UPDATE ON THE CURRENT CRISIS IN THE MINDANAO PEACE PROCESS. Robert Maulana Marohombsar Alonto The real score… The unfortunate incident yesterday wherein 50 officers and members of the PNP-SAF (contrary to earlier news report that the figure is 27) as disclosed by PNP Senior Superintendent Noel Armilla, PNP Director for the ARMM, were reportedly killed during a fierce encounter with MILF forces in Mamasapano, Maguindanao, should be thoroughly examined in light of its deeper implications on the peace process and the present developments relative to the Bangsamoro Basic Law. The PNP-SAF conducted a police operation in an MILF area without coordinating with the ceasefire bodies – the Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities (CCCH), Ad Hoc Joint Action Group (AHJAG), Local Monitoring Teams (LMTs), and the International Monitoring Team (IMT). In short, the PNP-SAF violated a cardinal rule – coordination. One police source confidentially revealed that the operation was conducted to capture a “Most Wanted” Jemaah Islamiyyah (JI) fugitive who is said to have a 5 million-dollar-reward on his head (not pesos but dollars, mind you) and was believed to be coddled by the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF). Given the huge amount - and in dollars at that - involved in the capture “dead or alive” of this JI fugitive, one is not surprised at the ‘over-enthusiasm’ of the combined police forces from the different provinces into launching this big operation to bag the target. Considering even what Ted Failon of DZMM says, among other revelations of corruption equally scandalous, that ordinary members of the PNP have not been given their allowances until now, the underlying motive for such operation is easily discernable. That being the case, the PNP-SAF did not bother to coordinate with the ceasefire bodies and, as news have it, even with the 6th Infantry Division of the AFP, in the race to bag the “valuable” target who, it turned out was not in the area. Unfortunately, the area pinpointed to be where the fugitive was believed to be hidden is a stronghold of the 105th Base Command of the MILF-BIAF, not the BIFF, whose fighters are tough veterans of numerous battles in the recent past. It is but a natural reaction on the part of the MILF forces to defend their areas when it is invaded by armed elements, especially in the wee hours of the morning or in the dead of the night. What complicates the matter is that this unfortunate incident comes at a time when the fate of the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) is being decided on in Congress; ARMM executives have just issued a “Consolidated Position” practically opposing the BBL drawn from the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro (FAB); and pressure is being exerted by government on the MILF to commence “decommisioning” – ‘symbolic’ or not - even without waiting for what happens to the BBL or putting into place the commitments government is obligated to deliver under the signed political agreements with the MILF. These situations which appear lopsided in that a disturbing trend that intends to impose submissiveness on the MILF without really implementing in letter and spirit what had been forged on the negotiating table is coming out to the fore. In plain language, bad faith is creeping in and is taking over the whole process. Just a few minutes ago as of this writing, Senator Bongbong Marcos, head of the Senate Committee on Local Government that conducts hearings on the BBL at the Upper House has announced the suspension of such hearings on the BBL in the Mindanao provinces in view of the deaths of the PNP-SAF personnel in that armed encounter in Maguindanao. He cannot, in “conscience” he says, continue with the hearings until the MILF shows signs of sincerity that it is prepared in effect to lay down the foundations of peace in Mindanao. Marcos claims there was no need for the PNP-SAF to coordinate with the ceasefire bodies because they were after a notorious “terrorist”. Thus, he condemns the MILF for this “use of violence”. For one who is a scion of the brutal dictator whose hands were stained with the blood of tens of thousands of Moros and non-Moros alike, and who, even after his family has returned to power, never showed remorse at, and contrition for, what their dictator patriarch did, Senator Marcos still has the gall to invoke his “conscience” and mention the “use of violence” over what clearly was a an act of aggression as those PNP personnel who committed it deliberately did not coordinate with the ceasefire bodies as required by the rule. The MILF forces concerned were acting in self-defense as is expected of a revolutionary force. But Marcos, of course, will not understand this because his father and family and cronies were engaged in brutally suppressing the liberation forces which were engaged in the struggle to restore freedom to the country during his father’s violent dictatorship from 1972 to 1986. What Marcos further seems to have ignored is that when the MILF jettisoned its original goal of Moro independence, it made the greatest compromise to manifest sincerity towards the attainment of peace through peaceful political negotiations; when the MILF signed the FAB and the CAB with the government, it has laid down the foundations of peace based on justice in Mindanao. When the MILF agreed to enter into a partnership with the government to draft the BBL that would govern the future Bangsamoro, it strengthened that foundation of peace; and when the MILF moreover conceded to have the BBL be “harmonized” with the Philippine Constitution, it did so again for the sake of peace and the success of peace in Mindanao notwithstanding the caveats that that “harmonization” might engender. Now Marcos has suspended hearings that will slow down the passage of the BBL instead of hastening it in light of the recent development. Decommissioning is at the core of Normalization, which is an integral part of the FAB. As signatory to the FAB, the MILF is duty-bound to comply with decommissioning. As such, we cannot oppose and should not oppose decommissioning because we are Bangsamoro Muslims who are true to our words and faithful to contracts and agreements made. However, as we’ve stated before, decommissioning is not surrender (contrary to insinuations in the media) and thus under the agreements there are political commitments consonant with the principle of reciprocity that government has to fulfill before decommissioning goes full throttle. These political commitments have yet to be seen fulfilled. It would be foolish, nay perilous, therefore to proceed with decommissioning and leave our people defenseless and helpless while the political, socio-economic and security mechanisms of Bangsamoro self-rule have not yet been entrenched nor is there an unequivocal assurance that government will pass a BBL that does not stray far away from the FAB and the CAB. Decommissioning, thus, should be at the proper time and under the proper political, social and economic climate in keeping with the FAB and the CAB and not in keeping with government propaganda. As we see in the current dynamics in government that involve the BBL, there are very alarming developments that are in cadence with what happened in Maguindanao. Are there people lurking in the shadows out to sabotage the BBL or even the fruits of the negotiations? We dare not speculate but we cannot ignore the convergence of events. Now in Congress, they’re questioning the “constitutionality” of the very character of the Bangsamoro Government, which is the parliamentary/ministerial form. They are questioning, nay opposing, the Bangsamoro Police. They are questioning the powers devolved to the Bangsamoro Government that are defined in the agreement. All of this is in the FAB. As it is, the politicians even assail the very manner the 17-year negotiations were conducted and are now saying that these negotiations and agreements took place between the MILF and the Executive Branch of government and not with the Legislative and Judiciary Branches. What sorcery is this? What form of duplicity, double talk, and equivocation are we now dealing with? Is not the Executive Branch, as part of its treaty-making powers, mandated to enter into treaties and agreements in behalf of the entire government? These nit-picking, fault-finding, political grandstanding, behind-the-scenes manipulation, and sly equivocation are the real obstacles to peace. These are signs of insincerity by those in government (and out of government) who never learned the lessons of the past nor are willing to learn these lessons. The MILF forces who were forced to defend their land and homes by doing battle with an encroaching hostile force that deliberately violated the ground rules of the cessation of hostilities agreement are not, as Marcos avers and implies, guilty of aggression nor is that an act of insincerity on the part of the MILF. On the contrary, it as an act of self-defense against what is now an unfolding blatant and brazen demonstration of insincerity by the other side. This is the real score.Jayshree BootSHAKBA-K.S.A. CHATROOMI Care for Bangsamoro MovementBangsa Meranao SolidaritySaksi KamironMORIATAO DIWAN AROUND THE GLOBEBayankoARMM WATCH
Posted on: Mon, 26 Jan 2015 09:13:12 +0000
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