GRP-MILF draft pact on Bangsamoro homeland

[Revenant]

This just came in after the Supreme Court TRO:

MILF on pact: It's a done deal

By John Unson
Wednesday, August 6, 2008

COTABATO CITY – The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) said yesterday the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain with the government is a “done deal” and ready for implementation despite last Monday’s Supreme Court order stopping its scheduled signing.

“We have initialed the text of the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain last July 27, 2008. The pact is a done deal. It is binding on the contracting parties who are obliged to refrain from acts that would defeat the object and purpose of their agreement,” the MILF’s chief negotiator, Muhaquer Iqbal, said in a statement.

He said yesterday’s supposed signing of the MOA at the Marriott Hotel in Putrajaya, Malaysia was only a symbolic ceremony where he and his government counterpart Rudolfo Garcia were supposed to affix their “full signatures” on the document.

Iqbal was apparently referring to the “initialing” of the controversial document by the government and MILF representatives in Kuala Lumpur last July 25.

“The act of initialing the MOA-AD’s agreed text between the parties constitutes a signature of the Philippine government and MILF,” he said, pointing out the procedure was “done with a credible third party witness, the Malaysian government, as facilitator of the talks since 2001.”

Iqbal said it was the Arroyo administration that was embarrassed before the international community by the SC’s issuance of a temporary restraining order because “many ambassadors” were already in Malaysia to witness the signing.

He said the SC order was an internal matter of the Philippine government and not binding to the MILF.

“We do not even recognize the SC,” Iqbal said. “It should be implemented and up to the national government to comply with it.”

The dignitaries included US ambassador to the Philippines Kristie Kenney and Sayed El-Masry, adviser to the secretary-general of the Organization of Islamic Conference Ekmeleddin Ishanuglo.

[claRkEnt]

others might say this is one again of those conspiracy theories... but this is really worth pondering as there's really logic. Di ko rin talaga gusto ang hilatsa ng pagmumukha nitong si esperon.

http://opinion.inquirer.net/inquirer...behind-the-MOA

The sinister motive behind the MOA
By Neal Cruz
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 01:15:00 08/06/2008 The question is, “Why?” Why is the administration of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo entering into an agreement with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) that it knows it cannot implement? Many provisions of the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) are unconstitutional. To be implemented, the Constitution will have to be changed and a federal system of government installed. The Constitution cannot be changed before the presidential election of 2010 because of lack of time. Therefore President Arroyo will be out of office before even the first steps of the MOA can begin to be implemented.

If provisions of the MOA are not implemented, the MILF can say the government negotiated in bad faith and declare independence because it already has all the elements of a state: government, people, territory and international recognition. So instead of peace, the MOA will bring instability and most probably violence.

And why are they so much in a hurry to have the MOA signed? It would have been signed Tuesday had not the Supreme Court issued a temporary restraining order. It really looks like the MOA was railroaded. There were no consultations before it was drafted. Local government officials were not consulted, the people of the areas to be affected were not consulted, Congress was not consulted.

The government said there will be consultations after the signing. What, consultations will be done after the agreement becomes a done deal? This is the first time I have heard of an agreement being concluded and signed before consultations with those to be affected are made. What if the people do not approve of the contents of the MOA? Can the done deal still be undone? Of course not.

The Arroyo administration suddenly came up with the announcement that a MOA would be signed in Malaysia within a few days. Very few even knew what the MOA contained; it was so secret. Hermogenes Esperon, the President’s peace adviser, distributed copies to generals during the weekend but not to the senators and congressmen. The Inquirer got a copy from one of the generals and published its contents last Monday, but many top public officials were in the dark about the provisions of the MOA. Most of them read it for the first time in the Inquirer. Why did the “peace” (?) panel, or the administration, behave that way?

At the Kapihan sa Manila media forum last Monday, past, present and future senators discussed the meaning of the developments surrounding the MOA. Former Senate President Franklin Drilon, Sen. Francis Escudero, and a future senator, Adel Tamano, a Muslim, speculated on the reasons behind the actions of the administration regarding the MOA and their conclusion is that the motive is very sinister.

The reason for the secrecy and the haste, they said, is that they knew it would never pass scrutiny. They also speculated that the government knew that the MOA cannot be implemented and therefore it would bring instability and violence instead of peace. So why are they doing this?
Aha, it is a clever, roundabout way to keep Ms Arroyo in power. If violence spreads in Mindanao (it has already started in Iligan City: A congressman there texted Drilon that armed Muslims invaded some “barangay” [neighborhood district] there and Christians have started arming themselves), the President can have an excuse to declare martial law in Mindanao. Then when some bombs explode in the Visayas, Luzon and Metro Manila (remember when a few bombings in the metropolis and the fake ambush of then-minister of defense Juan Ponce Enrile gave Ferdinand Marcos the excuse to declare martial law in 1972?), martial law can be declared in the whole country.

With martial rule, the President can rule by decree, elections can be suspended, and Ms Arroyo will stay in power—indefinitely, until martial law is lifted and new elections are called, by which time the rules may have been changed, including allowing Ms Arroyo to run for a third term.
Speculation, yes, but it is possible. And if it is possible, you cannot rule it out. And with Ms Arroyo, you never know what is brewing in that little brain of hers.

But why would she want to stay on when she has had nothing but problems since she became president by forcibly pushing President Joseph Estrada out with the connivance of the Supreme Court, and for which she became the most hated president the Philippines ever had? Because when she is no longer president, she would no longer be immune from suit, so she would be inundated with cases, especially for graft the penalty for which is capital punishment. So if you are in her place, what will you do? Will you not try to hold on to power for as long as you can?

With her latest caper, however, she may not be able to even finish her term. Drilon said ceding a part of Philippine territory to the MILF—as the MOA will do—is an impeachable offense. Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr., ironically the champion of federalism, has a stronger word for it: treason.

By the way, what will it do to our claim to Sabah? Will it be part of the ancestral domain of the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity? (Remember, it belongs to the Sultanate of Sulu, whose latest sultan complains that he was not consulted on the MOA.) Maybe not. Maybe we will finally lose Sabah. The MOA will be signed in Malaysia. Do you think Malaysia will allow the signing inside its territory of a document that will take away Sabah from its federation?

first it was the spratly's with China, now it's Sabah with malaysia. tsk tsk

[coiter]

this is plain stupid! sa mindanao province ko, and though it's not included in the MOA-AD, what will convince us that it will never be?

and only here in the philippines do we negotiate with and concede to terrorists!

at ang kapal ng mukha ng malaysia na yan! why make them a 3rd party to the negotiations when they have their own interests???

please, please supreme court, don't give in to the pressures of the administration!

[zero]

yung quiapo, culiat, taguig at greenhills, baka gusto rin nila isama sa ancestral domain. hehehehe....

[zero]

yung quiapo, culiat, taguig at greenhills, baka gusto rin nila isama sa ancestral domain. hehehehe....

[A121]

Definitely unconstitutional.

Section 18. The Congress shall enact an organic act for each autonomous region with the assistance and participation of the regional consultative commission composed of representatives appointed by the President from a list of nominees from multi-sectoral bodies. The organic act shall define the basic structure of government for the region consisting of the executive department and legislative assembly, both of which shall be elective and representative of the constituent political units. The organic acts shall likewise provide for special courts with personal, family, and property law jurisdiction consistent with the provisions of this Constitution and national laws.

The creation of the autonomous region shall be effective when approved by majority of the votes cast by the constituent units in a plebiscite called for the purpose, provided that only provinces, cities, and geographic areas voting favorably in such plebiscite shall be included in the autonomous region.

More here:
http://www.chanrobles.com/article10a...ousregions.htm

Kailangnang magkaroon ng plebisito at ma-ammend muna ang konstitusyon bago maituloy ito. Insulto ito para sa lahat ng mamayang Pilipino.

[vito corleone]

antindi talaga ni darth pandak. . .komo she thinks nakalusot na sya sa nbn allegations because of the food and oil crisis e eto na naman sya. . .alam nyo, harap-harapan na talagang panloloko yan. . .she's telling us right infront of our face, "kaya ko kayong gaguhin, mamamayang pilipino!". . .

[shadow]

lumipat na rin si GMA sa Mindanao at doon na lang siya Presidente...

[CoDer]

Non-muslim will raise hell in mindanao if this continues, history will repeat itself. Grabe ang pinagdaanan ng mga settlers sa mindanao before ibang klase din nung na pundi sila.

[jonski]

Wala ako tiwala sa pakikialam ng Malaysia dito...Sila #1 backer ng mga yan.

One soldier dead in clash with Muslim rebels in Philippines

Cotabato City, Philippines - One soldier was killed in a clash with Muslim separatist rebels in the southern Philippines, where the guerrillas are reportedly gathering following a setback in peace talks with the government, officials said Tuesday.

The firefight erupted Tuesday when about 50 Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels stormed a sugarcane plantation in Aleosan town, North Cotabato province, 930 kilometres south of Manila, said army Major Randolph Cabangbang, a regional military spokesman.

Cabangbang said government troops responded to the attack, triggering a firefight that killed one soldier.

He said the rebels raided and burned the 10-hectare plantation.

'This is part of the rebels' build-up in the province,' he said.

North Cotabato Governor Jesus Sacdalan said MILF rebels have been massing up in the province since the Philippine Supreme Court on Monday stopped the signing of a controversial land deal between the guerrilla group and the government.

'The villagers are alarmed,' he said. 'The move is prohibited as massing up of troops is a violating of the existing ceasefire agreement between the MILF and the government.'

Sacdalan said the MILF forces in the province were reportedly led by Ustadz Amerial Umbra Kato, a rebel commander trained in Afghanistan.

'Majority of the rebels are coming from other areas, such as Camp Darapanan, the MILF's main lair in nearby Sultan Kudarat province,' he said.

The Philippine government and the MILF were supposed to sign on Tuesday an agreement on ancestral domain that would have provided for the holding of a plebiscite to expand an existing autonomous Muslim region in the southern region of Mindanao.

But Catholic politicians in Mindanao asked the Supreme Court to stop the signing and to nullify the agreement, which they alleged violated the constitution.

General Alexander Yano, armed forces chief of staff, assured residents in North Cotabato that the military was closely monitoring the situation in the province and the southern region of Mindanao following the setback in the peace talks.

'We have clear instructions from President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to be vigilant amid the recent developments,' Yano said. 'We are likewise directed to take appropriate actions, while upholding the primacy of the peace process, to protect the citizens from harm.'

The signing of the ancestral domain deal is a key step in resuming formal peace talks between the government and the MILF, which have been stalled since December 2007.

Aside from expanding the existing six-province Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao by holding a plebiscite in more than 700 village in 2009, the agreement also provides for the set-up of a new form of government for Muslims after a final peace deal is reached.

The 11,000-strong MILF has been fighting for the establishment of an independent Islamic state in Mindanao since 1978. It agreed to hold peace talks with the government in 1997 in hopes of ending the violent separatist struggle.

http://www.monstersandcritics.com/ne...le_1421739.php