansalan Declaration called for a restoration of a Moro Nation that is separate and distinct from the Philippine archipelago. They had known long ago that the Moro people would never be treated properly should the Filipinos be given the privilege to govern their affairs, despite their categorical differences in way of life. And although claimed by the Filipino mainstream majority as part of the greater Philippine body politic, the Bangsamoro never felt part of this body from the very beginning. The five provinces that constitute the ARMM, with the highest scores in poverty, infant mortality, literacy, lifespan, and all other negative criteria of the Human Development Index, is more than sufficient proof of unresponsiveness or even willful neglect of the Philippine national government and the Filipino mainstream majority to the Bangsamoro people.

Bangsamoro RSD, therefore, came from the pains, hurts, suffering and anguish experienced by the minoritized Bangsamoro people in the hands of the Filipino mainstream majority and the oppressive and suppressive rule of their government.

It is from the tormented massed ranks of the Bangsamoro people that the two Moro Fronts poured forth. And it is in defense of the very survival of Bangsamoro people that the two Moro Fronts have come to banner in the armed struggle against government, and later, have come to represent and negotiate for in the Moro-GRP Peace Process.

But then again, Bangsamoro RSD can be seen like a cake with two halves. One half delves in the realm of restoring the lost political status of the Bangsamoro as a people and a nation, while the other half focuses on the Bangsamoro’s integral development, both in the short and long term.

So, while the Moro Fronts are engrossed in pursuing the peace talks with national government, which is part of the mandate given to them by the Bangsamoro people, with the end in view of attaining a political status that would define the political relationship of the Bangsamoro people with the Philippine state, another major Moro grouping, the Bangsamoro civil society organizations – or the BM CSOs – can find their niche by drafting the Bangsamoro Development Agenda (BMDA). This is on top of their efforts to support the peace talks in many different ways.

Thus, Moro CSOs have converged and banded together to ask key leaders and representatives of groups and sectors that constitute the whole Bangsamoro spectrum to consolidate and develop the “Civil Society Organization – Bangsamoro Development Agenda”, or CSO-BMDA.

The twelve thematic development areas of the BMDA are deemed important areas of development of every society. The BMDA contains both more generic and specific strategies towards identified goals. The efforts at articulating the BMDA is as important as the struggle to achieve a certain level of political status. The latter shall serve to enforce the former.

The articulation of the BMDA will allow the Moro people, especially the non-Moro, to better appreciate the context and justification of the continuing assertion of the Bangsamoro of their right to self-determination.

The CSO-BMDA does not only articulate the aspirations of the Bangsamoro but also provides a readily available advocacy material for the Moro people.

The deep prejudices against the Bangsamoro is making the peace process doubly difficult to convince, especially to the non-Moro, that this is correcting the historical and social injustices against the Moro people and not to subordinate them under the Bangsamoro nor to confiscate their legitimately acquired properties.

It has to be made known and understood by as many groups as possible in a way that is non-harassing and non-threatening. This is the big extra challenge.

As the Armed Forces of the Philippines intensifies its aerial and ground bombardment of Moro communities in Mindanao and starving of Moro refugees with military food blockades to collect the multi-million peso rewards on the heads of MILF commanders Ameril Ombra Kato and Abdurrahman ‘Bravo’ Macapaar, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has been repeatedly announcing to the public the ‘new peace strategy’ of her regime in confronting the conflict in Mindanao. The President, says her spokesmen, has changed the rules of the game. No longer will she be holding peace talks with armed groups but directly with the communities. Also, any dealings with the MILF shall be in the context of DDR: demobilization, disarmament and reintegration (rehabilitation, as her spokesmen erringly put it).

From these pronouncements, it is clear that the Arroyo regime has abandoned the Mindanao peace process. After the aborted August 5 MOA-AD signing ceremony in Malaysia, the nationwide anti-Moro and anti-Muslim campaign, and the consequent fighting in Central Mindanao, Jesus Dureza, the presidential mouthpiece, informed all and sundry that the regime would no longer sign the MOA-AD “in its present form or in any other form”. Arroyo even followed this up by disbanding the government peace panel.

Here, there is no room for misinterpretation. Insofar as the Arroyo regime is concerned, the MILF-GRP peace negotiation is plain and simple kaput. Just like that. There is really no ‘new peace strategy’. There is no more ‘primacy of the peace process.’ Everything else is pure rhetoric. The reality is that it’s back to the old but profitable business of war. I am pretty sure the warmongers are jumping with joy. Behind the scenes, there would be a lot of back-slapping: “We’re back in business, boys! We’re back in business!”

No in-depth analysis is needed to understand that Arroyo’s ‘peace strategy’ is pure nonsense. It’s a lot of bull, to use a Yankee colloquialism. Peace negotiation with communities? What communities? Moro communities? The political aspiration of the Moro people has always been articulated and represented by the Moro liberation movement. Hence, if government wants a negotiation it has to deal with the Moro liberation movement. That means the MILF. That the regime will be negotiating with ‘communities’ – assuming these are Moro communities – and not with the Moro liberation movement is like performing shadow boxing.
This begs the question: What about DDR?

By putting forward DDR, the Arroyo regime has made it obvious that it does not want to conclude a peace agreement. What it wants – nay, demands – is the surrender of the MILF. But no revolutionary organization worth the name would succumb to such an outrageous demand or condition. And the MILF is a revolutionary organization. Brother Al Haj Murad, the Amirul Mujahideen and Chairman of the MILF, has made this very clear on several occasions. The Arroyo regime knows that the MILF would outrightly reject this absurd precondition for the resumption of talks. So by demanding for the impossible, the regime really does not want the talks to resume. Or, reconsider signing the MOA-AD. It appears now that everything was orchestrated, including the aborted signing, so that the talks would crumble. And it did crumble. That’s the harsh reality. That’s the inside story.

So where does that leave us? As I said, back to a state of war. Before the onset of the Holy Month of Ramadhan, I could hear these foreboding words of our brothers reverberating in the four corners of the Moro Homeland:

“Brace yourselves, brothers and sisters, the ‘Castilians’ are coming! They will bomb our homes, pillage our communities, put torch to our masajid, haul or young boys to prison as ‘terrorists’, and portray us as Dracula in their daily moro-moro. So brace yourselves! Man the barricades!”

Today, as we watch from a distance the smoke-filled air over the devastated Moro villages of Maguindanao, North Cotabato, Saranggani, Lanao del Sur and Lanao del Norte, these words of warning have come alive. The brown ‘Castilians’ are already here causing mayhem. And even during Ramadhan! But thank Allah, Most High, there are brothers ‘manning the barricades’.
But seriously, now that the peace process under the Arroyo regime is dead as in dead, the persistent question that a young former Moro neighbor is bugging me with is: will there be life for the peace process after Arroyo?

Pondering over this question intently, I saw that my former neighbor has a point – as a matter of fact, all the relevant points – in pestering me with this question. I asked myself also the same question until it dawned on me that the only way to answer this is to have a rundown of who the Filipino ‘presidentiables’ are in 2010, the year Arroyo leaves office (and I hope for good).

I abhor Philippine politics because it’s neo-colonial (in Islamic terminology, it is jahili politics) and therefore rotten. So, I never took interest in finding out who the presidentiables are lining up for the elections in 2010. I never even vote in all elections, national or local. I spent the best years of my youth in the struggle against Filipino regimes and presidents who had our Moro homeland invaded and devastated. I am one among the many Moros who holds a Filipino passport by force of circumstance.

But going back to the issue, if the peace process were to be revived it will be under a new regime, a new sitting president. The MILF-GRP negotiation was jettisoned by Joseph Estrada in 2000 when he waged all-out war against the MILF; but it was revived when Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo took over the presidency in 2001. The perception now is when Arroyo steps down in less than two years’ time there is the likelihood that the peace process will also be revived back to life. Or will it be?

But to satisfy my former Moro neighbor’s persistent question as well as my own curiosity, I made a short list of Filipino presidentiables using as yardstick their recent reactions to and/or views on the MOA-AD.

The first on the list would be Vice-President Noli de Castro, being next in line to the exiting Arroyo. As an aside, I don’t think he is even worth being considered a serious contender for the presidency. To the bourgeois elite, De Castro lacks the qualification, particularly the ‘intellectual sophistication’, for becoming president. In the recent brouhaha over the MOA-AD, he was conspicuously silent. He had no stand of his own and played safe staying quietly at the sidelines while his political colleagues in and out of government took turns lambasting the Moros, who happen to be the compatriots of his Moro wife. But then again, De Castro’s weaknesses might just be his strengths. To the exploitative Filipino ruling elite, he could be a useful tool, a puppet president.
Intellectually deficient, yes, but that would even make him a good puppet-on-a-string. As such, he would be a glorified servant of the powerful anti-Moro and anti-Muslim blocs, particularly the conservative Church and reactionary Big Business, which dominate the political and economic scene in the Philippines.

Under a De Castro presidency, the peace process might be revived but it will be a peace process with no direction, a peace process designed to perpetuate the status quo in Mindanao. It will all be for show to keep the international donors’ money flowing into the pockets of the corrupt Philippine officialdom. That kind of a peace process is a dead one. So forget it.

The second on the list of presidentiables is Senate President Manny Villar. Senator Villar has not been as vociferous as the other Filipino politicians in opposing the MOA-AD.
Nevertheless, he is against it. He is part of Big Business and the latter has vast economic interests in Mindanao. This being the case, Villar will oppose any peace process that will give the Bangsamoro people the kind of economic concessions and political rights contained in the MOA-AD. To the Moros, short of the MOA-AD agenda, there is no talking point in any resumption of negotiation. But Villar will not stand for resuming talks based on the MOA-AD.

He will ‘play safe’ by demanding that any peace talks be within the framework of the Philippine constitution. Therefore, there will never be a meaningful peace negotiation under a Villar presidency. Besides, Villar will also be looking forward to the next presidential election and I don’t think he can dare antagonize the mighty political and economic power blocs that really rule the country.

The third on our list is Senator Mar Roxas. There’s nothing more to be said about Roxas, a grandson of a Philippine president who also played a part in the colonization of the Bangsamoro Homeland.

Mar Roxas, an Ilonggo, has vehemently opposed the MOA-AD for two basic reasons: 1. inherent dislike for the Bangsamoro people which he probably ‘inherited’ from his colonialist forebears; and 2. fear that that the signing of the MOA-AD will set the stage for charter change leading to an extension of the term of Arroyo, thus aborting his plan to become president by 2010. Under a Roxas presidency, there might not even be peace talks between the MILF and the Philippine government. It should be noted that the Roxas family acquired political power and wealth under the status quo whose ‘bible’ is the Philippine constitution. So, Roxas is definitely hopeless. Perhaps, the only thing he knows about the Moros is that they are a source of ‘ghost votes’ during election time. And indeed, like Villar’s mindset, there is always a second term to look forward to. ‘Ghost voters’ from the ARMM will be useful to Mar Roxas so he cannot afford to give the Bangsamoro people the kind of freedom they want and need that is in the MOA-AD.

The fourth on the list is former senator Franklin Drilon. Like Roxas, Drilon is an Ilonggo. He heads the opposition wing of the Liberal Party. He is also a rabid opponent of the MOA-AD. In his one page-ad in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Drilon’s presentation of the MOA-AD for easy understanding by the public was good. But it was his conclusion that really mattered. He exposed his Filipino chauvinistic animus for the Moros by parroting the lie that the MOA-AD leads to Moro secession.

Drillon is a brilliant lawyer. Of all the presidentiables, he is perhaps the most intellectually capable of understanding the ‘Bangsamoro Problem’. But as a typical Filipino trapo (traditional politician) whose reactionary mindset is attuned to that of the anti-Moro Filipino settler-politician in Mindanao, Drillon does not want to understand the ‘Bangsamoro Problem’. He strongly denies and opposes the assertion of Bangsamoro identity. This refusal to understand the ‘Bangsamoro Problem’ he has craftily mantled in the rhetoric of defending the Philippine constitution.

So goes for Senator Cheez Escudero, another presidentiable. Or so they say. The Senate neophyte is popular for his ‘cause-oriented’ opposition to the Arroyo regime. But I guess Escudero’s past association with the deposed Joseph Estrada who had unleashed an ‘all-out-war’ in 2000 against the Bangsamoro people has left an indelible mark on his mind.
Escudero, a self-styled ‘Filipino nationalist,’ is among the most vocal oppositionists to the MOA-AD. By going against the MOA-AD, Escudero revealed his true colors: justice is only good for the Opposition, not the Moros. If he were to become president, we might have another ‘Erap’ in the making.

Another presidentiable on the list is the glamorous Senator Loren Legarda, a vice-presidential candidate who lost to De Castro in the last election. The problem with Loren is that she doesn’t even know whether to become a billboard ad model or be serious in her job as a government official. If she becomes president, a friend predicted that town and city streets as well as highways from Jolo to Aparri would all be adorned with those gigantic billboards displaying multi-colored pictures of hers in different poses endorsing a variety of cosmetic products and the latest fashion or announcing her projects for the nation.
Legarda is close to some members of the Moro elite. She was even given an honorary title as ‘Bailabi So-and-So’ in Lanao del Sur. That, however, doesn’t make her sympathetic to the Moro cause or an expert on the ‘Bangsamoro Problem’. In fact, her true feelings came out when she, too, opposed the MOA-AD. Assuming she becomes president, it is possible she would revive the peace talks though not to endorse the MOA-AD but to promote a cosmetic product! Pardon the pun.

Second to the last on our list is Senator Panfilio ‘Ping’ Lacson, another loser in the last presidential election. Nothing more can be said about Ping Lacson that the public, especially the Moros, does not already know. He was Estrada’s hit man during the incumbency of the former. It was during his watch as head of the Philippine National Police (PNP) under the Estrada presidency that four innocent Moro Muslims were brutally executed gangland-style on a street in Quiapo, Manila, by the police in broad daylight. The poor Muslims who were applying for jobs abroad were suspected, judged and executed all at one time as ‘MILF terrorists’. And this does not even include the many Muslims detained and/or who disappeared when Lacson was PNP Chief.

Ping Lacson doesn’t worry or care about human rights. He is a bully who does not believe in due process, no thanks to his stint as a Philippine Constabulary ‘enforcer’ during the dark days of the Marcos dictatorship. He is one of the architects of Estrada’s all-out war debacle in Mindanao together with Angelo Reyes, then the Chief of Staff of the AFP. Under a Lacson presidency, there might not even be a peace negotiation let alone the revival of one.
At the bottom of the list is Joseph ‘Erap’ Ejercito Estrada. I included the latter because of his recent innuendos that he might stage a political comeback “if the Filipino people demand it”. He still has a lot of fanatic followers who are unbelievably mesmerized by his movie antics being played out in real life. Knowing Philippine politics, it would not be difficult for a political has-been like Erap to invoke ‘the Filipino people’s demand’ and take the center stage in the fight for the Philippine presidency.

In the recent controversy on the MOA-AD, it is evident Erap never learned from his past blunders when he unleashed an all-war on the Bangsamoro people in 2000. From his lair in a posh suburban village in Metro-Manila, he continues to rant not only against the MOA-AD but against the MILF. He boasts that if he were still the president, the ‘Bangsamoro Problem’ would have been solved by his ‘pupulbusin-ko-kayo‘(“I will pulverize you”) military formula. Everyone knows the only ‘victory’ that Erap gained from his foolish military adventurism in Mindanao, Basilan and Sulu was a Pyrrhic one and that was when his troops ‘captured’ at a very high price a small piece of real estate inside Camp Abu Bakr As-Siddiq. He failed to literally reduce the MILF to smithereens as he arrogantly boasted to the public. This ignoramus cannot live a day without being inebriated so much so that he does not realize until now that the MILF’s tactical withdrawal from a small part of Camp Abu Bakr cannot be compared to his humiliating ejection from Malacañang and the subsequent public shame he was subjected to as a result of the venalities of his regime.

Nevertheless, Erap is one guy who holds extreme contempt for the Bangsamoro people, the MILF and Islam and if he were to become president again, he would declare the “Fall of Camp Abu Bakr” a national holiday and order all mosques throughout the country to celebrate it with imported wine and lechon.

Negotiation, you say? Under Erap, no way. This man has the mentality of a gangster. Just like the underworld characters he played in his B-grade movies.
I was considering including in my list the likes of Senator Richard Gordon and Senator Aquilino Pimentel, Jr. but their chances of being presidentiables, while not nil, are slim. But even assuming that they stand the chance of becoming presidents, these two also opposed the MOA-AD.

Pimentel is a big disappointment to the Moros because he hails from Mindanao and is an advocate of ‘Mindanaoan’ rights. It turned out, however, that he is no different from the rest of the Filipino politicians. All talk but no sincerity and commitment.

I likewise ignored House Speaker Boy Nograles, who is from Davao City, because though he ranks third or fourth in the government hierarchy, he hasn’t as yet made any open manifestation of joining the presidentiables. It is very unlikely that he would. He is not that popular to the Filipinos in the North. Like Pimentel, Nograles was a fervent advocate of federalism. When he became Speaker of Congress, this advocacy fizzled out like a strong typhoon hitting land and turning into a mere rain shower. Temptations of power have overcome this spineless ‘Mindanaoan’ who cannot even voice out a whimper of protest against the atrocious devastation that militarization is now causing in Mindanao.

Another presidential aspirant not on my list of presidentiables is Bayani Fernando, head of the Metro-Manila Commission (did I get the name of the office right?). In fairness to him, he never said a word for or against the MOA-AD. But the man is a joker, a nondescript character. He is better off trying his luck singing and dancing on TV ? la ‘American Idol’ than vying for the presidency. Or, even better, directing traffic in Metro-Manila. Perhaps the only Moros he knows are those impoverished Muslim ‘squatters’ (refugees from the past wars in Mindanao) he was trying to eject from that reclamation area in Pasay City.
There are also showbiz people and religious leaders of Christian charismatic groups who are toying with the idea of becoming presidentiables but I omitted them. These people are all clowns who think of the Philippine presidency as the apex of their showbiz career or the ultimate pulpit from where bible-thumping preachers-turned-politicians could promise to ‘rain’ manna on the poverty-stricken masses though not from heaven but from Malacañang. This is the crowd that doesn’t give a damn about what happens to the Moros.

I showed my former Moro neighbor my list plus the corresponding observations I made and he concurred with my analysis. Finally, he also agreed with me that only a Filipino president fully in control of government and with the caliber of the late French President Charles de Gaulle or even a Vicente Emano of Cagayan de Oro can we say with a degree of certainty that there is going to be life for the peace process after Arroyo.

I mentioned Vicente ‘Dongkoy’ Emano, the non-Muslim vice-mayor of Cagayan de Oro City, because he was the only official who openly opposed the military operations in Mindanao and who declared that the Moro cause is a just cause. This he boldly declared in a large gathering of Mindanao officials that included Moro governors and mayors whose lips were zipped for fear of displeasing the current regime.

Meantime, however, with the kind of presidentiables arrayed before us, my former Moro neighbor now shares my doubt as to whether 2010 can bring the peace and justice that our people have been longing for; unless, of course, Allah gives us a miracle. He knows best. But until then, this is how the situation stands.

As a footnote, a few days after I last met up with him, I saw my former Moro neighbor carrying a backpack waiting at the public terminal for his ride. It was the end of Ramadhan and the ‘Id’l Fitre congregational prayers had just been concluded. I asked him where he was going and he gave me a glowing smile I would never forget. Then he whispered, “I am joining the mujahideen.” That was all and except for the ‘salaam’ and customary fraternal embrace, he left without another word.

-end-

I came to a conclusion that great leaders are those who have the capacity to fantasize the imagination of the people. While I was wondering of what makes me feel the stories of the great leaders of the world, I developed questions in my mind, asking my self that if ever I lived in a particular country and a particular time with them, would I follow these leaders, and why should I fall in line behind them.

My answer is a big yes; I will follow their instructions to me, for the very simple reason that I am impressed with them. I am impressed with them because I am imagining that their ideals, opinions, and mind are magic, that it would benefit me and the people I care, that I will loss the opportunity and momentum as being part of their history if I will not join their team, that I am expecting more brilliant and magic things that would be happen to our world in the future with their ideals.

The great heroes of all the times achieved their goals because of the help of the people who surrounds them, if there is no one beside them to bring into action their ideals, they will be definitely become mockery in the eyes of the history. The people always believed that their lives have changed because of the magic of their great leaders. But in truth and in reality it is the people who really changed their kind of livelihood. Could it be change if they just neglect the men who clamour to change the history of their lives?

The people who executed the ideals of the great leaders are good listeners, they listen attentively to every words that coming out from the mouth of their leaders, because they were already impressed with the past achievements of the leaders before them, then they will expect that no matter how hard to materialize their assigned task, they can afford to do it for the sake of the real intention of their leaders, because they are convinced deep inside with their hearts that their leaders can forecast the future.

After having a perusal imagination of the things that I mentioned above, I invented a question that what if I will be put on the shoes of the great leaders that I have just discussed with you, what magic shall I be going to do to fantasize my own people, so that they will be impressed with me and follow all my ideals. And I assume a hypothetical scenario, for example you and I along with my friends and your friends live in a far far away, a place and a time which do not have the technology that we have right now. Assuming further that I am the only person who knew the exact time of the lunar eclipse, and I knew that the lunar eclipse will be happened on March 25, 2010.

I will grab that opportunity, thus, I will announce to you and all the people that on March 25, 2010, by virtue of the magic that I possessed, I Morojasan will make the heaven dark at once because of your incapable to follow my whims and caprices. After I show you my capacity which you cannot even imagine to do the same, you will definitely kneel on me forever.

That is a fact that in order to lead you need to be a magician in some aspect of life, you need to bring fantasy to your people to capture their trust and confidence. Therefore, I realized the reason why the poor Bangsamoro were ‘’imprisoned’’ to the plight that we have today. The Bangsamoro were long impressed with the magic of the people who grabbed our ancestor’s dignity and wealth, and who happened to discriminate us even in our home town.

The most if not all of the Bangsamoro can never afford to imagine to have their own state because they always believed that they do not have the capacity or magic like of what the colonizers have. Ergo, they preferred to be fantasized by the tricks of the magicians of the conqueror, and not to imagine their own fantasy according to their conscience.

As New Zealanders who have supported the Filipino people’s struggle against the Marcos dictatorship, we find it greatly disturbing that the 1985 Ilagan doctrine, an outdated martial law doctrine, has been used as basis to junk the Morong 43 lawyers’ petition for the writ of habeas corpus. We support the dissenting opinions of Associate Justice Normandie Pizarro and Associate Justice Francisco Acosta who asserted that the search, seizure and arrest made by police and military officials are illegal and irregular, and charges arising from them cannot be considered valid.

We are further dismayed over the news that members of the Ampatuan clan involved in the November 23 Maguindanao massacre will be released after a local court ruled that there was no probable cause in the rebellion case against them. We lament that the government’s filing of rebellion charge instead of multiple murder charges against the Ampatuan clan made it so easy for the perpetrators to evade accountability over the worst pre-election violence in the Philippines. It is the height of injustice that those involved in the massacre of 57 people including lawyers, women and journalists will go scot-free after being declared ‘innocent’ of rebellion charges. Meanwhile, the 43 community health workers who were dedicated to healing and saving lives were illegally arrested, tortured and slapped with criminal charges.

More than 100 days on, justice for the massacre victims remain elusive. We sympathise with the victims’ families who lament that the government has not done enough to arrest all those responsible in the Ampatuan massacre. We join them in their continuing demand for the government to ensure justice.

On 6th April, it will be two months since the 43 health workers were unjustly arrested, tortured and detained using a defective warrant of arrest. We urge the Philippine Supreme Court to do what the Court of Appeals failed to do: Protect the citizens from human rights abuses. Stop legalizing the illegal arrests, dismiss the false charges and hold the police and military forces accountable for the subsequent torture and prolonged detention of the 43 innocent civilians.

HON. CATHERINE DELAHUNTY
Member of Parliament, Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand

HON. KEITH LOCKE
Member of Parliament, Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand

HON. LAILA HARRÉ
Former Member of Parliament

DR BARRY GRIBBEN
CEO, CBG Health Research

DR JANE KELSEY
School of Law , University of Auckland , New Zealand

MURRAY HORTON
Secretary, Philippines Solidarity Network of Aotearoa (PSNA)

GILLIAN SOUTHEY
Campaigns Coordinator, Christian World Service

REV. BRIAN TURNER
Methodist Church of New Zealand

LEIGH COOKSON
Action Research & Education Network of Aotearoa (ARENA)

HELEN TEHIRA
Auckland Philippines Solidarity (APS)

PAUL WATSON
Secretary – Textile, Clothing, Laundry & Baking Sector, National
Distribution Union

DION MARTIN
Organiser, National Distribution Union – Palmerston North Branch

MICHAEL SCOTT
Philippines Solidarity Network of Aotearoa (PSNA)

DEAN HAPETA aka Te Kupu
Filmmaker / Musician, Kia Kaha Productions, Aotearoa

ABI KING-JONES
Filmmaker, CutCutCut , Aotearoa

MIKE TREEN
National Director, Unite Union

KAY WEIR
Editor, Pacific Ecologist, Pacific Institute of Resource Management

HELEN TULETT
Amnesty International Aotearoa NZ – Christchurch

ARIEL GUANLAO
President, Migrante Aotearoa New Zealand

____________________________________________________

Migrante Aotearoa | 34 Titirangi Rd, New Lynn , Auckland 1007

+64 9 8276059 |migrante@xtra.co.nz | http://migrante-aotearoa.org.nz/

Mindanao scholars used to underscore the role of “local strong men” who were an essential component of the central state’s efforts to extend its writ over the region. The elite bargain was built upon the state’s willingness to eschew revenue generation and to grant politico-military dominance to a few Moro elites in exchange for the latter providing political thugs and armed militias to secure far-flung territories, fight the communists and separatists, and extend the administrative reach of the state.

The economic basis of the elite bargain has changed since then. Political office has become more attractive due to the billions of pesos in IRA remittances that electoral victory provides. The “winner-takes-all” nature of local electoral struggles in Muslim Mindanao also means that competition is costlier and bloodier. Meanwhile, political authority may enable control over the formal economy, but the bigger prize is the power to monopolize or to extort money from those engaged in the lucrative business of illegal drugs, gambling, kidnap-for-ransom, gun-running, and smuggling, among others. The piracy of software, CDs and DVDs, and the smuggling of pearls and other gemstones from China and Thailand are seen as micro and small enterprises. These illegal economies and a small formal sector comprise the “real” economy of Muslim Mindanao.

The failure to appreciate how this underground economy, coupled with entitlements to massive government-to-government fund transfers, shapes prevailing notions of political legitimacy and authority in the region partly explains the inability of the central State to deal with lawlessness and conflict.

Political legitimacy in Muslim Mindanao has very little to do with protecting people’s rights or providing basic services. People rarely depend on government for welfare provision, and are consequently averse to paying any taxes. People actually expect local leaders to pocket government resources, and are willing to look the other way so long as their clans dominate and they are given a small slice during elections. Legitimacy is all about providing protection to your fellow clan members by trumping the firepower of your competitors, leaving people alone, and forgetting about taxes.

There were positive signs in the recent past, especially among the Moro women and youth who bore the brunt of conflict and who sought a different future. But achieving their aspirations depends on their ability to rise above clan structures and the dynamics of hierarchy and collective self-defense that bound its members. This dilemma was painfully exposed in the Maguindanao massacre, where Moro women who usually played a strategic role in negotiating an end to rido became its principal victims.

The sad thing about the recent massacre is that it could have been avoided. Everyone in Central Mindanao knew about the looming violence between the Ampatuan and Mangudadatu clans as early as March 2009, when the latter’s patriarch Pax Mangudadatu confronted Andal Ampatuan in a public gathering and made known his clan’s intention to challenge the latter’s political hold on Maguindanao. This threat was in turn based on the knowledge that Ampatuan was planning to undermine the Mangudadatus by fielding a challenger against them in Sultan Kudarat.

In short, the “looming” rido which pundits are predicting today actually started more than six months ago. Yet neither Malacañang nor the COMELEC, PNP, and the AFP made any attempt to monitor their activities, disarm their private security, demobilize their loyalists within the police and military, and ring-fence their camps.

Why?

The answer lies in the newfound role of Muslim Mindanao to national political elites. The region is known for a long history of electoral fraud. The difference today lies in its ability to provide the millions of votes that can overturn the results of national electoral contests, a situation brought about by the creation of a sub-national state (ARMM) and reinforced by the sort of democratic political competition in the post-Marcos era that makes local bosses more powerful and national leaders more beholden to them. This was the case in the presidential elections of 2004 and the senatorial race in 2007. It will serve the same purpose in 2010. Whose purpose is served by arresting Ampatuan in an election year? Certainly not those of the ruling coalition.

This partly explains the foot dragging and the lame treatment of principal suspects in the massacre. And to those pressing for limited martial rule in Maguindanao, beware what you wish for. Having a surfeit of troops on the ground can provide a superficial peace at best. At worse, it may facilitate the same type of electoral fraud in 2010, or leverage the firepower of the dominant clan over another.

In a region where the rebellion-related conflict between the GRP and the MILF received all of the national and international community’s attention and aid, NGOs such as International Alert and the Asia Foundation have often decried the ignorance and indifference of the government and donor agencies to community-based inter and intra clan violence. As International Alert asserts, it is time to focus on the confluence between both types and sources of violence and conflict. Indifference will only lead to more death and destruction as the election approaches, when a convergence between rebellion-related, and inter and intra clan conflict occurs as military forces and armed rebels take sides between warring clans and factions.

Mindanao scholars such as Patricio Abinales, James Putzel, and John Sidel have previously noted how local strong men made Mindanao, and how the region provided an ideal case of the country’s “imperfect democracy” and “political bossism”. More recently, the conflict scholar Stathis Kalyvas called attention to the birth of “ruthless political entrepreneurs” who shape and are shaped by the dynamics between states, clans, and conflict. The viciousness of the Maguindanao attack shows how these phenomena resonates here. It demonstrates the weak and narrow reach of the central Philippine state in Muslim Mindanao, and how the continued reliance on local strong men will not end the cycle of violence.

(Francisco Lara Jr. is Research Associate at the Crisis States Research Center, Development Studies Institute, London School of Economics.)