Nothing less than substate for peace deal, says MILF

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) insisted yesterday that any agreement less than its proposed Bangsamoro substate will not address the decades-long Mindanao conflict as the group indicated that the substate proposal would be the least it can offer at the bargain table in terms of autonomy when it negotiates peace with the government in Kuala Lumpur late this month.

MILF chief negotiator Mohagher Iqbal, however, maintained there is nothing definite in any negotiations just like the ongoing peace process with the government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP).

“We are not talking of non-negotiable because in any negotiation you cannot say that. What I can say is that

(Bangsamoro substate) is the least form of self-governance that can really address the problem in Mindanao,” said Iqbal.

“Short of that will not resolve the problem because the government of the Philippines will continue to decide what will happen, so that is not good,” he added.

The proposed sub-state was personally discussed by MILF chieftain Al Haj Murad to president Aquino during their “secret” meeting in Japan last Aug. 4.

Earlier, former President Estrada cautioned the government from entertaining the idea of a Bangsamoro sub-state, stressing that if not handled with caution, it may border on treason.

Estrada stressed that peace must be attained but not at the cost of the territorial integrity. During his time, Estrada ordered the military to launch an all-out war against the MILF that virtually wiped out the secessionist group.

More than 20 MILF camps all over Mindanao were captured by the military, including the sprawling Camp Abubakar, the MILF’s main camp straddling the provinces of Maguindanao, Lanao and Cotabato.

Reports describe the sub-state as one that will exercise powers over its political and economic affairs and enforce security within the Bangsamoro territory. While it will remain under the Republic of the Philippines, it would have “asymmetrical relations’’ with the national government, similar to Hong Kong’s relations with China and will have the unique position of having its own “responsibility in governing Bangsamoro lands”.

Iqbal took a swipe at former North Cotabato Gov. Emmanuel Pinol and Zambaonga City Mayor Celso Lobregat, who both questioned the MILF’s reference to the Memorandum of Agreement on the Ancestral Domain in the ongoing peace negotiations even after the Supreme Court junked the MOA-AD as unconstitutional.

The MILF admitted that the proposed Bangsamoro sub-stae is just a “reframed” version of the MOA-AD.

Pinol, who was among those petitioned against the MOA-AD in 2008, earlier vowed to return to the SC to seek clarification.

State lawyers in oral arguments yesterday also asked the Supreme Court (SC) to dismiss petitions filed by the opposition questioning the suspension of the elections of the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao as they rejected any supposed links between the shelving of the elections and the recent secret meeting between Aquino and MILF spokesman Al Haj Murad in Tokyo.

Solicitor General Joel Cadiz asked the court to dismiss the consolidated petitions led by House minority leader and Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman seeking to nullify R.A. 10153 or the law synchronizing the ARMM polls to the May 2013 mid-term national elections.

In his last State of the Nation Address, President Aquino said the need to synchronize the elections is meant to keep costs down and to prevent using the vote-rich area as a staging point for cheating in national elecitons.

Cadiz insisted there is nothing illegal or unconstitutional in the postponement of the polls and the power of President Aquino to appoint officers-in-charge in ARMM, contesting the argument of Lagman that appointment of ARMM officials is not within the power of the President vested under section 16, article VII of the constitution.

“The President can reset the elections in ARMM and appoint OICs since he is authorized by Congress,” he argued.

Cadiz has downplayed as speculative the point raised by Rep. Lagman in the previous hearing on purported link between President Aquino’s recent meeting with the MILF in Tokyo, Japan and the postponement of ARMM polls.

“The meeting in Tokyo between the leadership of the MILF and the President was a meeting between people of good will, people who want to talk and people who want to show sincerity to each other. Let us not put any other meaning on that,” he appealed.

The solicitor general stressed that any possible change in the structure and the composition of the constituent units of ARMM as a result of a negotiation or a peace agreement with MILF would anyway be subject to a plebiscite.

“It will be good that it will happen even before the 2013 elections if the postponement of the elections would be validly upheld,” he said, adding that the next meeting of the peace panel and MILF has been set on Aug. 22.

Last week, Rep. Lagman argued before the court that the mandate of elective officials should come from the people and allowing the President to substitute to this power of the electorate could set a dangerous scenario.

The lawmaker stressed that even if the appointment would be just transitory, the law is strict in providing that “elective officials should be chosen by people.”

Lagman further alleged that the grounds for the appointment were “maliciously devised by the administration so they can appoint OICs in ARMM.”

Sen. Francis Escudero, meanwhile, said the supposed plan by Bangsamoro groups to declare him persona non-grata in Mindanao was well within their rights, but challenged them to first check the veracity of statements being falsely attributed to him.

Escudero has voted against the postponement of the election in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), originally scheduled for Aug. 8, because of conflicting provisions and the absence of mechanism on the selection of officers-in-charge, whose appointments rest solely on the Executive Department.

The senator strongly believes that Malacañang should give Mindanao, particularly the ARMM, the free hand to choose its own leaders and without military intervention.

According to the senator, sensitive issues in Mindanao should not be debated on the basis of lies, but rather on their merits, inclusivity and constitutionality. “Pointing out rooms for improvements in the peace process do not equate to being anti-Muslim,” he said. –Mario J. Mallari, Daily Tribune