OUR Mindanao

OUR Mindanao 3DECEMBER 2010

OUR Mindanao4 DECEMBER 2010


contents A makeshift stage is being transported along the highway in Datu Salibo town in Maguindanao. The stage is used during special occasions like kanduli (thanksgiving). MindaNews photo by Keith Bacongco

Let the talks begin

5-6 Let the panels meet. Carolyn O. Arguillas 7 The only way is forward. Al Haj Murad Ebrahim, MILF chair 8-9 Let us make peace. Marvic Leonen, GRP panel chair. 10-11 The Peace Panels 12-13 The Peace Process Mechanisms 14 The GRP-MILF Primer on the Peace Process 15-18 Let the People Understand. Albert E. Alejo, SJ 19 Let us all be patient. Jesus G. Dureza 20-21 GRP-MILF Adrift in a Sea of Questions. Patricio P. Diaz 22-23 Will the Aquino Administration support out of the box solutions?

Amina Rasul 24 From the pains of War, Peace. Rudy B. Rodil 25-26 It’s time to fly! Irene Morada Santiago 27-28 Let the talks begin but mind to reclaim the marshes. Peter Kreuzer 29-30 Addressing Violence. Kristian Herbolzheimer 31 Another litmus test for peace. Ayesah Abubakar 32-34 Hopes, Fears, Tasks. Soliman Santos 35 Seek to understand rather than be understood. Camilo “Bong” Montesa 36-37 MY MINDANAO. Habal-Habal & Skylab by Keith Bacongco 38 MINDANAO 101. How do you say yes, no, thank you? 39-40 Reconsidering the MILF. PN Abinales 41-42 Over the Hump, Transitioning to Peace. Lt. Gen. Raymundo Ferrer 43-45 We are all stakeholders of this whole Peace agenda. Karl Gaspar 46-47 Mindanao’s elected: 2010 - 2013

48-49 Mindanao experiences in monitoring conflict. Zainudin Malang 50 All-Women Peacekeepers pledge 24/7 civilian protection work 51 War is Unwanted. Gail Ilagan 52 Xtreme Sudoku / DID YOU KNOW? Camiguin’s Mt. Hibok-

Hibok and Phivolcs 53-56 Bakwit: the uncountable? The challenge of knowing and counting evacuees. Jowel Canuday

57 ON THE ROAD. The road to Talaingod. H. Marcos C. Mordeno

58-59 FOOD. Tinagtag. Ruby Thursday More

60-61 ONCE UPON A TIME. Bankerohan. Ting Tiongco

62 MINDANAO IS FIRST. Country’s 1st solar power plant. Froilan Gallardo

63-64 BATANG MINDANAW. Dear P-Noy

65-66 We don’t need no education. Joey Ayala

67-68 BOOKS. Bakwit wins National Book Award / Just off the press

69-70 Café Mindanao

71 The Ateneo Peace Award


CAROLYN O. ARGUILLASEditor in Chief

H. MARCOS C. MORDENOROBERT D. TIMONERA

Associate Editors

AMALIA BANDIOLALifestyle Editor

FROILAN GALLARDOPhoto Editor

TATA LAO Art Director

KEITH BACONGCOWALTER I. BALANE

FERDINANDH B. CABRERAROEL CATOTO

BENCYRUS G. ELLORINALLEN V. ESTABILLOVIOLETA M. GLORIA

GERMELINA A. LACORTEMALU MANAR

ALDEN PANTALEONBONG S. SARMIENTOMindaNews Reporters

RENE B. LUMAWAGTOTO LOzANO

RUBY THURSDAY MOREGEONARRI SOLMERANOContributing Photographers

MYRA MIRAFLORESChief Finance Officer

LENARD Q. RENDONMarketing Officer

ELLEN ALINEAAdministrative Officer

GG BUENORONALD ARCHE Administrative Staff

Published by the Mindanao News and Information Cooperative Center

(MNICC)

with editorial and business offices at 19 Leo corner 17 Venus Sts.,

GSIS Heights Subdivision, Matina Davao CityTelefax (+6382) 297-4360

MNICC BOARD Carolyn O Arguillas, chair

Robert D. Timonera, vice chairAmalia Bandiola, member

Jose Jowel F. Canuday, memberH. Marcos C. Mordeno, member

OUR Mindanao is a monthly publication of the MNICC which runs the daily news service, MindaNews and the online publication, www.mindanews.com. Email us at [email protected]

In the national and international consciousness, Mindanao is no land of promise but of strife. It is not the island grouping of 25 provinces, 27 cities, some 400 towns and 10,000 barangays. It is not the home to some 22 million Moro, Lumad and settlers. It is not the area with diverse cultures and a glorious pre-colonial past.

In the national and international consciousness, Mindanao is “dangerous,” is “Abu Sayyaf,” a “war zone,” an island of terrorists, kidnappers, rebels, bombers, etc…

Efforts, however, have been undertaken by various sectors to promote a better understanding of the island and its many issues.

The media sector in Mindanao is not far behind. And rightly so as it plays a crucial role in helping break the cycle of a Manila-imposed understanding of Mindanao.

By their circulation or reach, national newspapers, radio and television networks (all of them based in Metro Manila, the center of political and economic power), dictate what is and what is not news for the rest of the country and how we should interpret events in faraway Cordillera, Samar or Mindanao.

This is not to begrudge the national media’s dominance over the nation. Rather, it is accepting that that is the reality we, in faraway Mindanao (or faraway Cordillera, for that matter), have had to contend with and do something about, in our own little ways, beyond the usual whining.

And so we embarked on a journey.

In May 2001, we set up our media cooperative and launched our daily news service, MindaNews.

In May 2002, we gathered community paper editors, publishers, TV and radio station managers in Mindanao for the 1st Mindanao Media Summit, to acknowledge that while collectively we in the media are part of the problem, we, too, can be part of the solution.

At the end of the Summit, media executives from the island’s six regions issued the Covenant, “This is OUR Mindanao” where we vowed to “exercise our power and responsibility to ensure that the public is given a balanced and accurate understanding of events and processes in Mindanao today.”

We said:

“We are disseminators and interpreters of news. But we are also major stakeholders in the quest for peace in Mindanao.

“We want to re-shape and re-direct the themes on Mindanao currently dominated by terrorism, war, criminality, and other forms of violence, to one that presents a realistic, balanced and truthful reporting of the lives, initiatives, relationships, issues, pains, dreams and triumphs of our people.”

In our own little ways, we at the Mindanao News and Information Cooperative Center (MNICC) have tried our best to help tell the world this is OUR Mindanao. When we started MindaNews on May 25, 2001 and our online publication, www.mindanews.com (first as a weekly starting May 2002 until the war in Buliok in February 2003 prompted us to go daily), our slogan was “This IS Mindanao.” It has since evolved into “This is OUR Mindanao.” This monthly newsmagazine is our attempt to provide readers an intelligent and intelligible discussion on Mindanao’s many faces and facets. We shall be tackling issues such as the peace processes with the Moro Liberation Fronts and the National Democratic Front; the state of our environment; our diverse cultures and lifestyles; our contributions to the nation beyond the usual raw materials that feed factories outside the island.

This first issue, which focuses on the peace process with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, is our modest contribution to helping readers understand the need to move on with the peace process under the new administration. We asked Mindanawons and Mindanao watchers to write their thoughts on the theme, “Let the talks begin.” We invited former North Cotabato Vice Governor Emmanuel Pinol to write but he begged off, through his representative, saying he is now a private citizen and “wala nay value iya isulti” (his views no longer have value).

We invite fellow Mindanawons, wherever you may be based, to contribute to our next issues. Together, let us tell the world OUR Mindanao stories. We would like to thank the Australian Agency for International Development and the Mindanao Peoples Caucus for supporting us in our endeavor to start this monthly newsmagazine. Editorial judgment was left entirely to us.

Happy Amun Jadid (Islamic New Year) and Merry Christmas!

- Carolyn O. Arguillas

LETTER FROM MindanaO

This is OUR Mindanao By Carolyn O. Arguillas / MindaNews IN DAVAO CITY

OUR COVER “I made it! I made it!,” this boy exclaims with joy as his teammate behind him prepares for his turn to jump over. Bobby Timonera, MindaNews’ managing editor and OUR Mindanao associate editor, took this photograph of the children playing on a platform used to dry seaweeds in a “punduhan” (a cluster of houses on stilts in the middle of a seaweed farm) in Tinambak, Sitangkai, Tawi-tawi.


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The prospects for a negotiated peace settlement looked more promising for the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) than for the National Democratic Front (NDF) at the start of the Aquino administration on June 30.

Five months later, the government and NDF peace panel chairs had hit the ground running while the peace process between the government and the MILF has run aground.

In his inaugural address, President Benigno Simeon Aquino III said his administration is “committed to a peaceful and just settlement of conflicts, inclusive of the interests of all – may they be Lumads, Bangsamoro or Christian.”

Fifteen days later, he named Marvic Leonen, Dean of the University of the Philippines College of Law, as peace panel chair in the negotiations with the MILF and on July 26, in his first State of the Nation Address, expressed hope that the peace negotiations “will begin after Ramadan.”

Ramadan ended on September 9.

The MILF named its peace panel four days later. On December 5, Leonen made public his December 2 visit to Kuala Lumpur to handcarry three letters: the President’s letter to Malaysian Prime Minister Najib in response to the latter’s written acceptance of the country facilitator role, a note verbale asking Malaysia to extend the tour duty of its contingent in the International Monitoring Team and a letter for MILF peace panel chair Mohagher Iqbal, inviting him for exploratory talks on “December 6, 7, 8, 13 and 14 as possible dates” to address “urgent concerns.”

Communication between the panels is coursed through the country-facilitator, Malaysia.

“Urgent concerns”

Leonen said among the “urgent concerns” are the facilitation issue and security guarantees, including the case of Engr. Eduard Guerra (alias Abraham Yap Alonto) who was arrested on September 22 at the Davao International Airport en route to Geneva, Switzerland, to attend a meeting of the United Nations Human Rights Council. The MILF Central Committee resolution on October 11 protested the arrest of Guerra, urged the dropping of charges against him and asked that he be released without delay.

The resolution also said Guerra, a member of the MILF Central Committee, is covered by the safety and security guarantees provided

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to MILF members who are directly and principally involved in the peace process. “I will wait” (for the letter), Iqbal said on December 5. By December 14, The last of Leonen’s “possible dates,” he was still waiting.

Leonen had coursed the letter through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “Why did Leonen go to the Foreign Ministry when the RD (Office of the Prime Minister-Research Department or OPM-RD) handles the peace talks?” Iqbal asked. “This is too circuitous,” he said, adding Leonen “should have gone to Othman (Malaysian facilitator Datuk Othman bin Razak) or the Malaysian secretariat.”

But Leonen precisely would not go the OPM-RD. His panel wants Othman replaced for alleged bias. The MILF on the other hand wants Othman retained. Smooth take off

It took the President only 15 days to name a peace panel chair for the negotiations with the MILF. In contrast, it took him until October 21 or almost four months later, to name lawyer Alexander Padilla as chair of the government peace panel negotiating with the NDF.

Forty days later, Padilla, formerly of the Justice Department and later Health Undersecretary, and NDF peace panel chair Luis Jalandoni met in Hong Kong for informal talks on December 1 and 2, agreed on a ceasefire from December 16 to January 3, and scheduled yet another informal meeting second week of January, in preparation for the formal negotiations on or about the third week of February 2011. The NDF withdrew from the talks in August 2005.

It helped that Padilla and Jalandoni had known each other during the anti-Marcos dictatorship. Padilla was a member of the national council of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan and was secretary-general of the Nationalist Alliance for Justice, Freedom and Democracy.

No strangers

Leonen and the MILF peace panel members may not be close friends but they’re not strangers, either.

After the aborted signing of the already initialed Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) in August 2008, Leonen met with Iqbal and senior panel member Datu Michael Mastura in the MILF’s Camp Darapanan in Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao “in the context of a College of Law-sponsored university consortium research on the possible parameters of talks with the MILF for the new administration.”

By Carolyn O. Arguillas / MindaNews IN DAVAO CITY

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with the MILF started in 1997, under then President Fidel Ramos. The talks were interrupted by three wars – the “all-out war” of then President Joseph Estrada in 2000, the Buliok war in 2003 under President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, and the aftermath of the aborted signing of the MOA-AD on August 5, 2008, also under Arroyo.

At the forum with the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines in Camp Darapanan on August 9, Al Haj Murad Ebrahim, MILF peace panel chair, said, “the only way in the peace process is forward in order to complete the peace talks where we left off last June 3, this year. But for the government, it seems they are still trying to catch up with their breath on which way to go. Hints are piling up that they want to start the talks from scratch, want to localize the talks, and to replace the facilitator of the talks. If true, these are serious propositions that can delay or even imperil the peace talks.” (full text on p.7)

The two panels had signed a “Declaration of Continuity for Peace Negotiations” on June 3, with then government peace panel chair Rafael Seguis, saying, “Today, we put closure to this stage of the peace negotiations with a clear statement by both Parties that we will preserve our gains and accomplishments, and work our best for the continuation of the talks. We give honor to our past, and anticipate the future with great hope.”

At the National Solidarity Conference on Mindanao on August 13 at the University Hotel in UP Diliman, Leonen allayed Murad’s fears. “We do not intend to start from scratch,” he stressed.

“We are eager to start talks on the one substantive agenda: the comprehensive compact. We are aware of the drafts exchanged by the parties on January 27, 2010. We will build on three realities: first, that the MILF has expressed that it has dropped its option for independence--that it is not negotiating for independence, but the highest form of autonomy; second, that the submissions of the parties (with Arroyo administration as the other party) are currently poles apart; and third, our mandate as framed by the President. We note that the MILF has rejected certain forms of “enhanced autonomy” and has proposed the idea of a establishment of a “state-sub-state form of governance in a future Bangsamoro state,” Leonen said. (full text on pp. 8-9) “Our hand is extended in peace. It is extended consciously and deliberately. A hand extended in peace is a hundred times stronger and a million times more courageous than one that picks up a gun. Do not doubt the sincerity of this administration. Do not doubt my sincerity. Take it, and let us make peace happen. Immediately,” said Leonen.

ASAP

But sitting across the negotiating table with the MILF did not happen immediately. In fact, as of December 12, the panels had not met.

The apparent openness of both panels, however, and the determination of civil society to get the two panels to meet, have helped resolve problems, such as the continued stay of the Malaysian-led International Monitoring Team (IMT) which has a mandate of one year. Reckoning the mandate from the signing on December 9, 2009, the government in notes verbales to IMT member-countries Malaysia,

Brunei, Libya and Japan, asked for a three-month extension or until March 9, 2001, Technically, the request should be made by both panels. The MILF said it wasn’t asking for extension but a “more pragmatic if not the correct reckoning” of the mandate. The MILF reckons it from February 28, 2010 when the IMT-5 was formally launched. The IMT-5 head of mission, Maj. Gen. Datuk Baharom bin Hamzah, in his presentation before the 6th Mindanao Media Summit in early November also reckoned the start to February 28.

Whether the mandate ends on February 28 or March 9 next year is not yet clear but what is certain is that both panels had been able to buy time and the IMT continues to stay at least until February 28.

Guiamel Alim, a member of the Council of Elders of the Cotabato City-based Consortium of Bangsamoro Civil Society said civil society “must encourage the panels to start the exploratory talks ASAP to ease tensions.”

Mary Ann Arnado, secretary-general of the Mindanao Peoples Caucus, said “peace advocates should bridge the parties to ensure they get to meet and talk before the Christmas and New Year. Exploratory meeting will be a good start if only to impress upon the IDPs (internally displaced persons) and civilians in the conflict-affected areas that the process is moving and something is being done at the highest level to address their situation.”

zainudin Malang, executive director of the Mindanao Human Rights Action Center, said the continued stay of the IMT and the exploratory talks “will be welcomed by the millions living in the conflict-affected areas, the vast majority of whom belong to the Moro minority.”

“Any further delay will undermine the credibility and legitimacy of the GRP-MILF peace process to these people. The talks will face a crisis of confidence,” he said.

Gus Miclat, executive director of the Initiatives for International Dialogue, said civil society “should publicly welcome and encourage any small step towards this direction and offer its services to pursue the same.”

“Civil society has been behind efforts to bring the parties back to the table without preconditions. We will continue to be engaged in the peace process because we believe that we are a party to the negotiations as well. Though the leaders sit at the table, it takes the effort of thousands of people at all levels to help bring peace about,” said Irene Santiago, chair of the Mindanao Commission on Women and a member of the government peace panel negotiating with the MILF from 2001 to 2004.

(Carolyn O. Arguillas is editor-in chief of OUR Mindanao and news editor of MindaNews)


It is good to say the GRP-MILF Peace Process has gone a long way, to be quite precise, more than 13 years since 1997, in a bid to solve the age-old Moro Question and armed conflict in Mindanao. We have already signed with the government 87 or so documents of various nature and importance. And the Parties have also initialed one landmark document, the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD), with their commitment to “reframe the consensus points with the end in view of moving towards the comprehensive compact to bring about a negotiated political settlement.” Another good thing to tell you is that only one substantive agenda of the peace talks is remaining: the comprehensive compact. We have tried to deal with this agenda last January 27, 2010 when we exchanged drafts on the comprehensive compact but we failed, because the Parties’ respective positions were heaven-and-earth apart. In our draft, the main thrust is for the establishment of a state-and-substate arrangement of governance in the future Bangsamoro state, while the government’s repeated its offer to the MILF in 2000 and 2003 for an enhanced autonomy for the Moros, which is nothing but molded in the template of the present bogus Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. For the MILF, the only way in the peace process is forward in order to complete the peace talks where we left off last June 3, this year. But for the government, it seems they are still trying to catch up with their breath on

which way to go. Hints are piling up that they want to start the talks from scratch, want to localize the talks, and to replace the facilitator of the talks. If true, these are serious propositions that can delay or even imperil the peace talks. At present, the ground situation is still alright. No major violations of the ceasefire have been reported. Thanks to the return of the International Monitoring Team (IMT) and the other mechanisms of the peace process and ceasefire, such as the International Contact Group (ICG) and the Civilian Protection Component of the IMT. In addition, the participation of the European Union (EU) as coordinator of the Humanitarian, Relief and Development (HRD) component of the IMT and Norway’s joining the security component of the IMT contributed a lot to the legitimacy and stability of the ceasefire and the peace process. Moreover, the continuing and deepening involvement of Japan to the peace process especially their roles in the International Contact Group (ICG) and the IMT further entrenched the firmness on the ground. Also Japan through the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) provides technical and other forms of aid promoting economic and social development in the conflict affected areas (CAAs) in Mindanao. But while this normalcy is the most desirable situation, it is expected to change dramatically once the peace talks continue to hang in the balance. And surely that threatening and provocative statement of AFP Chief of Staff General Ricardo Davide Jr. that the government will crush the New People’s Army and the MILF by 2013 is causing jittery to an already uncertain future.

What to expect of the peace process under President Noynoy Aquino is very much in the realm of speculation. Available data are still very few and loose for one to be able to draw a correct conclusion. Appointing Teresita “Deng” Deles, as secretary of the OPAPP, and Atty, Marvic Leonen, Senen Bacani, and Miriam Coronel-Ferrer, as the new government peace negotiators, is not a sure barometer on what really is in store for the peace process. These are aggravated by such misleading terminology “Situwasyon sa Mindanaw,” and even more by pinning the hope to solve the problem when “Moro, Lumad, and Christians are talking to each other. The greatest challenge to the peace process is whether this time the President has the political will to surmount all obstacles and oppositions including well-entrenched spoilers once the peace talks starts or when an agreement will be signed. Running parallel is whether the peace process is truly a problem-solving endeavor or just an exercise to manage the conflict, as what previous presidents, deliberately or otherwise, did. We wish to tell you also that whether in negotiation or in the normal course of our Islamic revolutionary struggle, the political aspirations of our people remain the same and constant; i.e., we want genuine governance for our people. We want our people to decide for themselves. Finally it is our firm hope that the Moro Question and armed conflict in Mindanao will be settled now or in our lifetime; otherwise, this struggle of our people for freedom and right to self-determination will drag on for generation after generation. To ensure this, we are preparing the young generations today to

carry on the great task of liberating our people from the yoke of oppression and thralldom.

By Al Haj Murad Ebrahim Chair, Moro Islamic Liberation Front

the Only Way is

(Opening statement of Al Haj Murad Ebrahim, Chairman of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, during the MILF-FOCAP Forum on the Peace Process at Darapanan, Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao on August 9. 2010. FOCAP is Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines)

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Let Us Make

Dean Marvic M.V.F. Leonen Chair, GRP Panel in Talks with the MILF

PeaceIt is always a relief to be among friends who share a passion for the same kind of peace. I expect that you will always be candid. That without any prodding, you will give feedback or share suggestions. I have no doubt that all this will be given with a lot of sincerity and urgency and always within a keen sense of history and context. That is why I have continued to respect your efforts. Years ago, the challenge for both negotiating parties to consider, was stated simply by the MILF as: how to solve the Bangsamoro problem. This still is the most important question to address. We are however more fortunate than past negotiating panels in several respects. There have already been significant steps taken, not only in the understanding of what inspires this question, but also in terms of clarifying the question further into more specific queries that the parties must address. Further, we have had significant political experience--on both sides--to draw up the kinds of solutions necessary to address this problem. My direct principal, the incumbent President of the Republic of the Philippines--unlike his

predecessor--now enjoys an overwhelmingly fresh mandate from the Filipino people. He was swept into power by citizens who not only want him to redress the wrongdoings of the past, but also to learn from why these happened. In a speech delivered on April 22, 2010 at the Peace and Security Forum at the Mandarin Hotel, the President acknowledged that the lack of peace in Mindanao is the result of a “deeper systemic problem”. This was exacerbated by the former administration that “merely paid lip service to the quest for true peace, security and progress.” In his words: “For close to a decade, the present administration has wasted opportunities to resolve our internal conflicts and move this nation forward. Instead it exploited the conditions spawned by the internecine conflict for political gain. It chose to coddle warlords willing to deliver command votes come election time rather than arrest them and implement the law. “The rejection of the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) has taught valuable but costly lessons to the advocates of peace. “(a) The absence of a clear national

policy and coherent strategy for peace negotiators led to confusion and false expectations across the table. “(b) The negotiations were done secretly and without involving the views of key stakeholders whose futures depend on the ‘promise of Mindanao’ “(c) Moreover, negotiations were done in haste to meet deadlines set to gain ‘brownie points’ from an expectant international community. “(d) The result was a patchwork of provisions in a document that caused greater division than unity.” Thus, his policy statement that: “We must revive the peace process on the basis of a comprehensive understanding of the root causes of the conflict, under clear policies that pave the way ahead, and driven by a genuine desire to attain a just and lasting peace.” “We shall endeavor to restore confidence in the peace process that is transparent and participative, and renew our faith in our shared vision of a peaceful, secure and prosperous future

under one sovereign flag.” The most significant points made by the President should be underscored. First, the peace process should happen “on the basis of a comprehensive understanding of the root causes of the conflict,” Second, that it should be conducted under “clear policies that pave the way ahead, and driven by a genuine desire to attain a just and lasting peace,” Third, that there should be a restoration of “confidence in the peace process that is transparent and participative”, and Fourth, that we envision a “peaceful, secure and prosperous future under one sovereign flag.” Fears have been recently expressed on three things: that we will be insisting that we (1) start from scratch; (2) localize the talks; and (3) replace the current facilitator of the talks. They say that these will “delay or even imperil the peace talks.” We do not intend to start from scratch. To even imply that we have even

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considered this possibility is to underestimate the political sense and historical understanding of the negotiators that have already been named and of this entire administration. Our marching orders are to move forward and to move forward with due deliberation and sincerity. This is a new administration with an overwhelmingly fresh mandate from the electorate. It is expected of us to review with due diligence all the agreements that have been signed. This does not mean that we will reject them--it only means that we are in the process of increasing our understanding of the implications and meanings of the provisions. In this regard, we are not limited in our review to the agreements that were signed. We have read government’s internal reports and are receiving briefings from the relevant personalities. Soon, we will proceed to review the official minutes of the negotiations of the past nine years. More importantly, we seek to assess how we can more effectively and efficiently comply with the obligations that have been committed by the past administration. I confirm the observation of Al Haj Murad Ebrahim, Chairman of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, that the ground situation is still acceptable. We are particularly pleased by reports that the International Monitoring Team and the other mechanisms are working satisfactorily. Even as we continue to review, we have honored our commitments that are necessary to provide for security, civilian protection and rehabilitation on the ground. This includes commitment of personnel as well as the proper budgetary allocations. In the Aquino administration, a just, meaningful, comprehensive and durable peace is a major policy platform. Contrary to some naysayers from the past administration who continue to speculate based on their fears

and inadequacies, the agenda is not simply counter-insurgency. Contrary to misreadings of alleged statements made from our military, there are no plans for a total war solution. Soon enough, we will be ready to clarify our affirmation of the other agreements. If we are true to our word that we should only commit to what we can deliver, then we also need to do proper consultation and verification. To deliver means meeting the costs of that commitment--both financial and political. The current peace talks address a domestic situation with international interest. Where the actual conversation takes place should be a function of where both parties are most comfortable. Where any negotiation takes place should facilitate discussion, it should not dominate the conversation. Like the MILF, we hope that this does not become an obstacle to reaching the more important goal of achieving a politically negotiated settlement. We are specially appreciative of the various embassies that have visited us this past month. We acknowledge their willingness to continue to support the peace process We also acknowledge their recognition of the sovereignty of the Filipino people and territorial integrity of this Republic. While expressing our utmost appreciation for all the international actors--state and non-state--that have come to share their time and other resources; we think it is legitimate for a new administration to review whether the current deployment is in harmony with its understanding of the national interest. There is a realpolitik in international relations. Also, good intentions notwithstanding, too many international actors can work at cross purposes to each other when located within a single ground. International interest and assistance is welcome, but it is we who will have to make sure

that they facilitate rather than--unwittingly--deter an agreement. We are eager to start talks on the one substantive agenda: the comprehensive compact. We are aware of the drafts exchanged by the parties on January 27, 2010. We will build on three realities: first, that the MILF has expressed that it has dropped its option for independence--that it is not negotiating for independence, but the highest form of autonomy; second, that the submissions of the parties (with Arroyo administration as the other party) are currently poles apart; and third, our mandate as framed by the President. We note that the MILF has rejected certain forms of “enhanced autonomy” and has proposed the idea of a establishment of a “state-sub-state form of governance in a future Bangsamoro state.” The MILF should understand that we represent the government of the Republic of the Philippines. This includes many peoples and identities. This includes many stakeholders represented by various groupings. The MILF should also understand that our actions are measured against the framework of a Constitution--a constitution which, to my mind, provides space to find a political settlement including, if necessary and acceptable to all, a process of amendment and revision. I do not see the Constitution as a problem. I view it as a reality that we should deal with and should also be considered in finding the solution. However, any good negotiator knows that attention to the process of the negotiation is as important as the substance of the conversation. We do not want the process to drive the substantive agenda. We want the process to facilitate it. And the process includes the levels of comfort that both negotiating parties have in relation to the parameters of the talks. It should include clear terms of reference that covers matters like the nature of the third party’s participation, protocols

in communication, the setting of the agenda, sharing of the minutes of meetings, possibilities for direct conversations between the parties, role of international actors, among others. Hence, I do not think that this new administration and this newly appointed negotiator can be faulted if we seek to review the terms of reference of the facilitation of the past discussions. I do not think that it is unwise for us to assess, based on the experience of the past panels and secretariats, whether we can be comfortable with the current facilitator. From our present understanding of what transpired towards the end of the past administration, this was even expected by the current facilitator. We would have thought that this would be welcomed by the other party and by the current facilitator (and the state to which she or he belongs), considering that it should show that we are sincere and professional in our tasks. The challenge to the current administration is whether it has the creativity and political will to effect the necessary changes. The challenge to the MILF is whether it can be open, as creative and have the same political will to effect any agreed upon solution. The challenge to you is how you can engage constructively; and how you could help us meet the problems hurled by those who do not wish to engage constructively. Our hand is extended in peace. It is extended consciously and deliberately. A hand extended in peace is a hundred times stronger and a million times more courageous than one than picks up a gun. Do not doubt the sincerity of this administration. Do not doubt my sincerity. Take it, and let us make peace happen. Immediately.

(Delivered at the National Solidarity Conference for Mindanao organized by the Mindanao Peoples Caucus on August 13, 2010 at the University Hostel, UP Diliman, Quezon City)


MiRiAM CORONEL-FERRER

Miriam Coronel Ferrer. 50, is an Associate Professor at the Department of Political Science at the University of the Philippines. She is an expert in peace and conflict studies, democratization, human rights and international humanitarian law, and cooperative politics of Southeast Asia, was co-convener of the University Consortium on the Mindanao Question and one of 27 Filipina nominees to the 2005 Nobel Prize.

Ferrer was a member-consultant of the Reciprocal Working Committee for Political and Constitutional Reforms of the Government Negotiating Panel for Talks with the National Democratic Front from January 2002 to February 2003.

She finished her MA Southeast Asian Studies in Kent University, UK in 1991 and is presently completing her PhD by research at the Tokyo University Graduate School of Law and Politics.

She has been a political analyst/columnist of www.abs-cbnnews,com, the interactive online news site of the ABS-CBN broadcasting network, since 2008.

The Government Peace Panel 2010

Republic Act 997 which created the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos (NCMF) in December 2009 provides that the NCMF Secretary “or his/her duly designated representative shall sit as a regular member of the government’s peace panel negotiating peace with the Muslim Filipino groups or individuals.”

Invoking Executive Order 2 which revoked the “midnight appointments” issued by then President Arroyo, President Aquino appointed Dr. Hamid Barra as NCMF Secretary on September 13, vice Bai Omera Dianalan-Lucman, the Arroyo appointee. Lucman claimed she was not a “midnight appointee” and went to court to seek redress.

The Supreme Court on October 13 issued a status quo ante (as it was before EO 2) order. Solicitor General Joel Cadiz filed an urgent motion to lift the order. Barra, chair of the National Ulama Conference of the Philippines and a convenor of the Bishop-Ulama Conference, is presently a consultant to the peace panel pending resolution of the issue on appointments.

Chairman: MARViC LEONEN

Marvic MVF Leonen, 47, is Dean of the University of the Philippines College of Law. Prof. Leonen is a constitutional expert who has substantial experience on addressing land tenure issues. According to the profile distributed by the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process, Leonen is “an advocate for the advancement of people’s rights and has worked on various concerns ranging from agrarian reform, access to justice, ancestral domain, health, environment, international economic law to the Mindanao question.” Leonen took part in convening a consortium of universities, many of which came from Mindanao, to examine the next phase of the peace process under a new administration. Leonen finished his AB Economics (magna cum laude) and Law at UP and obtained his Master of Laws degree from the School of Law of the Columbia University in New York.

1997-1998: (Ret) Gen. Fortunato Abat, chair 1998 August 27- 2001 January: (Ret) Lt. Gen. Orlando V. Soriano, chair: members: Rep. Anthony Dequina, Dr. Emily Marohombsar, Maj. Gen. Santos B. Gabison, Jr. 2001 Feb. 19 – 2003 May 9: Jesus G. Dureza, chair: co-chair: Simeon Datumanong (replaced by Sultan Kudarat Governor Pax Mangudadatu when he was appointed Highways Secretary); members: ARMM Vice Governor Mahid Mutilan, Cotabato City Mayor Muslimin Sema, Dr. Emily Marohombsar, Irene Santiago 2003 June 20 to 2003 October: Eduardo Ermita, Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process as chair; members: Sultan Kudarat Governor Datu Pax Mangudadatu, Dr. Emily Marohombsar, Irene Santiago and Cotabato City Mayor Muslimin Sema

2003 Oct 22 to 2007 June 14: Silvestre C. Afable, Jr., chair: members: (Ret) Gen. Rodolfo C. Garcia, Professor Rudy B. Rodil, Sultan Kudarat Governor Datu Pax Mangudadatu and Sylvia Paraguya 2007 July 9 to 2008 Sept 2: (Ret) Gen. Rodolfo Garcia, chair: members: Agrarian Reform Secretary Nasser Pangandaman, Professor Rudy Rodil, Sylvia Paraguya and Assistant Chief State Prosecutor Leah Armamento 2008 Dec 2 to 2010 June 30: Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Rafael Seguis, chair; members: Agrarian Reform Secretary Nasser C. Pangandaman, Atty. Tomas Ong-Cabili, Adelbert Antonino, Ronald Adamat, Atty. Antonio Lavina; Dr. Grace Jimeno-Rebollos

SENEN BACANi

Senen Bacani was Agriculture Secretary under the administration of then President Corazon Aquino, the President’s mother, from 1990 to 1992.

Bacani presently holds a number of key positions with several companies and institutions, among them as President of Ultrex Management & Investments, Corporation; Chairman & President of La Frutera, Inc.

According to his executive profile and biography in Bloomberg Businessweek.com, Bacani started his career with Dole Company in Honolulu “and for the next 22 years, he progressively occupied management positions of increasing responsibility in the Philippines, Thailand, Ecuador and Costa Rica.”

He was vice president of Dole Asia from March 1989 to December 1989, before serving as Agriculture Secretary.

RAMON PiANg

Ramon Piang, 58, is a three-term mayor of Upi, Maguindanao. He now serves as vice mayor. Piang was one of Ten Outstanding Municipal Mayors in 2003 and was named the Most Exemplary Individual by the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation 3rd Triennial Award in 2006.

As mayor, his town received several awards: the Kaagapay Seal of Excellence in Local Government (2004); Gawad Galing Pook Award for Tri-People Way of Conflict Resolution (2004); Most Outstanding LGU for Promise of Hilal (2009) and Most Outstanding LGU for Bantugan (2010).

PHOTO CREDITS - Leonen: Carolyn o. arguillas • Ferrer: Froilan gallardo • Bacani and Piang: COURTESY OF OPAPP

Members

gOVERNMENT PEACE PANELS THROUgH THE YEARS


The MILF Peace Panel 2010

Chairman: MOHAgHER iqBAL

Mohagher iqbal, 62, is Information Chief of the MILF Central Committee. He is also known by another name, as Salah Jubair, author of the book, “Bangsamoro: A Nation Under Endless Tyranny” and the 2006 book, “The Long Road to Peace.” Iqbal was panel chair from July 29, 2003 until the last agreement signed under the Arroyo administration on June 3, 2010. He was reappointed panel chair in early September 2010.

DATU MiCHAEL O. MASTURA

Datu Michael O. Mastura, 69, is a lawyer and historian. He is also founding president of the Sultan Kudarat Islamic Academy Foundation in Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao. A delegate to the Constitutional Convention in 1971, he later served as Deputy Minister of Muslim Affairs. He has written several books on the Bangsamoro struggle, among them “Muslims in the Philippines including: The Muslim Filipino Experience: A Collection of Essays (1984), Islam and Development (1980)” and has recently completed a new book, “Bangsamoro Quest: The birth of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front” which will be off the press soon.

Mastura served as representative of the first district of Maguindanao. He is now referred to as “senior panel member.” He has been a panel member since 2001.

ABDULLA U. CAMLiAN

Abdulla U. Camlian, a Tausug/Sama Banguingi from zamboanga City and Basilan, is a former head of the MILF peace panel’s technical committee. A graduate of the Cairo Military Academy in 1965, Camlian founded that year the Green Guards, “an association of idealist Muslim youth…which eventually formed the nucleus of Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) in Western Mindanao.” He served the Southern Philippine Development Authority for several years and in 1989 was Deputy Executive Director with the rank of Assistant Secretary, of the Office on Muslim Affairs under the first Aquino administration. In 1990, he was named as member of the Philippine Lobby Mission to the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) in Baghdad, Iraq, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in Morocco and in Kuwait. He had been assigned also to head the Philippine delegation to the international Qur’an reading competitions in some ASEAN countries.

(Datu Antonio Kinoc, a Blaan, is alternate member of the MILF peace panel).

1996-1998: Ghazali Jaafar, chair1999-June 2000- Aleem Abduladzis Mimbantas, chair 2001-2003 July 29 - Al Haj Murad Ebrahim, chair; members: Michael Mastura, Lanang Ali, Atty. Alan Flores, and D. Ahmad Alonto Jr.2003 July 29 – 2010 June: Mohagher Iqbal; chair; members: Michael Mastura, Lanang Ali, Maulana Alonto, Musib Buat

MAULANA ALONTO

Maulana Robert Alonto, writer and activist, has been a panel member since 2003. He used to edit a community newspaper. He is based in Lanao del Sur.

In the early 1970s, Alonto was with the Northern Mindanao Revolutionary Committee of the Moro National Liberation Front tasked to handle propaganda and “like the other brothers, had to fight in the Moro war of liberation and defense against the Marcos dictatorship.

ABHOUD SYED LiNggA

Prof. Abhoud Syed Lingga, 61, executive director of the Institute of Bangsamoro Studies in Cotabato City and chair of the Bangsamoro People’s Consultative Assembly, is a new member of the peace panel. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Datu Ibrahim Paglas Memorial College. Like Iqbal and Mastura, Lingga has written several papers on the Bangsamoro struggle, published in the Philippines and abroad.

PHOTO CREDITS - Iqbal: FROILAN GALLARDO • Mastura: CAROLYN O. ARGUILLAS • lingga and Kinoc: Froilan gallardo • Camlian and Alonto: COURTESY OF MR. CAMLIAN

Members

MiLF PEACE PANELS THROUgH THE YEARS


The Peace Process Mechanisms

INTERNATIONAL MONITORING TEAM

Basis: Tripoli Agreement on Peace, 22 June 2001; Implementing Guidelines

on the security aspect of the GRP-MILF Tripoli Agreement of Peace of 2001, 7 August 2001

Mandate To monitor the ceasefire agreement between the GRP and MILF in

order to create a conducive environment for peace negotiation and development initiatives in the conflict-affected areas of Mindanao.

Composition Military contingent from Malaysia, Brunei, Libya: Development

expert from Japan. (The European Union and Norway are new members, with the EU focusing on the humanitarian, rehabilitation and development aspects)

Head of Mission IMT-5: Maj. Gen. Datuk Baharom bin Hamzah, Malaysian Air Force

Leader of Team Site 1 (Cotabato City): Lt. Col. Hasmee Hj Abd Wahab (Brunei)

Leader of Team Site 2 (Iligan City): C ol. Guima Maraash (Libya

Development expert: Tomonori Kikuchi (Japan)

Objectives To ensure the proper execution of Tripoli Agreement of 2001 by

both parties on security matters

To monitor the humanitarian, rehabilitation and development guidelines

To monitor the implementation of socio-economic assistance in the conflict-affected areas in Mindanao

To monitor and observe the Civilian Protection Agreement

Primary Role Observe and monitor implementation of the agreements signed

on cessation of hostilities, socio-economic assistance, Civilian Protection Component and Humanitarian, Rehabilitation and Development between both parties

Conduct field verifications to validate any reported violations of the above agreements

Report to GRP and MILF peace panels and Malaysian Secretariat

on any violations of ceasefire agreement.

Secondary Roles Conduct peace advocacies and reach out to stakeholders and civil

society as part of confidence-building measures for the peace process

Take part in seminars, forum and peacebuilding activities

Conduct limited heart and mind activities (MEDCAP and Relief Distribution).

JOINT COORDINATING COMMITTEE ON THE CESSATION OF HOSTILITIES (JCCCH)

Basis 18 July 1997 Agreement for General Cessation of Hostilities;

Implementing Administrative Guidelines of the GRP-MILF Agreement on the General Cessation of Hostilities; Tripoli Agreement on Peace of 2001; Implementing Guidelines Implementing guidelines on the security aspect of the GRP-MILF Tripoli Agreement of Peace of 2001, 7 August 2001

Mandate To ensure the implementation of the GRP-MILF agreement on the

general cessation of hostilities of 1997 in the conflict-affected areas in Mindanao in order to provide an atmosphere conducive to the peace negotiations.

Composition Six members each from GRP and MILF peace panels plus heads of

their secretariats

gRP CCCH chair: Maj. Gen. Reynaldo D. Sealana, commander of Tradoc, Philippine Army

MiLF CCCH chair: Abusalman Said Sheikh gRP CCCH members Undersecretary Ramonel Martinez, Department of National Defense Regional State Prosecutor Maranao Danganan Brig. Gen. Gilbert Jose Roa, AFP, TJAG, AFP Major Ely R. Tono, PA, H, WMC P/Supt. Antonio Mendoza, PNP PRO-ARMM

Head of Secretariat: Maj. Carlos T. Sol, GHQ, AFP

MiLF CCCH members Ustaz Abdulwahab, Davao/Sarangani Omar Bayao, Central Mindanao Basari Badiri, zamboanga, Sulu, Tawi-tawi Amerudin Usman, Lanao provinces Abbas Salung, Basilan

Head of Secretariat: Rasid Ladiasan Powers and Functions 1. Supervise and monitor 2. Conduct inquiry and recommend appropriate action 3. Conduct visits 4. Establish and organize field offices 5. Recommend 6. Render regular reports


LOCAL MONITORING TEAM

Basis Implementing Guidelines on the security aspect of the GRP-MILF

Tripoli Agreement of Peace of 2001, 7 August 2001

Composition Local government unit, political committee of the MILF, NGO

nominated by the government, NGO nominated by the MILF, religious sector mutually agreed upon by both parties

Powers and Functions 1.Conduct fact-finding inquiries; 2.Invite persons who may shed light on matters being investigated; 3.Coordinate with other offices/organizations; 4.Conduct inquiries and submit reports; 5.Employ expertise of certain impartial persons or organizations; 6.Perform such other acts.

AD HOC JOINT ACTION GROUP (AHJAG)

Basis Joint Communique of GRP and MILF, 6 May 2002 in Cyberjaya,

Malaysia; Operational Guidelines of the Joint Communique of 6 May 2002, on 21 December 2004

Mandate Joint team against criminal elements operating in MILF areas/

communities, in order to pursue and apprehend such criminal elements. This group will operate in tandem with their respective CCCH, following the agreement to “the isolation and interdiction of all criminal syndicates and kidnap-for-ransom groups including so-called ‘Lost Commands’ operating in Mindanao.”

Tasks Establish a quick coordination system to enhance their

communications and working relations for the successful apprehension or capture of criminal elements in accordance with e agreement, provided that criminals operating outside MILF areas/communities are considered beyond the purview of the peace process.

MILF to block entry of criminals into MILF areas/communities. The MILF may request assistance of the AFP or PNP in the conduct of operations against such criminals inside MILF areas/communities.

Composition: Core: eight members, four each from GRP and MILF Teams: four members, two each from GRP and MILF

INTERNATIONAL CONTACT GROUP

Basis: July 29, 2009 agreement where both panels agreed, among others,

to “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.”

September 15, 2009: Ad hoc in nature and issue-specific in its engagement with the panels

Mandated to exert the necessary leverage and assistance towards sustaining the trust and confidence of both sides at the negotiating table; bridge to Mindanao stakeholders.

Composition Member-States: Turkey, Japan, United Kingdom Member-INGOs: Center for Humanitarian Dialogue, Muhammadiyah, The Asia Foundation, Conciliation Resources

Role ICG will coordinate and work closely with the facilitator

CIVILIAN PROTECTION COMPONENT

Basis: Agreement on the Civilian Protection Component of the

international Monitoring Team, 27 october 2009 •outlines commitments of both peace panels to protect civilians and civilian communities by expanding the IMT’s mandate -GRP-MILF agreed to adhere to human rights laws on protection of civilian population and properties in the conflict-affected areas of Mindanao

Mandate CPC will operate as stipulated by the Civilian Protection

TOR as adopted on May 5, 2010 in Kuala Lumpur CPC TOR states that it shall “monitor, verify and report on the observance by the Parties of their basic undertaking to protect civilians and civilian communities in conflict-affected areas in Mindanao. The civilian protection function will be carried out by humanitarian groups or non-governmental organizations with proven record for impartiality, neutrality and independence.”

Composition Mindanao Peoples Caucus (MPC) Mindanao Human Rights Action Center (MinHRAC) Muslim Organization of Government Officials and Professionals,

Inc. (MOGOP) Non-Violent Peace Force Launched August 18, 2010

Objectives Establish functional system and effective mechanisms for - monitoring the safety and security of civilian communities - monitor and ensure the sanctity of places of worship and places

of civilian nature - monitor the needs of the IDPs and delivery of relief and rehabilitation support - strengthening ownership of the peace process - monitor acts of violence against civilians in the conflict-affected

areas.

The Peace Process Mechanisms


1. Why is there a need for a peace process between the government of the Republic of the Philippines (gRP) and the Moro islamic Liberation Front (MiLF)? The Department of Defense estimated the cost of war for the period 1970-1996 at PhP 73 billion. This estimate is confirmed by the 2005 Philippine Human Development Report which noted that the long-drawn conflict in Mindanao from the years 1970 to 2001 cost from PhP 5 billion to PhP 7.5 billion a year. The World Bank in 2002 calculated the economic cost of a never-ending conflict in Mindanao at PhP30 million daily or PhP 10 billion each year. These estimates do not include the cost of war with the New People’s Army (NPA) in Mindanao. They do not also include foregone investments and the social cost of war: loss of lives, injuries, internal displacements, resentment, hatred, discrimination, insecurity. The 1976 and 1996 peace agreements between the Government and the Moro National Liberation Front have not fully addressed the Bangsamoro struggle for self-determination, self-governance and recognition of their ancestral domain, their identity, history and way of life. Over the last 100 years, the Bangsamoro people and other indigenous peoples had been marginalized due to colonial and national government policies that encouraged and supported the waves of settlers from the Visayas and Luzon to settle in Mindanao. National integration programs failed to correct the resulting inequities. The Bangsamoro people want these historical injustices corrected and the Philippine government is willing to address these. The Bangsamoro struggle for self-determination is anchored on historical, legitimate and just rights and is validated and affirmed by international and humanitarian laws as exemplified by the recognition as ‘First Nation’ of the Iroquois and Inuit peoples, by the USA and Canada, and the Right of Peoples to Self Determination as enshrined in the UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and other similar UN covenants. 2. Where are we now in the whole process?

The peace process has spanned three administrations since 1997, disrupted by the all-out-war waged by Estrada administration in March 2000. This led to the collapse of the GRP-MILF peace talks. The talks resumed shortly after the assumption of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in January 2001, with Malaysia as facilitator. By March 24 that year, the “general framework on the resumption of the peace talks” was forged in Kuala Lumpur. By June 22, the Government and MILF peace panels held the first formal peace talks in Libya where they signed the 2001 Tripoli Agreement on Peace. Two more formal peace talks were held in Malaysia in 2001. Fourteen exploratory talks have been conducted since March 28, 2003 following another outbreak of hostilities in February 2003. The GRP-MILF peace process is divided into three major aspects: Security, Rehabilitation and Development and Ancestral Domain. The two parties have agreed on the Security and Rehabilitation and Development and their implementing guidelines. Only the Ancestral Domain aspect remains to be resolved although the Parties have reached consensus on several key issues. Once all three aspects are resolved, these will be consolidated into a comprehensive peace compact.

3. What have been the gains and the challenges of the ongoing peace process?

There are major gains in the entire peace process. The Security aspect stands firmly on mechanisms to reduce the incidence of violence in the conflict-affected areas: the Joint Coordinating Committees on the Cessation of Hostilities (CCCH); the Ad Hoc Joint Action Group (AHJAG); and the Malaysian-led International Monitoring Team (IMT). Civil society groups have also joined the local monitoring teams through the Bantay Ceasefire (Ceasefire Watch), a grassroots-led initiative.

The GRP-MILF Primer on the Peace Process: Seven Questions

The number of armed skirmishes between the government and the MILF has dropped from 559 documented incidents in 2003 to an insignificant number until May 2006. To complement relief and reconstruction activities on the Rehabilitation and Development aspect, the World Bank-led team of experts conducted a Joint Needs Assessment to help design a comprehensive reconstruction and development program for conflict-affected areas. The Mindanao Trust Fund (MTF), which is supported by various donor countries, will be implemented in full once a peace agreement is signed. Since 2001, the MILF had been engaging in capacity-building programs through the Bangsamoro Development Agency (BDA), the body tasked “to determine, lead, and manage relief, rehabilitation and development projects in the conflict-affected areas”. The Parties reaffirmed in February 2006 “the need to intensify capacity-building programs with the assistance and support of the international community and donor institutions” and agreed to establish the Bangsamoro Leadership and Management Institute (BLMI) as a capacity building center for emerging leaders and professionals. 4. What is the timeframe for the signing of the comprehensive peace compact? Both Parties are optimistic a full consensus in the ancestral domain discussions can be reached soon, thereby paving the way for discussions on the core issues of the comprehensive peace agreement. 5. What are the implications of the gRP-MiLF process to the ARMM, the MNLF and the 1996 gRP-MNLF Final Peace Accord? The elected officials of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) will serve their full term until September 2008. The Philippine Government remains committed to the full implementation of the GRP-MNLF Final Peace Agreement of 1996. 6. What will happen to the ancestral domain of the iPs and the lands of the settlers? The legitimate rights of the IPs and the settlers will be respected. The Parties believe that one cannot right a wrong by committing another wrong. The general framework agreement of the GRP and the MILF on March 24, 2001 stipulates that peace negotiation between them is “for the advancement of the general interest of the Bangsamoro people and other indigenous people.” 7. How can the Parties ensure the full implementation of the gRP-MiLF comprehensive peace compact? The peace process does not end with the signing of a peace agreement. A full implementation of the peace agreement will depend not only on the signatories to the agreement but all peace stakeholders. Continuous monitoring is needed for all aspects until these historical injustices and serious grievances, which the comprehensive compact seeks to correct, shall have been addressed. [This primer was jointly produced by the peace panels of the Philippine government and the MILF before the talks on the territory strand of the Ancestral Domain aspect ended in an impasse in September 2006 (the deadlock was broken in November 2007). It was first distributed at the All-Mindanao Leaders’ Consultation convened by the Bishops-Ulama Conference at the Royal Mandaya Hotel in Davao City in October 2006,

The production of the primer was in line with the agreement in the 10th exploratory talks in February 2006 for the panels to conduct joint advocacy drives on the ancestral domain issue “to broaden public understanding and support for the GRP-MILF peace process.” In the 12th exploratory talks in May that year, the two panels also agreed to “immediately activate a joint advocacy team in order to formulate and undertake a program of public information aimed at raising broad awareness of, and support for, the peace process.” The Joint Advocacy Group was composed of historian Rudy Rodil and Sylvia Paraguya, a Lumad, for the government and Datu Michael Mastura, also a historian, and former newspaper editor Maulana Alonto, for the MILF peace panel. The primer, prepared by the GRP-MILF Joint Advocacy Group, was printed through the assistance of Konrad Adenauer Stiftung and the Cotabato City-based Institute for Autonomy and Governance).


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PEACE TALkS AND PUBLiC PEACE PROCESS 1. Peace talks matter to people.One insight that can easily be trivialized but which, I believe, is actually crucial to the whole search for peace is this: that (1) people are happy when they hear that representatives of the two fighting forces are again talking to each other, and (2) they are happier when they themselves get invited to speak out and are informed about the issues and the ways forward in the negotiations. Yes, people are critical, but most are not at all cynical. They support every effort to find a political solution to long-term conflict. They also appreciate every little chance to participate at least in the discussion. This calls for a diligent communication program in order to maximize people’s interest and concern for the peace process. I have reason to believe that it is when people feel they have been acknowledged that they grow in their trust in the technical work of the peace panels. This gentle insight comes from the many public consultations and reflective dialogues that I have witnessed, especially while conducting both the Konsult Mindanaw and Dialogue Mindanaw. *

If the Aquino administration is engaged in real-problem solving in the negotiation, it is likely to...strike a balance between transparency through consultation and confidentiality, because real, hard, and successful negotiation especially sovereignty-based will not succeed if everybody is allowed to poke their noses on it.”---MILF: Peace talks may be over in 1 year, depending on gov’t sincerity. GMANews (October 30, 2010).

“The last thing we want is to have an excellent draft of a peace agreement, only to be rejected by the people, simply because we failed to communicate with them.”--- Sen. Teofisto Guingona, III. Mindanao Media Summit (November 7, 2010)

By Albert E. Alejo, SJ IN zAMBOANGA CITY

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2. Consulting the people can be good for the peace talks.Judge Soliman Santos, a well-respected analyst of the Mindanao peace process affirms this. “Stakeholder consultation is not only a matter of process for consensus-building or the building of political support; it can also contribute inputs for the substantive content of a comprehensive compact. There has of course been a surfeit of public consultations post MOA-AD, most notably Konsult Mindanaw and Dialogue Mindanaw.” The challenge”, he says, “ is to draw the best inputs from these consultations, not ‘reinvent the wheel’ on this, further consult more purposively and creatively on what has not yet been covered, and establish mechanisms for these to effectively fork into the actual peace negotiations.” 3. Peace Talks and Public Peace Process are interconnected.Peace negotiation does not exist in vacuum. It is embedded in social and power relations. Whatever happens inside the secret room of the two peace panels have a bearing on the people outside. And Fr. Roberto Layson, OMI knows why: “The conflict in Mindanao involves a visible war and an invisible war being fought in the vertical and the horizontal arenas. The vertical arena is the formal Peace Talks or negotiation between the GRP and the MILF. The horizontal arena is the peace process within and among communities at the grassroots level. A comprehensive approach to the peace process must address these two interrelated problems.”

4. Recent consultations are a rich source of people’s feedback. And how are we to hear what the people are saying? People have spoken and continue to speak through various channels. But more especially, we can hear them through various consultations and dialogues initiated by different organizations, from the religious to the business sectors, from academics to artists, from civil society organizations to traditional religious leaders. Two of the most wide-ranging consultations are the Konsult Mindanaw (2008-2009) of the Bishops-Ulama Conference and Dialogue Mindanaw (2009-2010) by the Office of the Adviser on the Peace Process. These “small group reflections” and “reflective dialogues” engaged around 10,000 individuals representing various regions from Bongao to Baguio, and different groups from urban poor organizers to children’s rights activists. The discussions tackled the people’s visions of peace, recommendations to the peace talks, the issues that were clear and not clear in their minds, as well as the other issues like corruption, private armies, and environmental degradation that currently haunt their lives. Other consultation initiatives, like the Mindanao Peoples Peace Agenda of the Mindanao Peace Weavers, Peoples’ Agenda for Peace and Development by the Alternate Forum for Research in Mindanao, Sustainable Responsible Investment (SRI) by the Mindanao Business Council, Mindanao 2020, and others, also offer wonderful insights and recommendations.

5.Peace talks require a great amount of confidentiality.In Dialogue Mindanaw, we invited speakers to explain the side of the Philippine Government and that of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). Many realize that some of the issues are indeed technical and therefore require serious concentration and even research on the part of the peace panels. Peace talks, therefore, deserve the privacy and confidentiality that can enable them to think creatively. Not everything can be solved through popular consultations. High frequency in scientific surveys does not guarantee social acceptability. Besides, many of the considered solutions require political will especially on the part of the highest government officials. And yes, there must be political solutions to historically-rooted problems. We should have learned by now, for example, that no amount of development projects can resolve deep-seated issues on identity and self-determination.

6. Peace process must also be participatory.While we respect the creative confidentiality necessary for any formal negotiation, we are also duty bound to defend the people’s right to sufficient information on matters as important as the source of their security. The Mindanao peace process, in particular, is too precious to be left alone to the formal negotiation between the two fighting forces, even under the watch of foreign facilitators and observers. We need to heed the visions, voices, and values of diverse groups, starting from the communities who are directly hit by conflict and extending to all the rest of the country whose lives are also at stake. But while it is true that only governments and revolutionary groups may sign peace agreements, ultimately, it’s the people who have to mend the social fabric, rebuild institutions, heal wounds, respect boundaries, and restore friendship. It’s the people who have to endure or enjoy the consequences both of starting war and stopping it. 7. Confidence-building goes beyond the negotiation table.Confidence-building is necessary to clear the air between the GRP and MILF peace panels. It opens up space for a joint exploration of possible solutions to age-old conflicts. But confidence-building must apply also to the wider public. People have to trust their officials. People have to feel that the peace panel members themselves are competent and serious in their search for peace. And people have to have confidence in the whole peace negotiation itself.

8. There is a serious need for a good information, education and communication program. The GRP and MILF peace panels would do a great service to the peace process if they agree on a joint comprehensive Information, Education, and Communication (IEC) Program. A joint communication team may be created, given mandate, with scope and limitations, as well as resources, to address all important communication concerns of the on-going peace process. It should be designed with maximum people participation in mind, making it accessible to all sectors in the communities and to all institutions. Civil society (including media and the religious sector), the International Contact Group and the facilitator may enhance this effort. In 2006, GRP-MILF panels had actually agreed on a Joint Advocacy and had in fact issued a Joint Primer in October 2006; reviving this agreement may well be a good agenda when the talks resume. Also, the Kablalan Peace Monitor, published by the Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities, is a proof that this Joint Communication Team is not only possible but has actually started. 9. Communication Program must structure its messages according to people’s sentiments and mindsets.People feel hurt, harbor mistrust, but could also be hopeful. And these emotions could vary from personal experiences to regional or sectoral differences. We cannot equate one emotion with one whole ethnic or regional bloc. Communication Program must make people feel that their feelings are being acknowledged. While we need to maneuver within the formal peace talks, we also have to manage the public pulse.

ADDRESSiNg PEOPLE’S SENTiMENTS 10. Communication must respond to people’s call for Sincerity.Throughout both Konsult Mindanaw and Dialogue Mindanaw, we hear people expressing suspicion that some of those who are in charge of peace process are not really interested in the resolution of the conflict.


Is the Philippine Government really sincere? What about the unfulfilled promises in the previous agreements? What about the rebel leaders? And can the Malaysian facilitators play a more effective role? What about the other foreign contact groups? This must not be dismissed as desperate cynicism. When people express mistrust, they actually plea for signs of sincerity.

11. Communication must address people’s need for Security. We need to address people’s fear of all kinds of violence, from state-related war to clan conflict to private armies and proliferation of arms, fear also of hunger and even of impending ecological disaster due to environmental plunder. People ask: Why are there too many guns and checkpoints? When can the evacuees return to their farms and homes? Who are supporting the local warlords and their private armies? Why do soldiers abound where there are mining operations and natural resources extraction? People need a sense of security.

13. Communication must answer people’s plea for Sensitivity.Many people are in pain. They express layers and layers of hurts,

ranging from the effects of historical injustice, systematic grabbing of lands, discrimination in labor practices, misrepresentation in textbooks and media, neglect in the delivery of basic services, and culture-blind development programs. Many Muslims and Lumads, as well as some poor settlers, feel much of these hurts, and they ask society to be more sensitive to their feelings.

14. Communication must channel people’s desire for Solidarity. At the same time, we recognize the people’s energy and commitment to participate whether as individuals or as communities. The communities want to speak, who are there to listen? Counselors are ready to reach out to the traumatized children, who can lend a car to reach the field? Artists compose songs for peace, any volunteer to reproduce their CDs? Civil society groups have some ideas to share, where is the mechanism to channel their participation?

15.Communication must appreciate people’s Spirituality. Spirituality may come as a surprise to some civil society groups, development partners, and government agencies, but not to ordinary people, who see that peace can only be lasting if there is healing, which

in turn requires more than economic and social intervention. Dialogue, and consultation itself, is a spiritual mission. Even the land itself, needs ritual healing for all the hurts it has suffered from a long history of conflict. People have inner resources for hope and responsibility, and they want their spirituality recognized and tapped.

ADDRESSiNg PEOPLE’S iDEAS 16. Communication program must answer people’s questions. Based on our Dialogue Mindanaw and Konsult Mindanaw, we know that people are hungry for information. The danger is that people make conclusions with or without accurate information. In Dialogue Mindanaw, we ask which items are clear to them and which are unclear. A whole range of basic and complicated issues emerged. Many people still do not understand the difference between MNLF and MILF. The Final Report of Dialogue Mindanao offers a long list of items that cry for basic definitions. This should send signal to advocacy groups to help clarify the issues before asking the people to take sides.

We cannot presuppose that what is familiar to active CSOs or the academe are clear to the people. Or whether what is clear to the people is actually accurate.

17. Communication program needs a Primer.This can be developed by a team of experts, the members of which will be recommended by both panels. As a tool for expressing sincerity, the primer and the substantive dialogues will have to present the following messages: (1) That both parties have a claim to sincerity; (2) That as a matter of fact, the two parties have already reached an agreement on some important points, such as on matters of security, rehabilitation of internally displaced persons, and others; (3) That they have discussed a number of things but are still looking for a much needed solution; and (4) That they have received substantive recommendations which they have not discussed and for which they need the views of the public. Messages like these might win openness to some forms of compromise solution. They might even win cooperation of the people in the implementation of future agreement. Of course, there can be developed a mechanism for updating the contents of the Primer.


(Fr. Albert E. Alejo, SJ focused on Konsult Mindanaw and Dialogue Midnanaw, “primarily because I happen to be intimately involved in both.” The consolidation of more than two dozens of consultation results are now being processed by the Mindanao Studies Consortium. Konsult Mindanaw was conducted at the height of the impasse on the MOA-AD. It involved 311 focus group reflections, engaging almost 5,000 participants —Muslims, Catholics, Protestants, Lumads, plus special groups like artists, retired military, children’s rights advocates, etc---all over Mindanao and southern Palawan, plus armed groups in Negros, and Moro groups in Visayas, Taguig, Baguio, and Quiapo. The questions were deliberately broad: 1. What is your vision of peace? 2. What can you recommend to the GRP-MILF peace talks? 3. What other issues do you think are important? 4. What are you willing to contribute or even sacrifice for the sake of peace in Mindanao? Dialogue Mindanaw followed immediately after KM. This time, OPAPP agreed to share information on contested issues in the peace talks. Eleven (11) regional “Reflective Dialogues”, from Bongao to Baguio, also covering almost 5000 people, were conducted. The questions were: 1. How do you feel about the GRP-MILF peace talks? 2. What issues are clear to you? What are not clear? 3. What issue is most important? Any suggestion on how to handle it? 4. What other issues you think are left out, but must be tackled as well? Aside from the FGD questions, DM also conducted a poll survey on the 8 contentious issues)

18. Present champions and explainers to the public.In our personalistic culture, it would be wise to tap the charism of individuals and groups who can embody the peace messages as they lend their time, talent and presence in reaching out to the people, using various media of communication, including personal appearance in public forums. Perhaps the energy of the young and the artists could be useful here. Academics can offer background to the issues. Religious leaders may draw up from their traditions some teachings for peace. Resources must be allocated for these efforts.

SUBSTANTiATiNg COMMUNiCATiON MESSAgES

19. Develop policy cohesion.Messages will not be credible if people continue to be confused on the Government approach to peace. The Philippine Government must develop a more cohesive and rationalized government policy on the peace process. All government agencies directly and indirectly involved in the peace process---including the military, the legislators, the local government officials, the security cluster of the cabinet, and others---must be in constant dialogue, to avoid serious inconsistency of policy direction and practice in dealing with revolutionary groups and other actors involved in conflict.

20. Professionalize peace agencies.The Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) has to be professionalized and institutionalized. This is to match the complexity of the historical and contemporary dimensions of conflict and the corresponding challenges in the promotion of peace. OPAPP personnel and leadership must upscale their skills and continuously conduct formation program to ensure maximum service for the peace process. Existing bills in congress and in the senate, advocating the creation of a Department of Peace may be a viable option along this line. All this, however, requires a thorough organizational audit, including possible corruption within its ranks.

21. Fulfill previous agreements.Sincerity on the part of the Philippine Government requires an honest assessment of its commitment to previous peace agreements, such as the Final Peace Agreement with the MNLF and other former rebel groups. It would be good for the people to know how much of the provisions of the agreement has been realized. While the next peace negotiation is underway, the maximum implementation of those commitments must be enforced. For the Indigenous Peoples, fulfilling previous agreements would include those sealed between their Lumad and Moro ancestors in the past, as well as between Lumad and settlers and corporations in recent history.

22. Provide strong mandate for the peace panels. Sincerity also demands that the Government chooses the best peace panel members. Members of the peace panel must be known to be with integrity, competence and love for Mindanao. As much as possible, they must come from Mindanao, are known to be dedicated to peace initiatives, and are of high moral quality. The members of the panel must study hard and work as a team. Sincerity also demands that once chosen, the GRP peace panel must be given clear and strong mandate. Peace panel members, however, are not political figures. Government must present a credible “face” to the peace process; this role can be played by a prominent government official who enjoys and attracts people’s trust. Other “faces” from civil society groups can champion and challenge the ongoing peace process.

23. Forge Bangsamoro Unity.On the same note, Bangsamoro groups must also try to achieve unity of purpose among the various revolutionary groups, civil society organizations, rebel supporters, and those who are duly elected or appointed in government service. In response to people’s concern, the MNLF and MILF, in particular, must reach a consensus on at least some of the major points being addressed in the peace negotiation. Some of the key leaders of the Bangsamoro struggle must also win trust of people by expressing their sincere efforts and presenting credible representatives to the public.

24. Promote good governance of ARMM and in the rest of the country.Failure of governance in ARMM must be seen as sign of insincerity not only of local officials but also of the national government, since ARMM is both a State entity and a Bangsamoro project. Corruption and rumors of corruption destroy trust. They even fuel violence. Refusal to discuss the prevention of corruption in the peace negotiation may not be a good confidence-building strategy. On the contrary, sincere acknowledgment of past and present misbehavior can lead to more effective measures to ensure wise and just allocation of both local and foreign funds intended to serve the people. Highlighting good practices within ARMM can win public trust both inside and outside ARMM.

25. Public Participation and Peace Communication are not ‘spoilers’ but ‘enhancers’ in the peace process.Public participation must not be seen as obstacle to the formal negotiation process. Those who clamor for more participation rather than less do not deserve to be considered as “spoilers” of the peace of the process.

“…In Guatemala, Northern Ireland, and South Africa…civil-society activists have asserted the right of the wider public to participate in the negotiated processes…They influenced the negotiating agenda, the substantive agreements reached, and their implementation. They brought the talks process further into the public sphere, enabling a wider range of people to contribute suggestions and follow the negotiations – including women and those from marginalized groups. With greater transparency, the public was better able to understand and potentially accept the reasons for the compromises reached. Furthermore, the processes marked a historic moment of change in each country and helped to establish the value of public debate and democratic processes as the legitimate response to conflict.” (Catherine Barnes, “Weaving the Web: Civil-Society Roles in Working with Conflict and Building Peace,” in Paul van Tongeren, Malin Brenk, Marte Hellema and Juliette Verhoeven, People Building Peace II: Successful Stories of Civil Society, London: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2005, p. 20).

By Jesus G. Dureza IN DAVAO CITY


(Lawyer Jesus G. Dureza was government peace panel chair in the negotiations with the MILF under the Arroyo administration from 2001 to 2003 and was later named Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process. He also served as Press Secretary and later as Presidential Legal Counsel before assuming the chairmanship of the Mindanao Development Authority. Before his appointment as Presidential Assistant for Mindanao under the Ramos administration in 1998, Dureza had also served as congressman of the first district of Davao City). Dureza wrote this piece on November 15 for his syndicated column).

By Jesus G. Dureza IN DAVAO CITY

Let’s all be PatientI heard so many people asking what is happening to President Noynoy’s bold announcement that peace talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) will start right after Ramadan? Many are indeed asking. Not only Mindanawons who are keenly following the peace process are experiencing discomforts by the perceived delay. I suspect that even some MILF elements and supporters are becoming anxious and restless.

My advice to all: please, let’s all be patient. I tell you, it is not so easy to re-start the peace talks especially in the manner it was disrupted when the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) was stricken down by the Supreme Court. And we have a new administration that has just mounted the saddle but is still unfamiliar on how to get the horse to start trotting.

The onset of a new group of players, especially on the government side is a big factor. A new panel will have to establish its footing not only with the issues involved. It has to set up its own network that will link up with the stakeholders -- and this is not a simple task knowing the diversity of the different sectors of Mindanao, many of them demanding that their voices be heard too.

I have always said that while negotiating with the rebels on the other side of the table is not a walk in the park, it is as equally sensitive – and in fact more difficult – to “negotiate” with the parties on our side of the table. Let me explain.

The new government panel will have to get its negotiating directives, loud and clear, from no less than the President himself. The Presidential Peace Adviser, although in charge of the whole exercise, only advises, or gives recommendations. The new panel chair strategizes and cuts the deal. But the President pushes the button to give the green light. The more difficult process is when the President first consults with the security sector of the Cabinet on the issues and the

negotiating items. That’s where things can get stuck. I have gone through this wringer many times in the past and I tell you, unless the President no less makes the judgment call finally, things will not move. The defense department will usually buck with the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) having discreet reservations. Then the Department of Interior and Local Governments (DILG) makes a pitch for the local governments whose positions are usually aligned with sustainability factors, meaning the political leaders must play. Then the Justice Department legally chews on it, then Foreign Affairs factors in the diplomatic and high level sovereignty issues, etc.

If President Noynoy consults with his team, many of them had some negativities on the Mindanao negotiations. Foremost of them is former Senator Mar Roxas who petitioned the Supreme Court against the MOA-AD, etc, etc.

At the end of the day, it usually ends up with no clear consensus. That’s the time when the President comes in and says: “This is it!” and everybody must follow. That’s what I mean when I said negotiating with our side of the table is at times more difficult than dealing with the rebels across the table. But the bottom line is: it’s the President’s call. No more, no less. I’ve seen this scenario playing out many times in the past.

At this time, I am getting the impression that President Noynoy has not reached that stage yet where he fully sees and understands all the nuances of the issues. He is not ready yet to grab the bull by the horns and give everyone his marching orders. Not yet, I think.

Then, the more complicated issue of facilitation by Malaysia must be given focus and resolved. Knowing what happened in the past, I am sure Malaysia will not yet merrily roll its sleeves and give it another try unless its doubts are cleared in the highest levels. Meaning, Pres. Noynoy and Prime Minster Najib must first meet and make clear understanding on how to proceed and what to expect as an end game. Let’s

not discount the fact that in the Malaysian bureaucracy, there are already “doubters” on whether it is for the best interest of Malaysia to continue – at great financial and moral cost – assisting the Philippine peace process. I got reliable word that Malaysian facilitator Datu Othman bin Razak may be replaced so that makes the peace talks more difficult to re-start.

And what about the “back channeling” efforts that are so crucial in peace negotiations? I am sure this is in the works because we all know the indispensability of a “second table” in peace negotiations. The “formal table” is where positions are ventilated and officially discussed and formally adopted, sealed and signed. But a backroom “second table” is where contentious issues are resolved and consensus quietly arrived at for the “formal table” to adopt. This is where the real action takes place.

This is only one half of the story. There are other factors that are interplaying with this not so simple process of finding mutually acceptable consensus points on unresolved and controversial issues that date far back generations ago.

Simply said: let’s all be patient and allow the new government and the new players to work on this. We need not rush things. Let’s give the President time to internalize this so he gives the correct judgment call. He needs time. Mindanao and its unique nuances are new to him. Let’s also give the new peace panel time to establish its footing on the issues and know the environment within which they will negotiate for us. Let us also give them more time to seek a certain level of comfort and credence with their MILF counterparts. I am sure both sides are anxious to first mutually establish a certain level of relationship with each other. After all, they have many years ahead to work things out.

The task is not easy, my friends. Take it from me. I was there for many years!

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When will the GRP-MILF peace talks under the Aquino government re-start?

This is one in a sea of questions where the peace negotiation has been adrift since the August 4, 2008 Temporary Restraining Order aborted signing of the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) and blown deeper into the seas the following October 14 when in a crucial Decision the Supreme Court declared the MOA-AD “contrary to law and the Constitution”.

It did not resume after the Ramadan as promised even if both GRP and MILF had formed their negotiating panels on time. What’s holding up the talks?

Will the talks re-start as agreed in the last June 3 Declaration of Continuity for Peace Negotiation? Is the re-starting point the reason for the delay?

The MILF has re-stated repeatedly its position: The talks should start where they ended under the Arroyo watch. That is, from the reframed MOA-AD as agreed in the July 29, 2009 Joint Statement and the June 3, 2010 Declaration of Continuity for Peace Negotiation. The talks under Aquino government will mainly be on the Comprehensive Compact

within the framework of the reframed MOA-AD.

That the GRP would push for a new agenda should not be ruled out. The GRP Peace Panel has reviewed all negotiated documents, which is most necessary. Besides this, Peace Process Secretary Teresita Quintos-Deles has held local peace dialogues; GRP appears inclined towards the participation of more sectors.

The two-month provincial peace consultations and workshops in the five provinces of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao preparatory to the last September 20 – 21 ARMM Summit were OPAPP initiatives. The Summit suggested that GRP will focus on enhanced autonomy of the ARMM as the solution to the Bangsamoro Problem, factoring in the ongoing Tripartite review of the 1996 GRP-MNLF Final Peace Agreement

What makes Enhanced Autonomy of the ARMM look preferable?

New GRP Panel Chair Dean Marvic Leonen has promised creativity in resolving the Bangsamoro Problem but within the Constitution and the October 24 SC Decision. ARMM is a constitutional autonomous region.

But the crucial question is: Can the “state-substate” political solution being sought by the MILF be reconciled with R.A. 9054 and the 1996 FPA that, according to the MNLF, has yet to be fully implemented? The AD agreed in the MOA is the ultimate enhancement of ARMM.

What really are the problems/? Are these due to the Constitution and the SC Decision?

The prevailing argument is this: The MOA-AD has been declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court; therefore, its core proposal,

the “state-substate” political settlement, is unconstitutional. Negotiating on it will violate the Constitution.

This is an obstacle if only the “unconstitutionality” in the Decision is read – as done evidently by the rabid MOA-AD opponents some of whom are Liberal Party stalwarts in the Aquino administration. That poses the real problem!

A close reading – open-, not close-minded – of the Decision reveals the wisdom of the Supreme Court. Have the rabid anti-MOA-AD opponents seriously considered these two rulings in the Decision?

The Court, in its final verdict, “The Memorandum of Agreement on the Ancestral Domain Aspect of the GRP-MILF Tripoli Agreement of Peace of 2001 is declared CONTRARY TO LAW AND THE CONSTITUTION,” did not annul the MOA-AD.

Fourth Paragraph of the SUMMARY: “The MOA-AD is a significant part of a series of agreements necessary to carry out the GRP-MILF Tripoli Agreement of Peace signed by the government and the MILF back on 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.” The MOA-AD is not only alive but is significant to the fulfillment of the GRP obligation to an agreement.

Elsewhere in the Decision, the Court clarified that: (1) Proposed amendments to the Constitution when properly done are not unconstitutional. (2) The Constitution may be amended to end the Mindanao conflict and bring lasting peace.

What does the Court mean?

The Government and the MILF can negotiate the Comprehensive Compact within the

adrift in a sea of

By Patricio P. Diaz/MindaNews IN GENERAL SANTOS CITY

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framework of the MOA-AD to carry out the June 2001 GRP-MILF Tripoli Agreement of Peace. The path had been cleared by the Joint Statement of July 29, 2009 and the Declaration of Continuity of the June 3, 2010 before the Arroyo government bowed out.

Will the Aquino government follow the path to its final end?

The hope is bright. The path has been cleared. But new obstacles can bar the way.

The Aquino government has not made clear its Mindanao peace policy. There was a report about the government wanting to localize the peace talks viewed as having become too internationalized. The clamor of many sectors for direct participation in the talks can complicate matters. The hawks, just sitting around, will shriek hell when the talks turn not to their liking.

How can we help bring fruition to this hope?

The “we” refers to both the hawks and the doves. Most important: Let us know our roles as distinguished from those of peace panels and the technical working groups. They have their mandates. We can assert our wishes according to our rights but not to the point of meddling in and paralyzing the talks while in process.

In essence the peace talks – or any negotiation – while in process is not a public hearing and must be clothed in secrecy. But the ensuing agreements must be submitted to public consultations before they are formally signed.

How can the Congress and the Supreme Court bring fruition to this hope?

In enacting laws, including constitutional amendments, to implement the Agreement, Congress should not amend the agreements

Questions

in due respect to the Executive and the negotiating parties nor dilute the ensuing Act with its own ideas, biases and desires.

Should the constitutionality of the Agreement be questioned on grounds of national sovereignty and territorial integrity, the Supreme Court should decide the issues not according to the existing provisions of the Constitution being sought to be amended but to the principles of national sovereignty and territorial integrity viewed in the light of international laws, conventions and agreements and in their actual applications.

What should be envisioned in the GRP-MILF peace process?

Let’s take it from the paper, “The GRP-MILF Peace Process, Thus Far”, U.P. Political Science Professor Clarita R. Carlos presented at the Round Table Discussion on PNOY’s Policy on the Peace Process in Quezon City last September 22. We quote:

Of the ancestral domain: “Let the Moros have their ancestral domain. Let them demonstrate that absent the doleouts from Manila, with the very rich wealth of the earth beneath them, they can improve the quality of life of their people.”

Of her expectations: “Let the Moros demonstrate the respect for nature which for many centuries they have practiced. Let the Moros move away from the victimhood that already starts to grate and let them take their future into their own hands and be part of the

mosaic of this group of people politically [and] collectively referred to as the Republic of the Philippines.”

Of her faith in the Muslims’ recovery: “It took hundreds of years to marginalize our Muslim communities. It took hundreds of years for the ruling elites to kill their personhood, their sense of self. But, I believe, it will take only a generation or two to enable the Muslims to reclaim their sense of the self, their rich heritage, their songs, their dances, their legends.”

Of the mosaic including the Moros after the recovery: “This is the mosaic called the nation – not composed of one dominant numerical majority but composed of numerous communities all rowing to the same direction, to bring about the good life for everyone regardless of belief and ways of life.”

What is the ultimate question?

The Aquino government has the key. Will President Aquino open the gate to the port or keep it closed and go down in history as the villain?

(Patricio P. Diaz writes the column, “Comment” for MindaViews, the opinion section of MindaNews. Mr. Diaz is the recipient of a “Lifetime Achievement Award” from the Titus Brandsma for his “commitment to education and public information to Mindanawons as Journalist, Educator and Peace Advocate.” Diaz was conferred the 1st Agong Awards for Journalism by the Mindanao Media Forum last November 6)


One of the critical problems that the Aquino Administration will confront is the persistence of the cycle of armed conflict and oppressive poverty in Muslim Mindanao, preventing the development of Mindanao’s untapped natural resources. One feeds the other. The appointment of Teresita “Ging” Deles as peace advisor and UP-College of Law Dean Marvic Leonen as Chief government negotiator for the talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) have been welcomed by most of Mindanao. We at the PCID similarly welcomed the appointments of Deles and Leonen as signals that the Aquino Administration is fully prepared to fulfill P-Noy’s promise for a just peace in Mindanao. We believed that Deles, coming from civil society and in close contact with Mindanao peace advocate groups, felt the pulse of the peoples of Mindanao. Further, her experience as Peace Adviser during the Arroyo Administration, prior to her resignation, gave her an edge in jumpstarting the peace talks. As for chief government negotiator, while others have expressed fears that Leonen, being a constitutionalist, might adopt a rigid position as far as the constitutionality of peace agreements is concerned, we see his deep knowledge of the constitution as an advantage as he attempts to find a creative and “out-of-the box” political solution to the decades old conflict that has cost many lives.

By Amina Rasul IN MANDALUYONG

Will the administration

support out-of-the-boxAquino

solutions?Will the Aquino Administration support out-of-the-box solutions to the ethnic conflict in the south? Or will it be tied to the preservation of the present Constitution? Muslim groups hope for the former and have welcomed the positive developments in the GRP-MILF peace process, as announced by President Aquino in several speeches. Thus, the formation of the two negotiating panels represents a constructive direction towards the attainment of lasting peace.

Positive Developments

The inclusion of peace negotiation and the issue of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Mindanao in his 2011 Budget Message to the 15th Congress established peace in Mindanao to be within the President’s immediate priority. The President also announced the allocation of P 236 million to the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process to strengthen these peace efforts, inclusive of the interests of various Mindanao stakeholders –Lumads, Bangsamoro or Christian settlers.

President Aquino’s announcement of a formation of an advisory body to be composed of members from both Houses of Congress, retired

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appointment on September 13 was justified by President Aquino’s Executive Order 2 revoking midnight appointments of the previous administration. Lukman’s appointment as NCMF Chair was deemed a midnight appointment, which she had contested in a petition filed before the Supreme Court (SC). In response to Lukman’s petition, the SC on October 12 issued a status quo ante decision temporarily stopping the implementation of EO 2. Malacanang has subsequently asked the high court to lift the order.

President Aquino has stood firm behind the appointment of Secretary Deles. The House opposition has said that it will respect Malacanang’s decision, although some leaders have expressed strong doubts on her effectiveness after the reported disagreement. Senior opposition Representative Simeon Datumanong (Lakas-Kampi, Maguindanao) has stated that retaining Deles is the prerogative of the President.

A complicating factor to the row is the allegation that the former President, now Congresswoman Arroyo, is behind the move to force Deles out as Peace Adviser. Statements issued by the Former Senior Government Officials (FSGO) and dozens of civil society groups point to Congresswoman Arroyo’s involvement. Mindanao civil society and peace advocates have come out to support Deles, creating the impression of a rift between Mindanao civil society and politicians. Such a rift cannot be allowed to widen, as both sectors are crucial to the success of the peace process. In the areas of conflict, over the last decade, civil society – especially in the ARMM - has become the champion for peace as traditional political leaders had allowed the excesses of the previous administration to exacerbate the armed conflicts in many areas.

Conclusion:

Fortunately, despite some missteps in the early days of his presidency, President Aquino continues to enjoy tremendous public support, nationally and in Muslim Mindanao. The important question however is this: how will the president utilize this tremendous political capital? In the United States, President Barack Obama (with whom P-Noy is frequently compared) used the political capital he gained from his historic electoral victory to push for the controversial health care reforms.

Will P-Noy use his political capital to shepherd a peace process that has frequently been derailed by “spoilers” who disapprove of peace negotiations and those who support a military solution? P-Noy has promised to rectify the injustices committed under the Arroyo regime; will he put the full weight of his presidency to ensure that a just solution is reached in the conflict in the southern Philippines? And, most important of all, after 120 days, is President Aquino III now in full control of the reigns of government?

Perhaps these are questions that cannot be answered in the first four months of the new administration. However, President Aquino’s Bangsamoro constituents and supporters still remain hopeful that he will do as he promised: bring a just peace to all citizens.

justices of the Supreme Court, members of the 1987 Constitutional Commission, local governments in strife-affected areas, non government organizations and the former chairpersons of previous peace panels offers assurance that the peace process would be inclusive and participatory. The 1996 Final Peace Agreement signed by the government and the Moro National Liberation Front had a tough start because a party critical to its implementation—the legislature—was largely absent in the negotiation phase.

Negative Developments

However, hopefulness of the Bangsamoro is turning to frustration. After the first 100 days, I received an open letter to the President signed by some 20 Muslim civil society groups which stated: “This open letter expresses resentment and disappointment of your failure to abide by the pledges you made in your inauguration on June 30, 2010. During your first 100 days of governance, a number of incidents transpired, rendering your sincerity for the peoples of Mindanao questionable.” The letter raised fears about the derailment of the peace process. It cited the arrest of an MILF leader, Eduard Guerra; the decision of the Department of Foreign Affairs, for the first time, for foreign governments and organizations to seek prior clearance before engaging the MILF or visiting areas of conflict; P-Noy’s insistence that the venue for the talks would be the Philippines instead of Malaysia or another neutral foreign venue; among others. The letter ended with a plea: “Mr. President, once again, our hope for attaining permanent peace in Mindanao is in the balance. We still want to believe in you. Please make a difference. Hear us this time”.

It is disappointing to note that government rhetoric on Mindanao being a development priority has not been matched by concrete policy decisions and actions. For instance, lawmakers from Mindanao, together with their colleagues from the Visayas, protested what they called as “the inequitable distribution” of the proposed P1.645-billion national budget for 2011 among the country’s 17 regions spread across three island groups (http://www.gmanews.tv/story/202784/visayas-mindanao-solons-protest-inequitable-budget-sharing).Only 7.7 percent was allotted for the whole Visayas while 10 percent was for Mindanao. The whole of Luzon, in turn, will get 16.34 percent share of the budget while the National Capital Region will be getting 3.6 percent. 31.7 percent of the budget will be for the national government’s central offices.

It is also unfortunate that a contretemps between OPAPP Secretary Deles and members of Congress has led to the passage of a resolution calling for the resignation of Deles over an “insult” to Congresswoman Fatima Aliah Dimaporo (Lanao del Norte) during the Congressional hearing over OPAPP’s budget. Sulu Rep. Tupay Loong said Deles, while defending the programs of OPAPP, raised her voice and “bordered on being hostile” against the neophyte solon. Davao Congressman Marc Douglas Cagas has called for the budget of OPAPP to be reduced to P1.

It seems that the row may have been fueled by President Aquino’s appointment of Dr. Hamid Barra (nominee of Secretary Deles) to replace Bai Omera Lukman (aunt of Representative Dimaporo) as Chair of the National Commission for Muslim Filipinos (NCMF). Barra’s

(Amina Rasul is convenor of the Philippine Council for Islam and Democracy. She writes a weekly column, “Durian” for the Manila Times).


It was a session with IDPs, my first, since after the MNLF war broke out in the early 70s. Said in English “IDPs” is hardly anything familiar in Mindanao setting. Yes, it means “internally displaced persons,” says UN documents, people displaced by war in their own countries. Even the word “displaced” does not say enough; it seems the reality of being forcibly uprooted from one’s home is deliberately softened . Perhaps it is because it is English and foreign.

But say “bakwit” and it hits a sensitive chord, in any language locally spoken in Mindanao, Bisaya, Maguindanao, Maranao, Ilonggo, Ilocano, Tagalog, Manobo, Teduray, Blaan, Subanen. It automatically conjures images of hordes of people, men, women and children, screaming in fright, scampering, running for dear life, carrying only the clothes on one’s body, scurrying anywhere and everywhere, away from the gunfire and bombs, mindless of the rain of bullets overhead, or across one’s path, mindless even of each other. Just run, run, run.

In the relative safety of a school or a community gym, transformed hastily into an evacuation center overflowing with people, scared and hungry, or in the home of one’s relatives, when rationality catches up with fear, when one is able to control his emotions, then comes the roll call and the frantic search for family members. A mother has picked up somebody else’s baby, a daughter has been separated from her family, a father carrying his daughter both shot by the raiding rebels; his wife, who had just given birth, had to run with her newborn and was lucky she did not bleed to death. A son escaped but lost his father and brother.

The session was with a batch of bakwits from Lanao del Sur and Lanao del Norte, displaced in 2008-09 during the outbreak of violence launched by select MILF forces after the scheduled signing of the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) was nipped in the bud by a Supreme Court order. Participants were a select mix of Muslim and Bisayan Christians.

Tearful or in near tears, each participant bravely told his or her story, some in subdued sobbing voices, another had no more tears left, and as the telling and listening rolled on in deep sorrow and pain, one could feel the great emotional divide melting between Muslims and Christians, both admitting that they are equally victims of a war they did not create. Both with equal intensity expressed their desire for peace, for a stop to the war, and for the officials of Government and the leadership of the MILF to come to terms in a peace negotiation.

What unfolded before me, already in tears from listening to their narratives, was the immediate, almost instant palpable result of such a session. It was a touching community dialogue, heart to heart exchange of their hurts and pains, of their dreams and aspirations. One cannot imagine what powerful healing energy can be generated if such a session is done in as many mixed communities in Mindanao, led by the local government units (LGU).

Many people’s voices have been expressed, noting that only the Office of the President, Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process, and the Armed Forces of the Philippines are engaged in the

peace process; there is almost total absence of the LGUs. Cannot the government harness the entire machinery of government to attain comprehensive and lasting peace from top to bottom?

War in Moroland in Mindanao has been there since 1971 to the present, affecting the people from top to bottom. First the so-called Mindanao Crisis in central Mindanao, then the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) war of national liberation, now the resumption of the war by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. The MNLF drew the attention of 75% of the power of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and scored between 100,000 to 120,000 dead from 1971 to 1996 most of which between 1972 and 1976, and cost the government no less than Php 73 billion pesos in combat expenses alone. The most publicized statistics then in foreign media was the half million Filipino refugees in Sabah. The bakwits in western Mindanao, central Mindanao and eastern Mindanao were hardly covered by the government-controlled media. We would only hear about the cost and the lives lost in the mid-1990s.

Two major agreements have been signed between the Government and the MNLF, the Tripoli Agreement of 1976 and the Final Peace Agreement (FPA) on the implementation of the Tripoli Accord in 1996. But until today, several provisions of the FPA are awaiting earnest implementation.

Two major agreements have been inked between the Government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the Agreement for General Cessation of Hostilities in July 1997 and the Tripoli Agreement on Peace in June 2001 which set the three-point agenda of the peace talks. After the botched signing of the MOA-AD in August 2008, Ancestral Domain stands as the last major step in the crafting of a comprehensive Compact between the Government and the MILF.

Statistics on bakwits reached beyond a million in the all-out war of 2000, and more than 700,000 in the years 2008-09, and several thousands each from wars in between.

What that session of bakwit states unmistakably is that while they themselves can find security in community dialogue and in normalizing their lives, local government units have been almost totally absent to date not only in helping provide them with emergency assistance but also in normalizing their lives. They feel that this time, these local governments should be able to play bore active roles in restoring destroyed relationships among communities, Muslim, and Christians migrant communities and Lumad indigenous groups polarized by war.

There is, however, one aspect of the war they cannot do anything about, the peace talks between the Government and the MILF. The sooner these are able to come to a political settlement the better. This will definitely usher in return to normal life. Until the panels finish the talks, there will be no permanent assurance of peace.

[Rudy Buhay Rodil was vice chair of the GRP panel that negotiated with the MILF until the MOA-AD of 2008. The Mindanao historian and retired history professor was also a member of the GRP peace panel that negotiated and forged an agreement with the Moro National Liberation Front from 1992 to 1996]

By Rudy B. Rodil IN ILIGAN CITY

From the pains of

of

WaR...pEaCE

BEGINLet the


It’s TIME to FLY!By Irene Morada Santiago IN DAVAO CITY

START THE PEACE TALkS. BEgiN AT THE END. PRE-EMPT HiSTORY.

it’s easy enough to just demand that the talks begin. But

the government has boxed itself into a wee bit of a tight

corner by laying down a precondition for the resumption

of the talks. Those of us who are experienced mothers

(or grandmothers) know that “hala ka!” can be either a

threat or a done deal. government says: No talks unless

the Malaysian facilitator is changed. MiLF says: He stays.

Malaysia says: He stays. Done deal. Threat fizzles.

BEGINLet the

PHOTO BY: BOBBY TIMONERA


I don’t want to add more fuel to the fire by giving my two bits about whether the facilitator is in fact biased or not toward the MILF and therefore cannot be trusted to be neutral and constructive. I would think that if one party to the talks says we can’t work with him, you’d think it would be easy enough to just get someone else. But not when you’re looking at “national interest” (Malaysia’s and ours), face (Malaysia’s and ours), and just plain old-fashioned “interests” (Malaysia’s, ours, and MILF’s).

So how to begin the begin? Threaten with another threat? I don’t think so. Let’s look at all three above. In negotiations, parties who look for their common interests manage to solve the problem. Turn off the microphones. Stop the press releases. It is time for a listener to see the government, Malaysian and MILF decision-makers. Listening never hurt anybody. Better than saying “hala ka!”. Go look for a listener. And do it this week!

Now we can talk about “beginning at the end.” What is at the end of the peace talks? A peace agreement? Well, yes. But really we should go further than that. That’s the easy part, you know (I’m not kidding you.) What to do the DAY AFTER the peace agreement is signed is a good way to think about what to put in the peace agreement. I am sure there are going to be big words in there. We all heard about ancestral domain, of course. Those two words come with constitutional, territorial, security, and development “must do’s”. From the get go, that agreement has to be ready for implementation. This is sometimes called “sincerity” but I daresay it is nothing but common sense. You make an agreement that you can implement, right? Make it simple. Go back to the original meaning of “institution”. Governance 101 defines an institution as a “set of rules.” So the peace agreement, to be implementable, must list down the “set of rules” (the institution) that will be followed by the two parties – and the people, too. Including their existing institutions like Congress and the Senate – to make sure things WORK. Okay, the ceremonies will be important. But I will be looking for the “set of rules.”

And while we’re at it, let’s talk about making sure women have a say in that set of rules. Too many times, women are told they are important because they hold the families together in times of war. Well, they also hold families together in the aftermath of war. I’d like to see in the peace agreement an answer to a basic and endearing definition of peace from an exhausted woman who had fled hearth and home too many times. “Peace is having time to beautify myself.” Can you imagine the depth of tiredness from where this comes? The woman just wants time to comb her hair! Or to take a relaxing bath! The jargon is “food security, democratic self-governance, social cohesion, etc.” But in the end, it is lifting her burdens, accepting her abilities, and giving back the joy in her life! It has been difficult to tell the panels that making peace is a woman’s business as well. Too few of us have challenged the notion that “Men make peace because they make war.” This is a good enough reason for women to be involved in peace negotiations. But there are others too. Women view the world

(Irene Morada Santiago is Chair and Chief Executive Officer of the Mindanao Commission on Women. She was a member of the government peace panel in the negotiations with the MILF from 2001 to 2004).

differently. This comes primarily from the roles they are made to play in their communities as well as the expectations people have of them. So they are expert in arranging the sets of rules in a way that works not only for their families but also for their communities. And isn’t it time to “arrange” things differently?

The Bangsamoro struggle is a struggle for re-arrangement. Where do the Bangsamoro as a people sit at the table of the country? (Or do they even sit at the table!) This, in the end, is the problem that has to be faced. In conflict that keeps returning generation after generation, this is the central issue: a place at the table for different peoples. It is at the heart of democracy. But our nation building has been focused on what has been called “privileging singular identities.” How does a minority people with their own distinct history relate to the State? For too long we have held that the majority decides who sits at the table, how they sit, and when they sit (and for many, how long they sit!) Gandhi said it ever so eloquently: “I do not believe in the doctrine of the greatest good of the greatest number. It means in its nakedness that in order to achieve the supposed good of 51 per cent the interest of the 49 per cent may be, or rather, should be sacrificed. It is a heartless doctrine and has done harm to humanity. The only real, dignified human doctrine is the greatest good of all, and this can only be achieved by uttermost self-sacrifice.” Power sharing is one of the most challenging issues in the negotiations and its “re-arrangement” fraught with the most meaning but self-sacrifice is needed. This is the preparation that has to be made among our people. Self-sacrifice. What are you giving (not giving up) for peace? This is a huge factor in our ability to implement the peace agreement. President Noynoy is in a great position to ask for this sacrifice, in a way that Gloria Arroyo wasn’t. It needs a popular leader to ask for sacrifice from the people so I hope PNoy starts preparing that ground to make the seeds of peace sprout and grow.

In this moment of re-arrangement - nay, of transformation – in our country, I pray that we see that we can go and pre-empt history.

I love a campaign ad that was used to celebrate the 60th year of India as a free nation. This ad has resonated with me deeply because what it says rings true for the Philippines as well. It talks of two Indias (the same way that there are two Philippines): “one.. straining at the leash eager to spring forth to live up to the adjectives that the world has been recently showering upon us; the other …is the leash.” The last lines of the ad speak to us as well. “History, they say, is a bad motorist. It rarely ever signals its intentions when it’s making a turn. THIS is that rarely ever moment. History is turning a page.” And the Philippines, like India today, is at the “edge of time’s great precipice.” One Philippines is “looking down at the bottom of the ravine and hesitating.” The other is “looking up at the sky and saying: It’s time to fly!”


By Peter Kreuzer PEACE RESEARCH INSTITUTE FRANKFURT

L e t t h e ta l k s b e g i n but mind to

reclaim the

marshesEven though during the last decades compromise

was always hard to come by and the negotiations

most of the time moved at snail’s pace, the

peace-panels in the end always delivered. Success

turned into failure only after the negotiation

panels had hammered out what they believed to

be viable solutions. So, let the talks begin, but

don’t forget that the problems are not in the

talks, but in the translation of their results into

political action.

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Firstly local Christian politicians in regions adjacent to the core of Muslim resistance regularly objected and successfully built short lived alliances with national forces that successfully watered down (1996) or even brought down (2008), what had been accomplished at the negotiation table.

Even though during the last decades compromise was always hard to come by and the negotiations most of the time moved at snail’s pace, the peace-panels in the end always delivered. Success turned into failure only after the negotiation panels had hammered out what they believed to be viable solutions. So, let the talks begin, but don’t forget that the problems are not in the talks, but in the translation of their results into political action.

Firstly local Christian politicians in regions adjacent to the core of Muslim resistance regularly objected and successfully built

peace process adviser, the president signaled lukewarm interest by calling the Mindanao Conflict a situation.

If something has to be learned from the past, it is that efforts at peace can easily be brought down by ad-hoc, single-issue and short term coalitions-of-the-willing spoilers. Pushing forward in contrast is equivalent to constructing something new and needs a commonly shared blueprint that goes way beyond the mere wish for peace.

With respect to peace in Mindanao, this means that solution-oriented stakeholders in the end must unite on a common stance that will involve sacrifices from all groups. It will not be easy to convince all, that the burdens are fairly distributed. There will at least be relative winners and losers and some of the relative losers might perceive themselves to be absolute ones. Furthermore man is a conservative animal, easily content with the

The government: Does the government really signal that it relegates prime importance to a solution to the conflict? Has there ever been real unity of vision and decision within its ranks, did former governments always try their best in safeguarding that the agreements were unassailable from a legal (constitutional) perspective? The constitutional dilemma is known for decades, however, there never has been a systematic effort at dealing with it.

Civil society: Is national civil society really interested in the conflict? The 2008 experiences signal that it is not. Even Mindanawon civil society in its first crucial test in 2008 failed. They persisted in bemoaning that they were not consulted, but at no point in time came forward as a force willing to defend the basic lines of the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MoA-AD) or put up concrete recommendations for specific points. Instead we see a fragmentation into proponents and opponents that showed civil society to be a mirror-image of traditional politics: highly fragmented, the fragments pursuing particularistic goals, lacking a clear vision of a broader common weal and substituting this with the commonplaces of Consultation and Peace for Mindanao.

As in a democracy nothing can (nor should) be done against those who disagree with a certain policy as long as their actions do not violate the law, its proponents must strengthen their position by strengthening themselves.

For the Moro politicians this means a crucial test with respect to their very identity: are they a self-serving ruling class or representatives of the interests of the Moros? The current fragmentation strengthens elite-clan power at the cost of the Bangsamoro. For mainstream Moro political actors it should be all about organization and institution building, for example in the form of a strong Moro political party which could give voice in parliamentary politics to mainstream Bangsamoro society on either an ethnic/religious or a regional line. The traditional politicians never tried to overcome their clan-centered world-vision via political organization, neither did the MNLF go for it, nor does the MILF, even though past experience shows, that the integration of Moro politicians in national parties at best helps the Moro elite’s class interest but never the broad masses of the Bangsamoro people.

short lived alliances with national forces that successfully watered down (1996) or even brought down (2008), what had been accomplished at the negotiation table.

Secondly, the Moro side was far from united. Not only did the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) sharply disagree, but traditional politicians successfully marginalized or co-opted MNLF leaders, upholding a political model of criminalized governance in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) which caters for the short-term needs of the rich and powerful at the cost of public welfare and development for the region. The last few months saw Muslim politicians advocating the dissolution of the ARMM, others opting for its reform, some arguing for a partitioning, further ones working for a strengthening of the old Sultanates. Congress adopted a resolution calling for the resignation of the presidential

given and afraid of the unknown, even if it might hold chances. Why should somebody in Mindanao put trust in promises if these for the last decades have been like rainbows: always fleeing the one approaching them? Spoilers will accompany the process and try to derail it as they have done before. However, their strength is largely borrowed, because it rests largely on the disorganization and disunity of the proponents of a negotiated solution. With respect to the degree of fragmentation and lack of a common vision these closely resemble their antagonists.

The traditional Moro elites and co-opted MNLF leaders: Is there really an overarching will towards autonomy on the side of the various elites, when this autonomy could eventually also mean giving up some of their interests as a ruling and all-powerful elite, or wouldn’t many prefer subservience to Imperial Manila if they and their clan’s interest were left untouched?


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The government cannot let the talks commence, continue its way in isolation and hope for the best, but must build up a strong supporting environment within the national administration and legislature. Most importantly it ought to bring together as much juridical expertise as possible to tackle the complex constitutional problems, which are certain to crop up again, in a systematic, preemptive way. Likewise it must clearly be communicated that not each and every Local Government Unit (LGU) or Civil Society Organization (CSO) representative can claim a de facto right to veto an agreement. As a rule, particular interests have to give way to a common weal, where the two collide and the former do not qualify as fundamental human needs.

National civil society must ask itself, if it has got its priorities right. Local civil society will have to be able not only to unite in a superficial way under a host of umbrella organizations. If they really present a formal or informal tri-peoples’ alliance, they must be able to come up with rudimentary solutions acceptable to all of them. Where should the boundaries of an autonomous region lie? How should the rights of the non-Muslim indigenous groups be upheld? What is to be done with respect to the land-question? Who should decide which kinds of resources can be exploited? And so on. It is irresponsible only to lament that one was not consulted, without providing an alternative vision of peace, which is more than the mere wish for justice, non-violence, mutual understanding and the like. They will have to think about concrete formulas, as peace and justice are both outgrowths of specific political, economic and social orders.

The talks probably should be likened to a rather well-known and oft travelled path. This path is surrounded by very dangerous marshes and finally, somewhere out there, it disappears in the morass. No traveler has yet succeeded in getting to its final destination. However you try to improve the path, it will not help as long as the marshes are not reclaimed and transformed into solid ground.

[Peter Kreuzer is a Senior Research Fellow at Peace Research Institute Frankfurt (PRIF) specializing in comparative political violence with Southeast Asia as regional expertise. Kreuzer is author of several papers on Mindano, among them “Protracted Civil War in Mindanao: Can Civil Society help to cut the Gordian knot? (2009); and “Bridging the gap between the civil war and the microdynamics of collective violence in Muslim Mindanao (2009)]

By Kristian Herbolzheimer ADVISER ON PEACE PROCESSES, CONCILIATION RESOURCES

THE CEASEFIRE BETWEEN THE GOVERNMENT AND THE MORO

ISLAMIC LIBERATION FRONT (MILF) HAS BEEN HOLDING

FOR MORE THAN A YEAR. STILL, MINDANAO SUFFERS

MASSACRES, BOMBINGS, KILLINGS, ABDUCTIONS AND FORCED

DISPLACEMENT. THERE IS PEACE BETWEEN THE ARMED ACTORS,

BUT PEOPLE DON’T PERCEIVE IT ON THE GROUND.

AddrEssING

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This phenomenon of increased violence despite a holding ceasefire is not unique to Mindanao: more people died in El Salvador in the years after the peace agreement than during the civil war; crime in South Africa is probably higher today than during the apartheid regime.

What is this information telling us? Essentially, that we should not expect a peace agreement between the Government and the MILF to be the only solution to peaceful co-existence in Mindanao. There are other less visible sources of violence that need to be addressed before, during and after the negotiation of a political settlement. Challenging all sources of violence is a necessary approach to complement the path of political negotiations. It is an approach that needs a strong commitment by all other political, social, religious and economic agents.

it is necessary to identify and unmask the interests that sustain violence

In any armed conflict there are persons and institutions opposed to the peace process because they benefit from the “status quo” and are therefore fearful of change. These agents can be found among combatants on both sides: especially in protracted armed conflicts, some people become professional warriors and can’t imagine a life beyond fighting because that is their main and maybe only skill. Political leaders may also benefit from war: weak governance is easy to manipulate for the benefit of a few power-holders. Corruption, vote-rigging and other related activities have been well documented at all levels - from Metro Manila down to Barangays. The Ampatuan massacre was the most dramatic expression of political rivalry where, in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, more often than not Muslims confront fellow Muslims. Related to the political is an economic dimension, which covers everything from the weapons supplier to all kind of contractors and the complex networks of informal and illegal economies that blossom in conflict-affected areas. In Mindanao the economic dimension of violence is also linked to land ownership: land that has often been grabbed by force and titles and privileges that are defended with violence.

People who benefit from the status quo are often called spoilers. They can put stumbling blocks on the path to peace, sometimes openly, sometimes quietly.

From spoilers to champions of peace

From a conflict transformation perspective it is important to develop more nuanced terms that don’t inevitably condemn people to maintain a given behaviour. Instead, it is possible to highlight people’s capacity to choose between selfish and responsible attitudes: many people do have a spoiling potential, but these same people can also become agents of constructive change.

It can be understandable that agents of selfish violence feel threatened by a peace process. At the end of the day, a genuine peace process is about changing power-relations: from the few and privileged to a more inclusive and just framework. But peace processes from around the world also teach us that an inclusive peace scenario most often offers space even for those who initially feared loosing their privileges. The challenge therefore is to prove and convince actors with spoiling potential that they have nothing to fear from the outcome of a peace process. Actually, if they champion the peace process they have a greater chance of enjoying the benefits of a post-conflict scenario.

it is necessary to identify and deconstruct the worldviews and the myths that sustain violence

As long as people consider violence to be natural or unavoidable it

will be difficult to bring peace. Protracted armed conflict makes it difficult for some to envision a life of peace: several generations in Mindanao have not known any other state than violence. Under such circumstances it takes a lot of courage and creativity, as well as a genuine trust in the human capacity to do good, to think beyond the daily difficulties and to challenge the idea that humanity is doomed to be violent.

Even the most fierce warrior culture can choose to shift to nonviolent behaviour. The peaceful Scandinavian nations were once home to the feared Viking tribes; indigenous warrior groups that have been challenging colonization for more than 500 years in Latin America have turned to nonviolent resistance. The Pashtuns in the North-West Frontier Province of colonial India created a nonviolent and unarmed army of some 100,000 in the 1930s, under the leadership of Abdul Ghaffar Khan, more successfully challenging British rule than through violent resistance. The gun culture in Mindanao is being raised by some from a descriptive to a prescriptive category. Current levels of rido have little to do with traditional conflict-settlement and instead much more to do with vested interests that thrive with a cultural justification (and absence of rule of law). Carrying weapons is certainly a tradition in many places of the world, including the Philippines and Mindanao. But traditions can evolve and change. If Malaysia has successfully implemented a gun ban and increased security for all, why should that not be possible here?

Breaking stereotypes and strengthening relations between cultures and religions, challenges the discourse of those who highlight the differences and the prejudices between the peoples of Mindanao. Interfaith dialogue is not as welcome as could be assumed. Limited progress despite huge efforts in this process, is a clear reminder of the challenges we face to form an identity that crosses traditional group boundaries.

Complex problems need multiple responses

Most forms and agents of violence we have described don’t follow political or ethnic divides. They cross them and, so, become common challenges for all peace-loving peoples, beginning with the very leaders of the peace negotiations. These forms of violence can’t be distinguished as independent phenomena: they overlap and are mutually reinforcing, thus forming a complex system of violence. In the frame of a peace process this system needs to be addressed from several ends and by different agents including, of course, the armed actors at the negotiating table. But also by all sorts of institutions, civil society initiatives, the business sector and religious leaders with long-term vision and leadership capabilities. Everyone should ask themselves: “Am I open to change? How can I best support change?”

At the same time, responses to violence have to be addressed with concerted effort. Unilateral initiatives can be perceived as following certain interests. Joint efforts across the political divide on the other hand, have a strong confidence-building capacity. At the end of the day, the goal is to prepare the ground for a Mindanao where all peoples can live together, in accordance with their way of life and aspirations. This can only happen if people trust each other.

(Kristian Herbolzheimer of Sweden is adviser to the peace process of Conciliation Resources. He was a research fellow at the Davao City-based Initiatives for International Dialogue in 2008 and had served as Deputy Director of the Program of Peace Processes at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain from 2000 to 2007).

By Ayesah Abubakar/MindaNews IN PENANG/MALAYSIA


There are many great things that we have witnessed in this GRP-MILF peace process. For students of conflict and peace studies, this has yet to be one of the most interesting cases that not only illustrate innovations in peacemaking, but also in the unique peacekeeping mode (the International Monitoring Team, Local Monitoring Team and the civilian peacekeepers) and the wide array of peacebuilding activities that civil society groups (together with the international community) have managed to carry on. At the same time, the many setbacks and threats to the process brought about by various spoilers have acted as litmus test to the formidability, of mainly, the Philippine government, to carry on with its commitment to bringing peace in Mindanao. The spoilers are out in the open and easily identified — whether in terms of persons, groups, or interests. And yet, these have not been managed or engaged as part of the whole peace process. Perhaps, it is time to confront ourselves with the overarching spoiler — the great fear of the Filipino people towards giving freedom to the Bangsamoro.

The Bangsamoro revolutionary groups (both the Moro National Liberation Front and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front) and to some extent, some traditional politicians, have consistently been finding ways to constructively engage (through diplomatic negotiations) the Philippine government. And when they are accused of responding violently (through armed revolution), most people tend to forget that they only resort to armed struggle as their last means to defend themselves. Who would want to wage war and be killed? This is a common question of both the freedom fighters and the military soldiers who also resoundingly respond with a big, “NO ONE.” But unfortunately, there are people (leaders and interest groups) who make use of this conflict as part of their hold on to power and influence. Worse, many Filipinos believe in them. Since the time of Presidents Marcos, Cory Aquino, Ramos, Estrada, and Arroyo, the same anxiety, the same fear, pervades.

Perhaps, the peace advocacy groups have had some success over the years in eroding this fear and discrimination. This can be attested by an increased interest to know the Bangsamoro people and their

By Ayesah Abubakar/MindaNews IN PENANG/MALAYSIA

another Litmus test for peace

issues, including the many Indigenous Peoples in Mindanao. Yet it is not enough. Their work is not enough so long as we cannot allay the fears of our politicians, military, big business groups, and yes, even the churches… that all will be alright when we give peace a chance in Mindanao…when we give the Bangsamoro their freedom. We must comfort them that they will be doing the right thing, a good thing, and that everyone will benefit from peace.

The world is never short of wonderful stories brought about by peaceful resolutions. These stories may not be perfect. Nonetheless, they do bring better futures for many people. A fine example is the case of Aceh. Not only did the Indonesians and the Acehnese have become closer and respectful towards each other, but more importantly, both Jusuf Kalla and President Susilo Yudhoyono have earned their place as forthright leaders—in contrast to the dark past of then President Suharto.

Warm persuasions to the resumption of the GRP-MILF peace talks are proving very tricky these days. We have been given many reasons for the delays. Some of it are valid, while there are other more crucial resource problems that have been totally neglected. The reality that the government is faced with is that it is equally costly to maintain the conflict and to continue the peace process, although, in the long run, it is the investments in peace that will always prove to be sustainable. But in the realm of leadership and a leader’s vision for peace, there are no insurmountable obstacles. It all depends on President Noynoy Aquino’s judgment—as a leader of change just as he promised. In the coming days, it is, he, who will have to make the choice. Will he be a leader of peace, or a leader of fear for the Filipino people? And we shall all await for that decision and hope against hope!

(Ayesah Abubakar is one of the founders of the Young Moro Professionals. She now resides in Penang, Malaysia where she is the coordinator of the Mindanao Peace Program at the Research & Education for Peace University Sains Malaysia. She writes “In the neighborhood,” a column for the Mindanawon Abroad section of MindaNews).

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A q u i n o ’ s G R P - M I L F P e a c e T a l k s :

By Soliman M. Santos, Jr. IN NAGA CITY

HoPes, FeARs, TAsks

“THE HOPES AND FEARS OF ALL

THE YEARS ARE MET IN THEE

TONIGHT…” FOUR MONTHS

INTO THE NEW SIX-YEAR

AQUINO ADMINISTRATION, IT IS

MORE THAN TIMELY TO ASK AND

SPEAK ABOUT EXPECTATIONS

AND HOPES AS WELL AS FEARS

ON THE RESUMPTION OF THE

GRP-MILF (GOVERNMENT OF THE

REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES-

MORO ISLAMIC LIBERATION

FRONT) PEACE TALKS UNDER

THIS NEW ADMINISTRATION.

ALSO, TO ASK AND SPEAK ABOUT

WHAT SHOULD BE DONE TO

HELP BRING FRUITION TO THOSE

HOPES AND EXPECTATIONS AND

TO HELP REDUCE/MINIMIzE/

LESSEN THOSE FEARS.

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HoPesThe most obvious hope is that the six years of the new administration should be enough to achieve a breakthrough comprehensive negotiated political settlement of the Bangsamoro problem. This is more than just the GRP-MILF peace talks because there is also the implementation of the 1996 GRP-MNLF (Moro National Liberation Front) Final Peace Agreement to reckon with, not to mention other aspects of the broader Mindanao peace process, especially the people-to-people or inter-tri-people aspects of it. At first glance, six years should be enough. But at second glance, this is not really that much time to work out this complex process, given the history of protracted peace negotiations, albeit on and off, from 1975 to 1996 with the MNLF and then from 1997 to the present with the MILF, spanning now six presidential administrations. At the same time, this indicates that this process of seeking to solve the Bangsamoro problem politically through peace negotiations is not starting from scratch and in fact has not only a number of signed agreements but also much experience, lessons and gains to build on. The unfinished GRP-MILF peace talks still has the best potential as a vehicle, especially when improved by restructuring or reframing, that can bring this process to a successful logical conclusion not only for the MILF and the Bangsamoro but also for all stakeholders of the Mindanao peace process.

The two key elements or factors that have to be worked out for the success of this complex process are (1) a political-constitutional formula that addresses the Bangsamoro aspiration for “a system of life and governance suitable and acceptable to the Bangsamoro people” that at the same time accords “respect for the identity, culture [,way of life,] and aspirations of all [the] peoples of Mindanao;” and (2) a national political consensus on this, in other words, it must also be acceptable to the Filipino people.

These two key elements or factors are of course easier said than done. And in the case of a national political consensus, one indispensable subset is a Bangsamoro political consensus on the solution to their problem. It is political consensus, which includes political will as well as political support for a comprehensive negotiated settlement, that may be the more difficult or intractable of the key elements or factors to work out. But this is also where the acknowledged significant

political capital of the new President Aquino, as well as the related impetus for reforms in governance and the national life, can play a positive role.

Of course, political capital is not everlasting but a finite resource that can dissipate with time. In so far as the solution of the Bangsamoro problem necessitates a new political-constitutional formula, this will have to reckon with the question not only of national political consensus but also of timing for any necessary constitutional changes. The best timing for needed charter change in general (which ideally should also include a new political-constitutional formula for the Bangsamoro) is early enough or within the first half of the new administration when its political capital is still presumably plenty and such charter change is not unduly muddled by issues of lifting of term limits and perpetuation in power. In other words, ideally also, the GRP-MILF peace talks should, by that time of charter change, have already successfully concluded with its envisioned comprehensive compact. Given the lessons of the aborted GRP-MILF Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) debacle in 2008, it is not “premature” at all to speak of necessary charter change. The ancestral domain negotiations since 2005, its consensus points, the aborted MOA-AD itself in August 2008 and the Supreme Court decision thereon in October 2008 all provide important guidance for this.

FeARsAs we said, the main worry – as it has been historically -- is national political consensus for a negotiated political settlement with the MILF, from both the Filipino elite and the general public. But in the particular case of the new Aquino administration, there are among its stalwarts, as well as among its Makati big business support base, those who were (and are) the strongest and most vocal personalities and forces opposed to the MOA-AD. This could become the proverbial “immovable object” in relation to the “irresistible force” of the MILF’s still carrying the torch for the spirit, if not the letter, of the aborted MOA-AD, notwithstanding the Supreme Court decision thereon which the MILF does not consider itself bound to.

In addition to these divergent frames between the GRP and MILF regarding the aborted MOA-AD, there appear to be other

relevant divergent frames, both substantive and procedural. On the substantive side, the new administration is still grappling with its national security policy and strategy. Presumably, this would frame or guide the GRP in its peace talks with the MILF. For now, President Aquino has indicated four general elements: governance; delivery of services; economic reconstruction and sustainable development; and security sector reform. How these elements specifically address the articulated Bangsamoro aspirations remains to be seen. Relevant to this, while the GRP has understandably emphasized its own key principles of national sovereignty and territorial integrity, it has been reluctant (perhaps understandably) to explicitly recognize or acknowledge the Bangsamoro people’s right of self-determination. Without this recognition, there is not only prejudice to the necessary balancing of interests for a sought-for political-constitutional formula but also a showing of lack of real understanding of the Bangsamoro problem.

On the procedural side, there appear to be divergent approaches in interpreting and applying the 29 July 2009 agreed guiding point of “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.” The MILF appears to be more ready for further discussions on drafts for a comprehensive compact which fleshes out and supplies the details of certain perceived consensus points, and even working out interim governance arrangements for a transition period before full implementation. The GRP appears to be more disposed to initially setting just a general framework of principles for a comprehensive compact, but more importantly moving to flesh this out and supply the details through a transitional process of arrangements and mechanisms that actualize participation, consultation and inclusivity of all stakeholders, with the end-product of a Bangsamoro Basic Law. In addition, however, the GRP appears to be particularly concerned with clarifying, if not revising, the terms of reference for Malaysia’s role as third-party facilitator as well as those for the increasing multiple international involvement, both governmental and non-governmental, in this peace process with the MILF. This avowed review by the new administration of both procedural and substantive elements of this process apparently accounts, at least partly if not mainly, for the delay in the resumption of the


talks under a new administration that is still organizing itself and setting its directions.

As for the problem with Bangsamoro (as distinguished from national) political consensus, the historical tendency of Bangsamoro fragmentation or factionalism, including most notably between the MILF and MNLF, continues to bedevil what is still essentially their common cause. Long-time MNLF Chair Nur Misuari’s hubris has become part of the problem. The other worry is the rise of radicalism among the next generation of Bangsamoro leaders, in case of the definitive failure of the current moderate leadership of the MILF to achieve something qualitatively better than the already failed 1996 GRP-MNLF Final Peace Agreement. A more radical MILF would be more worrisome strategically than any resurgence of Abu Sayyaf.

TAsksThe above-mentioned divergent approaches between the GRP and MILF in “moving towards the comprehensive compact” can and should be reconciled in a way that gets or uses the best of both approaches. The MILF’s thrust for negotiations between the main parties to flesh out a comprehensive compact that builds on previous agreements, consensus points and terms of reference can be combined with the GRP’s accent on a more inclusive process of participation and consultation of all stakeholders to produce the best results in terms of more purposively both finding the right political-constitutional formula and building a national political consensus for it. Stakeholder consultation is not only a matter of process for consensus-building or the building of political support; it can also contribute inputs for the substantive content of a comprehensive compact. There has of course been a surfeit of public consultations post MOA-AD, most notably Konsult Mindanaw and Dialogue Mindanaw. The challenge is to draw the best inputs from these consultations, not “reinvent the wheel” on this, further consult more purposively and creatively on what has not yet been covered, and establish mechanisms for these to effectively fork into the actual peace negotiations. One form of input contribution as far as Mindanao civil society peace advocates are concerned is to prepare their own draft comprehensive compact. This can be useful, among others, in case of a stalemate between the main parties on

(Soliman M. Santos, Jr. has been a long-time Bicolano human rights and IHL lawyer; peace advocate, researcher and writer esp. for and on the Mindanao peace process, with several books on this; and legislative consultant and legal scholar. He is now a Judge of the 9th Municipal Circuit Trial Court of Nabua-Bato, Camarines Sur).

which between their respective drafts will be used as working draft.

As far as a breakthrough or key political-constitutional formula is sought, this will have to effectively address the MILF’s more recent articulation “for an asymmetrical state-substate arrangement.” During the early 2010 negotiations, the GRP had in turn articulated “enabling the highest form of autonomy for Muslim Mindanao” as an “ultimate objective.” If “autonomy” here is properly understood in its generic sense and not limited to the existing Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) as an entity only to be “enhanced,” then the gap between the parties in finding “new formulas” has been reduced. For one, it appears clear enough that whatever finally agreed “new formula” will be a non-independence arrangement and that the failed existing ARMM will be replaced, but of course it has to be by something better, presumably higher, in autonomous governance. It will, however, no longer suffice to rely on labels like “autonomy,” “associative relations” and “sub-state,” which can even be misleading. The real deal or score is in the sharing of powers and resources between the GRP and the Bangsamoro self-governing entity (or whatever it may eventually be called). This is where both sides have to do much thinking and rethinking, and both inside and outside the box, whether that box is the Constitution or the aborted MOA-AD. But it is best to avoid the complications of getting bogged down with the MILF-sought “interim governance arrangements.”

It might help this thinking and rethinking to avail of the familiar Mindanao tri-people framework, albeit on two levels: (1) combined -- as part of a broader whole like Mindanao itself which they must share as they interact with each other; and (2) separate – in their respective (Settler, Moro, Lumad) distinct majority areas which carry their identity, culture, and way of life. The concept of legal pluralism for a country of cultural diversity might be applied to or be useful for the sought-for political-constitutional formula. In fact, in the case of indigenous peoples like the Lumad, there is in the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act (IPRA) of 1997 already an element of recognition of their indigenous customary law.

On the Bangsamoro front again, both for the political-constitutional formula and for Bangsamoro political consensus, the MILF and MNLF must find a convergence, which

will also have to be in a better and higher autonomy than the existing ARMM. Former President and now Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s proposal in her House Bill No. 173 creating two Muslim Mindanao autonomous regions (Southwestern Mindanao and Central Mindanao), which actually has good historical and current basis, is relevant to the MNLF-MILF territorial and ethnic base configuration (this was originally a proposal in the 2000 masteral thesis of the late Abraham Iribani, former MNLF peace talks secretariat head). Maybe there needs to even be a Bangsamoro referendum on political options with the results providing the basis of an ensuing unified position. But more effective MILF-MNLF unity efforts will need the external help of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) and particularly Libya. On the other hand, bringing the MNLF into a broader process related to the GRP-MILF peace process will probably entail a reduction or dilution of Malaysia’s role, if only because of Misuari’s animosity to it.

Finally, there must be more of a sense of urgency about the GRP-MILF peace talks and their resumption, given a realization that there is not really that much time under the new six-year Aquino administration to work out the complex Mindanao peace process. Yes, do all the necessary review and preparatory work, but this can teach one only so much. It is actual engagement in the peace negotiations that teaches best. An initial engagement is already called for, not only to send the right public signal and to break the ice esp. for the new GRP peace panel, but also to learn first-hand what it is that has to be brought back to the drawing board. Yes, just do it, get your feet wet, “Let the talks begin.”


My hope is that we, Filipinos, seek more to understand rather than be understood. To learn to listen with all our heart, with all our soul and with all our mind. Finding durable solutions to the conflict in Mindanao depends on our ability to listen well.

The Bangsamoro is saying:

We are not Filipinos. We are Bangsamoro. Moro is a nation. No to integration. No to unitary state. Uphold Moro right to self-determination.

If we listen enough, we know that what is being communicated is a sense of identity that is separate and distinct from ours. It is a message that communicates an imagined community different from ours. It is a plea to respect identity and uniqueness.

How shall we respond to this yearning of the Bangsamoro people to call themselves Bangsamoros and not Filipinos? To direct their history and create a better future for themselves and their children free from imposition of the majority?

This message of a separate identity is directed not only to the Philippine Government or the Philippine State but directed ultimately to us, the Filipino people. It is imperative therefore that the whole Filipino society - Executive, Legislative and Judicial Branches of Government, local government officials, civil society, non-government and peoples organizations, church and religious leaders, businessmen, military and police, media and ultimately, the people themselves - must be involved in these negotiations. The Executive Branch cannot do it alone.

In the end, we need to listen carefully because that is the only way we can respond boldly to this declaration that they are Bangsamoros, not Filipinos.

What shall our response be to this yearning? Shall we ignore it? Shall we deny it? Shall we accept it?

That is a question that each and every Filipino, not only Government, must answer.

Lawyer Camilo “Bong” Montesa of Cagayan de Oro City (now based in Metro Manila), was formerly Assistant Secretary for Peacemaking at the OPAPP. He was part of the GRP-MILF peace negotiations for five years as legal and strategy advisor.)

By Camilo “Bong” Montesa IN MANILA

Seek to understand

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rather than be understood




We welcome additions to this list. If your tribe is not listed here, e-mail us how you say “Yes,” “No” and “Thank you” in your language at [email protected].

*According to Surigaonon journalist Roel Catoto, when they are not certain if it’s yes or no, the Suriganon says “Inday” which in Ilonggo is the equivalent of the Tagalogs’ Nene.(Thanks to the Mindanawon Initiatives for Cultural Dialogue for the Tagabawa, Aromanne-Manobo and Mangguangan ways), Roel Catoto and Walter Balane of MindaNews, Julie Alipala of PDI Mindanao, Fatmawati Salapuddin of the Bangsamoro Women’s Solidarity, Sarangani information officer Serafin Ramos, Jr., Tata Maglangit of Maguindanao, Salic Ibrahim of Lanao).

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Reconsidering the MiLFTHERE ARE A LOT OF THINGS I DISAGREE WITH

THE MORO ISLAMIC LIBERATION FRONT (MILF),

FOREMOST BEING ITS SOCIAL CONSERVATISM

WHICH -- LIKE ALL CONSERVATISMS – HIDES

BEHIND THE CLOAK OF RELIGION. I ALSO FIND ITS

PATRONIzING TREATMENT OF WOMEN AND THE

LUMAD OBJECTIONABLE. IT JUSTIFIES ITS REFUSAL

TO TREAT WOMEN EQUALLY ALLEGEDLY ON WHAT

THE Q’URAN SAYS, WHILE ITS LOOKS DOWN AT THE

By Patricio N. Abinales IN WASHINGTON, DC

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Lumad on the grounds that the latter are less civilized.

But I also have deep respects for the organization’s political pragmatism, particularly its ability to make political adjustments when conditions change. And the MILF has always been honest about its strategic and tactical shifts.

This has been the hallmark of the MILF ever since its inception in the late 1970s when Salamat Hashim, disappointed and at odds with the way Nur Misuari and the Tausugs led the organization, joined forces with Mohagher Iqbal, to set up an alternative center for the Bangsamoro struggle. The embryonic MILF then sought out President Marcos and expressed its willingness to negotiate provided the dictator recognize its existence. Fearful of OIC backlash, Marcos ignored Salamat and Iqbal, and the government has – since then – rued this move.

The MILF would quietly accumulate its firepower, train its fighters in Afghanistan and its imams in Pakistan and other centers of Islamic education, while the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) continued to flounder and split. By the time a weary Nur Misuari signed a peace agreement with the government of President Fidel Ramos (on September 2, 1996), the MILF was poised to take over the leadership of the struggle.

Yet, in its rise to prominence, it never veered far from its pragmatism; this despite what people observed as evidence of a more Islamic orientation. Thomas McKenna was right: the MILF’s influence in Maguindanao and some Maranao areas (principally; the organization’s Tausug base remains weak) grew because its leaders astutely combined real politik with religion.

When it came to fighting, the MILF proved to be more aggressive when compared to its predecessor, always taking the initiative when engaging the Armed Forces of the Philippines. But its military operations were also oddly circumscribed, conducting these mainly in defense of its consolidated “territories.” Rarely does the MILF go beyond its safety zones, concerned perhaps that once they do so they will be fish out of water, with no popular support and thus easy picking by the AFP.

It is also general knowledge that the MILF leadership once had ties with Jemmah Islamiya and perhaps even Al Qaeda, but its flirtation with these terrorist groups did not last long. The combination of being turned-off by these groups’ sanctimonious nags , the pressure from the more moderate Islamic

governments (Indonesia and Malaysia), and an astute recognition that one could actually tap on the hegemon to protect oneself, all brought the MILF back to its senses.

What followed was Salamat’s letter to American president and fellow conservative George W. Bush, seeking the latter’s assistance to mediate, along with Malaysia, the peace talks with the government. This was a move that shocked the Filipino nationalist/leftist community into an unsurprising silence (to this day, the community has said nothing about the Salamat letter, preferring to continue bleating about the imperial conspiracies although deleting in its dull propaganda what the MILF had done). The US and Malaysia proceeded to facilitate the peace process and as a result, the MILF was able to exclude itself in the American list of terrorist organizations and become good friends with the local embassy (Budget limitations forced the Americans to withdraw, but the Malaysians ably picked up the cudgels).

The present manifestation of its pragmatic politics is its proposal to the Aquino administration that it would be happy to govern a “sub-state” within the Philippine territory. In effect the MILF now openly recognizes Philippine sovereignty and is willing to work within instead of break away from the national geo-body. This has been its most radical proposal so far. Iqbal has implored the government to move fast on this proposal, warning that its younger and more radical members who want to go back to the original separatist agenda may not be held back much longer by the aging leadership. But the government has not shown any enthusiasm, the jefe of its negotiating panel more concerned with scoring points against the Supreme Court than going about seriously setting up the critical support staff whose performance could either mean a lasting peace in the South or renewed and possibly more extensive war. This is the most halfhearted peace panel I have seen since 1986.

The armed movement’s attempts to justify its existence are exemplified in Iqbal’s (writing as Salah Jubair) two widely popular books. These accounts are far from perfect, but once again, if we compare these writings to what the MNLF had produced, then one admires the serious efforts place by the MILF’s ideologue in cementing the struggle of his organization on Bangsamoro history and culture. The professorial Nur Misuari has never produced anything comparable.

Finally, folks who had been able to visit the MILF camps before President Estrada ordered

an all-out war in 2000 and when the AFP tried to uproot the movement again in 2003, attest to a well-governed territory. A friend who saw this first hand was amazed at how the MILF staff was actually a model of “good governance.” The camps pristine in its simplicity and the offices inside them notable for their efficiency and order. There the people were busy going about with work, formulating and overseeing projects, adjudicating disputes, ensuring fund flow to the communities.

You visit the ARMM in the era of Ampatuans and you are confronted with the Buliok complex’s antithesis: sloth, disorganization, corruption and inefficiency. Of course, the MILF’s limited resources and expertise are potential obstacles to its ability to govern. These remain the organization’s biggest worry: if the MILF is handed the keys to the juridical entity tomorrow, can it govern or will it fall into the pit of patronage politics and the spoils system like its predecessor?

I am sure Iqbal and his comrades are having nightmares about this prospect in their sleep. But I also think they see this as a challenge.

In a sense, if one were to grade the MILF in terms of its potential as a future ruler, one finds a lot of good things in its record. And one can debate with it over these inadequacies, but as I said in an earlier column – one that drew the ire of a bunch of dim-witted supporters of the organization – the other thing commendable about the MILF is its willingness to debate its critics. The organization does not hesitate to seek out different views. You don’t get this sense of limited openness with the warlords who govern the ARMM.

I see no reason therefore not to give the MILF its proper due; to allow it a chance to govern; and for all Mindanawons to support its position and become its avid fans. For today, as the “I-am-Mindanawon” sentiment continues to spread across all communities in the home island, the issue of autonomy – heck, of even separatism – is not anymore just an MILF issue. It’s become a Mindanao issue. And if the MILF’s sub-state proposal does work, then who knows, it might also be the model for what we all hope for: a Mindanao less beholden, less dependent, and less dominated by imperial Manila. A Mindanao that is truly for Mindanawons.

[Patricio N. Abinales of Ozamiz City, is a visiting fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington D.C. His latest book is Orthodoxy and History in the Muslim Mindanao Narrative, which was recently published by Ateneo de Manila University Press]


Getting over the hump, transitioning to peace

SOLDIERS DO NOT NEED TO LEARN HOW TO START A WAR. THEY

ARE ALWAYS PREPARED FOR WAR. WHAT THE SOLDIERS NEED TO

LEARN IS HOW TO BUILD PEACE AND MAKE IT LAST.

THE MANDATE OF THE ARMED FORCES OF THE PHILIPPINES IS TO

PROVIDE THE PEOPLE WITH A SAFE AND STABLE ENVIRONMENT

SUITABLE FOR WORK AND PLAY. MILITARY OPERATIONS ARE

TRADITIONALLY THOUGHT TO BE ABOUT WARFIGHTING.

HOWEVER, WARFIGHTING IS NOT THE ONLY CHOICE A SOLDIER

HAS IN ORDER TO ACCOMPLISH THE MISSION. BUILDING PEACE

AND MAKING IT LAST IS ANOTHER.

By Lt. Gen. Raymundo B. Ferrer IN DAVAO CITY

By Lt. Gen. Raymundo B. Ferrer IN DAVAO CITY

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The challenges that the Eastern Mindanao Command faced in 2009, its third year, were overwhelming. Circumstances and history had the command facing head-on martial law in Maguindanao and Sultan Kudarat, the constant threat to community security provided by the lawless MILF group, and the seemingly deliberate attempts of the New People’s Army to disrupt the peaceful lives of our constituents. For the communities that were in crisis, the failure of local governance rendered the need for military operations to make possible immediate response to the plight of the internally displaced and the rehabilitation of the conflict-affected areas.

We managed. While mounting combat operations as needed, our troops also devoted efforts at non-traditional military operations to bring normalcy and a measure of stability at the soonest possible time. We managed in a way that contained the conflict from breaking wider and dragging longer. We managed because in the past few years, we invested in efforts to capacitate our soldiers to be able to draw on the skills required to respond to community needs other than warfighting.

I am also proud of our soldiers who performed election duties during the May 11 National and Local Elections. Through their professional conduct and reassuring presence, the last election may have been the most credible one this country had for as long as I can remember.

As we look back on our gains, let us look forward to how we can preserve them. Mindanao stands at that proverbial cusp when we can remain to be characterized by flashpoints and conflicts waiting to happen. We are precariously poised where conditions can deteriorate very rapidly, bringing us back to square one. I believe we can effect a transition to lasting peace if we can just get over the proverbial hump. The Mindanao soldiers have actually done so much to get us here where we can hope with more clarity for a Mindanao that could be. Yet we should not content ourselves that we have done so much. We shall do more.

On its fourth year, the Eastern Mindanao Command shall actively participate in efforts at security sector reform. Human security and stability operations are emerging to be more important in our consideration. We shall shed our warrior image and transform into conflict managers, peacebuilders, and environmentalists.

Recognizing that the environment in Mindanao is transitioning towards peace, some commanders have analyzed their command’s resources to better understand how the operations of their units could be more effective in helping push the transition to peace. The Eastern Mindanao Command has in the past three years drawn heavily on Civil Military Operations (CMO) to enhance the effectiveness of military operations to stabilize conflict and post-conflict areas.

Some commanders see CMO to interfere with combat operations or to undermine the warrior culture of the soldiers who form the foundation of the armed forces. Our experience so far argues that CMO is the force that facilitates the job of the soldier to secure the people. We begin to see this today in terms of the climate of trust and dialogue that the EastMinCom enjoys with the various sectors in Mindanao.

Increasingly, the community welcomes the active participation of the military in multi-stakeholder peace-building and relationship-building activities in these areas. We choose to be part of the process because we recognize that we are part of the problem. The soldiers’ sincerity to be part of the solution is demonstrated by their active participation in these community processes that rebuild war-torn areas and strengthen institutions.

As I have often said, the traditional military solution – warfighting - is not always the best solution to whatever mission the Filipino soldier confronts today. The complexity of the Mindanao environment requires that

alternatives to starting a war or fanning the flames of one must be found. Community engagement breaks down the biases people hold of the soldiers; at the same time it introduces the soldiers to see how our people live, what they really want and how the military organization could help them.

I tell my soldiers, “Kausapin natin sila.” Only by talking to them can we have a better sense of how we can serve our people best.

We have come to recognize that the soldiers need to take active part in the efforts of the various institutions and organizations that come together to find solutions that address the needs of the people. In the long run, this strategic collaboration is to prepare our troops for their support role in that hoped for future when our peaceful communities would be concerned only with development.

Peace is more than just the absence of war. Peace requires the absence of injustice in all its forms. We commit therefore to be part of the process that would allow the equitable distribution of resources – by cooperating to turn up duplication of development efforts and helping networks identify where aid is needed and how to get it there. And insofar as community grievances about military conduct are concerned, we commit to help the agencies and organizations that have oversight over our units to be able to comply with their respective mandates by directing our soldiers to cooperate with legitimate and reasonable investigations and inquiries. We shall also protect the media whose mandate is critical in ensuring that our AFP shall be transparent, professional, and free of corruption.

These are not tall orders, given the paradigm shift that would allow us to help push Mindanao over that hump. We pledge that we will only define what soldiers of the people are supposed to do. We have gone past reckoning military gains in terms of body counts or firearms recovered. We now focus on peace, development and inter-agency collaboration, and we will pursue these ends with the utmost professionalism that would make our people proud.

Lt. Gen. Raymundo B. Ferrer has spent several years of his military career in Mindanao. He served as chief of the 6th Infantry Division in Maguindanao before his transfer to Davao City as chief of the Eastern Mindanao Command on January 25, 2009. He administered martial law in Maguindanao following the Ampatuan Massacre. Last November 19, he assumed the post of chief of the Western Mindanao Command based in zamboanga City. Ferrer has received several awards for his peace building efforts.


WE are all sTakEhOLdERs ofPEacE

By Karl M. Gaspar CSsR IN ILIGAN CITY

WE are all sTakEhOLdERs ofPEacE

“WHY ARE YOU CONDUCTING A PEACE FORUM HERE IN OUR

SCHOOL? IN OUR CITY, THERE IS NO PEACE PROBLEM. YOU

SHOULD GO TO JOLO, BASILAN OR COTABATO WHERE THERE

IS NO PEACE AND CONDUCT YOUR PEACE FORA IN SCHOOLS

THERE!”

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Friends who heard this young college student in a Catholic school in Davao during an open forum where peace advocates spoke about the need for students’ involvement in peacebuilding activities were disappointed and quite aghast. For sure, the dots linking the words of this student, the peace situation and the peace process that aims to bring peace to Mindanao are all interconnected but how can we help the student understand why all of us Mindanawons are stakeholders of this whole peace agenda?

This is the challenge for all of us who claim to be peace advocates, whether we work in government agencies with specific marching orders from Malacañang to be actively engaged in the over-all peace strategy or with parallel civil society organizations.

Since the 1970s, various individuals, groups and institutions have done their share in waging peace in Mindanao.

From the era of the dictator Marcos (whose martial law policies fueled a big segment of the Moro rebellion in contemporary history) to the authoritarian regime of Macapagal-Arroyo (whose corrupt dealings with Moro feudal lords made possible the monstrous event such as the Ampatuan Massacre), the State’s engagements with Mindanao’s politics have not advanced the cause for a just peace in Mindanao.

Fidel Ramos’ well-meaning initiatives during his Presidency gave room for us to breathe for a while but the same sincere attempts proved to be unsustainable. As the military remains basically the tool for the State’s hegemony over its citizens and the generals take their cue from Washington rather than those on the ground in Pikit, Malabang, Isabela and Jolo, the soldiers’ priority is defined by geo-political considerations rather than the everyday concerns of local communities. This is not to negate the well-meaning intentions of those in the military who seemed to have crossed over to the side of genuine peacemakers, but they remain too few to make a major difference. Civil society organizations’ (CSOs) engagements cannot be considered major successes either. For all the sincere and heroic attempts of those in the churches, NGOs, schools, media, artists and cultural groups as well as individual peace advocates (an increasing number have offered their lives for the sake of justice and peace in Mindanao), many wonder at some indicators showing that peacebuilding efforts have had very little impact. The result of the last national elections – where Erap (ousted President Joseph Estrada) lorded it over almost all of Mindanao despite limited resources and actual man-hours of campaigning – led to a theory that one reason why Erap won in most of Mindanao was because of his total war policy (mainly targeted at Moro rebels) at the height of his power.

iNTERFAiTH DiALOgUES Since the days of the Duyog Ramadhan pioneered in the 1970s by the late Bishop Bienvenido Tudtud (now considered the father of interfaith dialogue not only in Mindanao but throughout the country, or perhaps, even the whole of Asia) to the heavily-funded events conducted by the Bishops-Ulama Forum today, the churches have also sincerely dealt with the peace agenda. At the local diocesan and parish levels, we have Catholics and Protestants – priests, pastors, religious, lay pastoral workers, grassroots lay leaders – who have reached out to the Muslims to begin and sustain interfaith dialogue.

What happened in a catechist’s forum I facilitated in a diocese in

Western Mindanao manifests how far we still are in educating our own lay pastoral agents as to what lies behind the Mindanao peace crisis. I began my input by asking what they thought was the main cause of the problem and an elderly catechist responded: Ang mga Muslim man god; ilang giilog ang atong mga yuta!” (The Muslims took away our lands!”)

My hunch is that the majority among Christian settlers still resonate with what the catechist said. Even as there are now an increasing number of Christians whose hearts and minds have been won over to the cause of peace – and, in the process, have transcended their biases and prejudices against those who have been victimized by the US-led war on terror – they are but a handful in a sea of Christians whose view of a good Muslim is a dead Muslim. Which is why among them I would prioritize intrafaith dialogue first: we need to mend our own fences first as we find ourselves also wracked in the fundamentalist-progressive divide in terms of the content and practice of our Christian faith. In fact, if we look closer at our own ranks, even among us Catholics, we cannot jointly and collaboratively work in the celebration of the November Week of Peace!

NgOs

One major development of the peace movement in Mindanao has been the rise of non-government organizations directly engaged in peacebuilding both at the level of regional-national-international advocacy and grassroots’ actions. Funded mainly by international funding institutions and partly from what could be accessed from government funds, these NGOs have been able to do more in the actual field of waging peace, promoting dialogue and collaboration among grassroots communities, hitting at the roots of war and responding to the needs of bakwits when war erupts than any other agents of the State and the CSO. Certainly, they are more driven with a fierce commitment than those in government service, more systematic and goal-specific than church groups, more grounded in reality than academic institutions and more able to reach into the interior than media organizations.

But again, despite their most sincere intentions, so much is still wanting in regard to maximizing their resources. Turfing remains a reality among them as funds are drying up owing to other priorities in the more depressed areas in the world. As access to funds becomes even more competitive, networking and collaborations are often thrown out the window; each going its different route and there are cases they find themselves confusing the very same community who are their beneficiaries.Schools We have thousands of educational institutions from Bongao to Basilan, Camiguin to Cagdianao, Samal to Sarangani and across the mainland of Mindanao. We have some of the best State and Catholic colleges and universities with their research and publication offices, campus ministries and outreach programs. However, as many schools – many of whom have adjacent Moro and Lumad communities as neighbours - still operate as ghettoes in their own localities, their connections to outside peace groups remain limited. Even among their ranks – despite being members of the same organizations that serve as networks – there is still so much that needs to be done to get them to share resources for greater impact. Whatever peace weeks are organized in campus have as much value to Mindanao as the Linggo ng Wika.

But these divisions cut across other sectors. The Moro and Lumad peace advocates, agencies and organizations are also confronted with


problems of getting their act together. There is weak leadership at the regional level for most of the people’s organizations themselves, except perhaps for the MILF (although time and again we do sense some cracks at the leadership level if one is to read between the lines of the communiqués that are released from the battlefield). Among the indigenous peoples, there is such a yawning need for them to speak with one voice as there are some of their leaders who are tribal dealers on one hand and others who are subjugated within various revolutionary commands.

HOW CAN WE LOSE? So much still needs to be done to effect peace.

We are not wanting in terms of talk and exhortations. If words can lead to miracles, Mindanawons now would be living in a land where peace reigns supreme, where we could embrace each other as brothers and sisters despite our differences in class, ethnicity, culture and faith traditions. We could get on with our lives and carve a future that will make our children and their children live in a land where there is peace, harmony, mutuality and solidarity.

The Aquino administration has all its paid personnel talking about Mindanao’s peace agenda. Recently, Secretary Ging Deles spoke at the Mindanao Media Summit. Among other things, she posited: “ It is the intent of this government to ensure that when it makes its exit in 2016, there shall be no ongoing armed conflict left for it to hand over for the next administration to settle. Peace negotiations and completed implementation of signed peace agreements with existing armed opposition groups is one track. A complementary track is, however, necessary to pursue good governance and development in conflict-affected areas... (T)he government shall seek to close the gap between what happens on the negotiating table and what happens in the communities affected by armed conflict.”

The Catholic Church through the Statement of 14th Mindanao-Sulu Pastoral Conference held in Digos City on October 18 to 22 says it “condemns all activities of violence, hatred, vengeance, bloodshed perpetuated by individuals, groups and institutions to right what may be wrong” and firmly resolved “to strengthen our dedication and commitment to deepen education and formation of our families, communities, parishes, Local Churches” in the “promotion of the culture of peace” as well as “undertake concrete measures like peace campaigns in all churches, BECs, parish groups, Catholic schools” and “strengthen interfaith and inter-religious dialogue for the cause of peace”.

NGOs, schools, media and other groups, have also made their own commitments to parallel the efforts of the State in working towards a successful new round of peace talks and to contribute towards sustainable peace efforts.

WALk THE TALk

We all need to walk the talk. But this is easier said than done. We have to start somewhere. Naturally, we have expectations from the State as Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino and his party promised during their campaign that they would deliver in terms of the urgent peace agenda for Mindanao.

On October 21, 2010, the President signed Memorandum Order No. 6 “directing the Formulation of the National Security Policy and National

Security Strategy for 2010-2016” which directs the National Security Adviser to spearhead this effort, “in coordination with all concerned departments, agencies and instrumentalities of the government including government-owned and controlled corporations and regional offices” and stipulates that “all sectors of society, both government and non-government, are enjoined to participate in this national endeavour in order to arrive at a national consensus on our development objectives and national security policies.”

One hopes this will come to pass not just on the level of talk. President Aquino has highlighted the need for voluntarism among ordinary citizens. In Mindanao, one would think that voluntarism could be mobilized for peacebuilding purposes. But the State so far, instead of “hitting the ground running,” continues to take a long time to mobilize the possibilities of a specific form of people power, thereby suggesting a lack of political will in getting the citizenry, which constitutes the big chunk of stakeholders in Mindanao, engaged. The recent problems that Sec. Deles faced in Congress should alert her to taking a more pro-active role in a more dynamic peace process that brings in the stakeholders’ participation not only of the few elite who are named in specific high-profile positions. How Malacañang deals with the Mindanao Development Authority can also indicate the much needed dynamism in facilitating such a process.

CSOs will have to find a more creative role in this whole process, too, that is facilitative towards setting up linkages and collaborations. There is need to deal with the leadership gap in the CSO circle. An urgent need to effect a broader coalition with Mindanawon CSO leaders who have a track record in delivering what they promise is so much needed. The churches must not remain within a parochical perspective and a mindset easily satisfied in coming out with wonderful statements but get on board the CSO’s bandwagon to serve as the pressure group that the State and armed groups need to get their peace negotiations’ act going.

To remain in the same mode as we have been these past years is to condemn us to repeating the same mistakes. More time and resources wasted, more individual efforts that cannot go a long way, more walls erected to divide us than bridges to connect us will all lead us to a darker place in the Mindanawon landscape in the future.

Embracing the young college student into our hearts, we peace advocates should be able to convince her that as a Mindanawon, she is a stakeholder to the fulfilment of her ancestors’ wish, namely, to live in a land where peace is not just in the hearts of peoples but in their relationships with each other no matter the differences, in the structures of their everyday life, within the institutions governing their conduct as human beings and the cosmic world where hopes turn into mystic dreams. And that being a stakeholder, she should do her part because right under her nose is the location for peacebuilding.

If today we fail to bring her into this circle of hope that generates positive energy inspiring her to join others to do something for peace, the generations after her will ask another question in their own time: “Why have you left us with a legacy that remains only a dream?”

Redemptorist Brother Karl Gaspar is author of several books, among them “To be poor and obscure,” and “Mystic Wanderers in the Land of Perpetual Departures. His new book, “The Masses are Messiah: Contemplating the Filipino Soul” will be launched December 10 in Davao City and on December 13 at the Titus Brandsma Center in Quezon City.


1st Jose Aquino II 2nd Angelica M. Amante Lone Ma. Valentina G. Plaza

Lone Hadjiman S. Hattaman-Salliman

1st Jess Paras 2nd Florencio, Jr. Flores 3rd Jose Ma. zubiri III Lone Pedro P. Romualdo 1st Maria Carmen zamora-Apsay 2nd Rommel C. Amatong

1st Antonio Rafael G. del Rosario 2nd Antonio F. Lagdameo, Jr.

1st Marc Douglas Cagas IV 2nd Franklin P. Bautista

1st Nelson L. Dayanghirang 2nd Thelma z. Almario

1st Imelda Q. Dimaporo 2nd Fatima Aliah Q. Dimaporo

1st Salic B. Dumarpa 2nd Pangalian Balindong

1st Bai Sandra M. Sema 2nd Simeon A. Datumanong

1st Jorge T. Almonte 2nd

1st Peter M. Unabia 2nd Yevgeny Vicente B. Emano

1st Jesus N. Sacdalan 2nd Nancy A. Catamco

Lone Emmanuel D. Pacquiao

1st Pedro B. Acharon, Jr. 2nd Daisy Avance-Fuentes

1st Raden C. Sakaluran 2nd Arnulfo F. Go

1st Tupay Loong 2nd Nur-ana I. Sahidulla

1st Francisco T. Matugas 2nd Guillermo A. Romarate, Jr.

1st Philip A. Pichay 2nd Florencio C. Garay

Lone Nur G. Jaafar

1st Seth F. Jalosjos 2nd Rosendo S. Labadlabad 3rd Cesar G. Jalosjos

1st Victor J. Yu 2nd Aurora E. Cerilles

1st Jonathan C. Yambao 2nd Romeo M. Jalosjos, Jr.

Erlpe John Amante

Adolph Edward G. Plaza

Jum Akbar Alex Calingasan

Jurdin Jesus Romualdo Arturo Uy

Rodolfo G. Del Rosario

Douglas Cagas

Corazon Malanyaon

Mohammad Khalid Dimaporo

Mamintal Alonto Adiong

Esmael Mangudadatu

Herminia D. Ramiro

Oscar S. Moreno

Emmylou Taliño-Mendoza

Miguel Rene A. Dominguez

Arthur Pingoy, Jr.

Suharto T. Mangudadatu

Abdusakur Tan

Sol Matugas

Johnny Ty Pimentel

Sadikul Sahali

Rolando Yebes

Antonio Cerilles

Rommel A. Jalosjos

Agusan del Norte

Agusan del Sur

Basilan

Bukidnon

Camiguin

Compostela Valley

Davao del Norte

Davao del Sur

Davao Oriental

Lanao del Norte

Lanao del Sur

Maguindanao

Misamis Occidental

Misamis Oriental

North Cotabato

Sarangani

South Cotabato

Sultan kudarat

Sulu

Surigao del Norte

Surigao del Sur

Tawi-tawi

Zamboanga del Norte

Zamboanga del Sur

Zamboanga Sibugay

PROViNCiAL REPRESENTATiVES

Province District

PROViNCiAL gOVERNORS

MINDANAO’s ELECTED 2010-2013


CiTY REPRESENTATiVES

City District

Cagayan de Oro

Davao City

Iligan City

zamboanga City

1st Jose Benjamin A. Benaldo 2nd Rufus B. Rodriguez

1st Karlo Alexei B. Nograles 2nd Mylene J. Garcia 3rd Isidro Ungab

Lone Vicente F. Belmonte, Jr.

1st Maria Isabelle L. Climaco 2nd Erico Basilio A. Fabian

Bislig Librado C. NavarroButuan Ferdinand J. AmanteCagayan de Oro Vicente Y. EmanoCotabato Japal J. Guiani, Jr.Dapitan Dominador G. JalosjosDavao Sara z. DuterteDigos Joseph PenasDipolog Evelyn UyGeneral Santos Darlene Antonino-CustodioGingoog Ruth D. GuingonaIligan Lawrence CruzIsabela Cherrylyn S. AkbarIsland Garden City of Samal Aniano AntalanKidapawan Rodolfo GantuangcoKoronadal Peter B. MiguelMalaybalay Ignacio W. zubiriMarawi Fahad Panarigan SalicOroquieta Jason AlmonteOzamiz Nova Parojinog-EchavezPagadian Samuel CoPanabo Jose D. Silvosa, Sr.Surigao Ernesto T. MatugasTacurong Lino O. MontillaTagum Rey UyTangub Philip T. TanValencia Leandro Jose H. Cataratazamboanga Celso Lobregat

MINDANAO’s ELECTED 2010-2013

PH

OT

O B

Y B

OB

BY

TIM

ON

ER

A

Arlene Bag-ao (Akbayan)

Luzviminda C. Ilagan (gabriela Women’s Party)

Carol Lopez (Yacap)

Angelo Palmones (Agham)

Nonoy Piamonte (A Teacher)

Maximo Rodriguez (Abante Mindanao)

[The Supreme Court in August 2010 announced that by a vote of seven-six, with two justices taking no part, it granted the motions for reconsideration of the League of Cities of the Philippines (LCP), et al. and reinstated its November 18, 2008 decision “declaring unconstitutional the Cityhood Laws or Republic Acts (RAs) converting 16 municipalities into cities” among them six Mindanao cities: Bayugan, Cabadbaran, El Salvador. Lamitan., Mati and Tandag. In May 2010, the Supreme Court affirmed its February 2010 decision declaring unconstitutional Republic Act No. 9355 which created the province of Dinagat Island (from Surigao del Norte), for having failed to meet the required land area and population under the Local Government Code].

CiTY MAYORS

City

PARTY-LiST REPRESENTATiVES


MMindanaoEXpERIEnCEsin MOnItORInGconflict

Ever since the conflict between the government and Moro liberation groups broke out in the early 1970s, monitoring the conflict areas has been less than ideal. For that matter, data generation in any conflict area poses substantial inherent difficulties and the output can be at times tragic, other times comical.

For example, all throughout the 2008-2009 humanitarian emergency, there was a running debate as to how many really were the IDPs (Internally Displaced Persons) – how many from which village, where did they evacuate, who they are, etc. There was a huge uncertainty as to who needed food relief items, how many IDP tents had to be built. Even now, when most of the IDPs have returned, the question is how many had lost their homes and need help to rebuild them. Obviously, the perceived variance between official figures and reality was enough to sustain the debate throughout the emergency.

Second, we also often encounter in our readings the figure of 120,000 deaths resulting from the conflict. But I have been seeing this figure since the 1980s and it is still used as reference figure for the total number of deaths even in current literature. Are there no additional deaths after the 1980s?

Lastly, for year 2008 when the most recent outbreak of large-scale violence between the GRP (Government of the Republic of the Philippines) and the MILF (Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) broke out, the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao registered the lowest unemployment rate among all of the Philippines’ regions (2.7%) – lower than the economically diverse, agriculturally developed, and industrialized Southern Tagalog region.

I am recounting these as examples, as indicators that there are glaring deficiencies in data generation. Allow me to discuss some of the specific obstacles facing conflict monitoring in the Bangsamoro areas.

issuEs and chaLLEngEs Facing MOniTORing

The first issue is the geographical scope. There are a total of 3,831 barangays in 150 municipalities spread out over 13 provinces to be monitored. Many of these are far from being as accessible as Davao City. For example, it takes about four hours to traverse the 260-kilometer drive from Cotabato City to Davao. But to mediate a one-year old clan feud only 50 kilometers from Cotabato City, a mediation team had to drive for half a day through rough dirt roads in the mountains. It was not a pleasant drive.

The problem of physical access is compounded by the lack of fast means of communications. Has anyone tried placing a mobile phone call to or from Sulu, other than in its capital town of Jolo? And even in the town center of the capital town, you can also forget about faxing or e-mailing your reports. Providing monitors with hand-held radios is both costly and unwise. It is a magnet for rebels who have an even

greater tactical need for it.

Physical obstacles are not the only access issues. There are also obviously security concerns. A guy from Maguindanao may be wired enough to be able to penetrate most nook and cranny of that province. But not necessarily so if he went to other provinces. Moreso if he or she is not even a Moro.

Assuming you have found a way to reach, communicate with, or otherwise have access to any of the conflict-affected barangays, the next challenge is defining your monitoring strategy which, in turn, is determined by the object of the monitoring. Is it to monitor the incidence of violence? The number of IDPs? Homes burned? Violence between who – between the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) and BIAF (Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces)? AFP and ASG (Abu Sayyaf Group)? Rival politicians? CVOs (Civilian Volunteers Organization) and CAFGUs (Civilian Armed Forces Geographical Unit)? Do you write down a specific violent incident between the Ampatuan CVOs and the 105th Base Command of the BIAF as just another clan feud or as a proxy war between the AFP and the BIAF?

How does one classify a confrontation where you have MNLF (Moro National Liberation Front), ASG, and local PNP (Philippine National Police) on one hand, and the Philippine Marines on the other side? Still counter-insurgency? The conflict in the Bangsamoro areas is of such type that many of the incidents of violence are not necessarily between the military and the mainstream Moro liberation movement. And even when they do, you are not sure whether the military is motivated by the duty to defend the state and the other side by the resolve to fight for the right to self-determination.

Which brings me to probably the biggest challenge of monitoring in the Bangsamoro areas: for a conflict that does not even come close to the high level of violence of other internal conflicts in the world, it is certainly one of the most complex and this poses a problem in incident interpretation. Is a particular incident part of what is being monitored or not? What if it is and I didn’t write it down?

PasT and ExisTing MOniTORing MEchanisMs After the GRP and the MNLF signed the OIC (Organization of the Islamic Conference)-mediated peace agreement in 1996, a team of Indonesian monitors were deployed in Mindanao. Thus, this team enjoyed the backing of a major multilateral organization. By 2001, however, the reports that the OIC was getting was that the implementation of the agreement was going well save for a few minor problems. This minor problem, it turns out, was Misuari going back to the hills.

On the other hand, soon after they agreed to negotiate and then signed a Cessation of Hostilities Agreement in 1997, the GRP and the

By zainudin S. Malang IN COTABATO CITY

BEGINLet the


MILF constituted their respective Ceasefire Committees, primarily to coordinate their respective forces’ movements but also to monitor. But the outbreaks of fighting from 1998 onwards showed its inherent weakness. Violent encounters between their forces were almost always followed by exchanges of “they started it!”

The International Monitoring Team (IMT) of the GRP-MILF Peace Process is by far the most well-known among existing monitoring mechanisms. It enjoys the advantage of being officially recognized by both the GRP and MILF. As a third party, it could perform the role of “referee.” Further, being made up of foreign governments, its output is also accorded weight that is otherwise unavailable to non-governmental entities. Its main disadvantage though is its lack of manpower. As of last count, it has 39 monitors deployed in four field sites to cover the entire conflict-affected region.

Government agencies are also a source of data. But as the employment data and the debate about the number of IDPs cited above show, it, too, has limitations. Ditto for media sources. Never mind the national media. It is a lost cause. But how many of the ARMM (Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao) provinces’ capitals even have local newspapers? How many have locally run news broadcast services? And if they do, how many have correspondents in the interior areas where most of the violence occurs?

Each of these initiatives on their own may not be able to fill the monitoring gaps. But each does make a contribution to the awareness and understanding of the conflict. Taken collectively, they do have an impact. But obviously, as the instances I mentioned above shows, there are gaps yet to be filled.

gRassROOTs LEd and OPERaTEd MOniTORing TO FiLL in ThE gaPs

If I am correct in my assessment that there is still a lot to be done to be able to provide a reliable and comprehensive data on the conflict, then we must continue to search for additional sources of data to complement existing ones. I have always held the philosophy that residents in the conflict-affected communities is a monitoring resource that is unjustly downplayed. These residents are the first to know about any incidence of conflict. They are the ones also in the best position to interpret it. And most of all, they are the ones who have the biggest interest in reporting it.

By local we mean for example residents in Barangay Liong in Datu Piang are the ones who should monitor their areas. It is not the residents of Barangay Makir in Datu Odin Sinsuat, nor Barangay Rosary Heights in Cotabato City, much less residents of Matina, Davao City.

But tapping this resource is not just about using them as monitoring warm bodies. This risks giving them the impression that they are being exploited. As one community leader bluntly asked “are you one of those NGOs (non-governmental organizations) who come here to use us for funding purposes?”

Therefore, it is important to give them a real stake and participation in the monitoring and data generation process. For example, except for providing them with a common monitoring template, locals should be given as much autonomy in deciding such issues as deployment of monitors, trending and forecasting, etc.

This is why even in CPC (Civilian Protection Component) meetings,

I have always insisted on the presence of Moros who - per figures for the years 2000, 2003, and 2008 wars - comprise 85% of those affected by the conflict being monitored by the IMT-CPC. This is also why the MinHRAC framework for its monitoring system is as follows:CPC mandate is to “monitor, verify, and report” the parties’ compliance or non-compliance with their undertaking to protect civilians in the conflict affected areas. Its tasks are: to monitor the safety and security of civilian communities in conflict areas; to monitor that both Parties respect the sanctity of places of worship namely mosques, churches, and religious places and social institutions including schools, madaris, hospitals, and all places of civilian nature; to strengthen ownership of the peace process by supporting and empowering communities to handle conflicts at the grassroots level; to monitor acts of violence against civilians in conflict areas; to strengthen the linkages and information sharing between the IMT and the Peace Panels (Article VI, CPC Terms of Reference)

The interests of the residents in the conflict affected areas permeate the entire structure.

gOing BEyOnd MERE MOniTORing: acTiOn cEnTERs

Key to sustaining the interest of the grassroots in monitoring activities is to show that there is something in it for them and not just for those who obtain the output of their monitoring. Thus came the idea of Action Centers as a twin initiative of monitoring. For example, will action on an alert be limited to encoding it in the database? Or will it be processed further to determine the type of appropriate intervention.

For instance, the MinHRAC (Mindanao Human Rights Action Center) Secretariat, besides functioning as a recipient of alerts also functions as an action center. Depending on the nature of the incident, a specific protocol is put into action. Ceasefire violations are immediately referred to the International Monitoring Team and the Coordinating Committee for the Cessation of Hostilities, medical needs of civilians are immediately referred to partner humanitarian organizations, displacement alerts are forwarded to the DSWD (Department of Social Welfare and Development), human rights violations are referred to the Commission on Human Rights (CHR), etc.

This is probably where MinHRAC can offer something in return to the communities it monitors. MinHRAC’s membership in the Civilian Protection Component of the GRP-MILF Peace Process can give these communities a tool by which they can communicate their security concerns to the groups most responsible for having the most impact on such concerns. Further, as a sitting member of the Protection Working Group of the United Nations System and International NGOs operating in Mindanao, MinHRAC also affords them a venue by which they can convey their humanitarian needs to the agencies concerned.

Lastly, for purely human rights and legal aid concerns, then the MinHRAC itself in tandem with the Commission on Human Rights takes care of it directly. Through these modes, MinHRAC hopefully can give back something to the communities. After all, MinHRAC’s traces its origin to the grassroots and it is only appropriate that they be its first clientele.

(Lawyer zainudin S. Malang is executive director of MinHRAC, a member of the CPC of the IMT in the GRP-MILF Peace Process. This paper was presented at the World Bank Forum on Conflct Monitoring on 12 October 2010)


BEGINLet the

Twenty four hours a day, seven days a week.

When they took their oath of service on October 4 in Aleosan, North Cotabato, 30 members of the All-Women Corps in the Civilian Protection Component of the International Monitoring Team (IMT) pledged their “time, efforts, skills and talent on a 24/7 basis, to assist, accompany and defend the Constitutional and internationally guaranteed rights of Internally Displaced Persons.”

North Governor Emmylou Talino-Mendoza, who administered the oath, later said, “24/7 is not easy.”

The members, aged between 20 and 62, is the contingent of the Mindanao Peoples’ Caucus to the Malaysian-led IMT, which oversees the implementation of the 1997 general ceasefire agreement between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

In her keynote address, Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Teresita Quintos-Deles said the deployment of an all-woman contingent is “most likely the first we ever had in our history of waging peace in the country.” “I have always been optimistic that gradually and one day, we would live to see ourselves go beyond the rhetoric and witness women really move to the front and center of the peace process. Today is one such day, yet still, I am caught up in amazement of it all,” she said outside the MPC-CPC office at the old terminal site. The office was blessed after the launch.

Lawyer Mary Ann Arnado, MPC secretary-general and herself a member of the All-Women Corps, said the deployment is inspired by the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 which acknowledges the importance of the participation of women and the inclusion of gender perspectives in peace negotiations, humanitarian planning, peacekeeping operations, post-conflict peacebuilding and governance. The resolution was adopted ten years ago. Arnado said the deployment of the All-Women Contingent is also intended “to send a strong message that we mean business.”

Lisa Ugay, MPC-CPC Coordinator and also a member of the All-Women Corps, said the 30 members are from various ethnic and religious origins and from various areas in Mindanao. The youngest member is from Lanao. The IMT’s CPC is contained in an agreement signed October 27, 2009 by the government and MILF. The agreement also provides that when the IMT ceases to operate, “the civilian protection component shall remain in place and continue to perform such function.”

All-Women Peacekeepers pledge 24/7 civilian protection work

The government and MILF peace panels agreed on an initial membership of four: MPC, Mindanao Human Rights Action Center (MinHRAC), Moslem Organization of Government Officials and Professionals, Inc. (Mogop) and the Non-Violent Peace Force.

MPC has been assigned to five field sites: in Aleosan, North Cotabato; Kauswagan, Lanao del Norte; Sarangani; Sultan Kudarat and Davao. The CPC in Kauswagan was launched on November 14. MinHRAC has been assigned the field sites in Maguindanao and North Cotabato, as well as zamboanga, Basilan and Sulu, MinHRAC executive director zainuddin Malang, said.

Deles lauded the deployment of the All-Women Corps.

She said women bear more than their fair share of suffering during conflicts – “from rape and displacement, to the denial of the right to food and health care,” but women who know the price of conflict so well “are also often better equipped than men to prevent or resolve it.”

“Bilang mga nanay, unang praktis ng mga kababaihan ang pagpapalaki ng anak at pagdisiplina sa kanilang asawa. Sa pag-aayos ng di pagkakaunawaan sa kanilang mga pamilya, na ang batayan ay pagmamahal at pantay na pagtingin sa lahat, nahuhugot ng kababaihan ang kanilang kakaibang abilidad na mag-ayos ng gusot (As mothers, the first practice for women is taking care of their children and disciplining their husbands. In resolving conflicts within the family, where the basis is love and fairness for all, the women are able to draw this rare ability to resolve the conflict),” she said.

“We are brave and our courage knows no limits, whether we are monitoring or restoring a ceasefire, assisting displaced families, or negotiating terms of identity and entitlement because, in our hearts, we are fighting for the future of our children and generations yet unborn. Handa tayong ibuwis ang buhay natin para sa ating mga anak, kung kinakailangan, at sinisikap nating hilumin pati ang mga sugat na hindi nakikita ng mata. (We are ready to sacrifice our lives for our children, if necessary, and we try to heal the wounds that are unseen). Women peacemakers have insisted on programs for reconciliation and healing, in addition to sustaining communities in war-torn areas by being mothers, teachers, evacuation managers, and relief operation coordinators. At ngayon naman, bilang peacekeepers. (And now, as peacekeepers).

Arnado mayor Loreto Cabaya, Jr. welcomed the peacekeepers in the town previously known as home to vigilante groups. He later told MindaNews he hopes they will now be known as “home to peacekeepers.” (MindaNews)


By Gail Ilagan / MindaNews IN DAVAO CITY

(Gail Tan Ilagan is a clinical psychologist who teaches at the Ateneo de Davao University. She edits the Tambara, the official university journal of the ADDU, and the SAS Graduate Research Journal. She also writes a column for MindaViews, the opinion section of MindaNews)

On 28 October 2009, I sat down with six enlisted men of the Philippine Army – veterans of the 2008 pursuit operations in Central Mindanao* - to talk about their war experiences. The most senior among them - twenty years a combat soldier, most of which spent in the battlefields of Mindanao – said he did not understand the peace process, but he understands that soldiers die when the process does not lead to conclusive resolutions. He said,

“In my company, that has happened three times already. We fight and just when we are about to take the target, we are ordered to withdraw. Something happens. They talk. The politicians negotiate. The end result is that we have to walk away from a sure victory. Of course, we are happy when we have to stop fighting. But the soldiers would just go through more hardships again when these people decide to send us back. It’s like we’re cannon fodder. So I hope they make up their minds and come to legal agreements. Or if they decide to let us fight, then let us fight. Don’t recall us only to send us back. Of course, when they do that, we just have to follow.”

A year later and safely back in the confines of my home institution on 22 November 2010, I listened as Gerry, a resident of what used to be part of Tipo-tipo in Basilan, stressed that there has to be an end to these sporadic outbreaks of armed conflict that visit his town now and then and cause him to evacuate his family. I listened as an old Maranao woman cried,

“Do not send us bombs. What we need are medicine, work...”

She could not finish her sentence. Overcome with emotions, she in her face with hands and it took some minutes before she regained composure.

As if to taunt my secret guilt and shame for being a party to the academe’s exercise that would fall short to truly grasp the everyday reality of those who have to live with war and the imminent, enduring, and unpredictable threat of such in their backyard, Gerry took the mike again. He said,

“The people who talk about Basilan have never been to Basilan. They don’t know what it’s like for the people there. And why is it that when you talk about the internally displaced people in Mindanao, it seems like the displacement is only happening in Central Mindanao and Lanao?”

I have a theory why that seems to be so, Gerry, but I can’t tell it to you right now. You see, I don’t have the facts and figures that would tell me I am not just pulling out a rabbit out of my hat. Your question deserves an answer, though. And here, in these academic halls, is where indeed we are supposed to find the people who should give us the answer.

But, I can’t be in Basilan right now because I have class at 12:25pm today. Besides, in all the years that I have been teaching, I notice that they do not time the wars during the semestral break when we can go off and find the answers to the questions asked of us. In fact, we cannot be where there are wars. Too dangerous.

Professors like me who need to see what war is like do not go there as professors. They go as relief volunteers or as clinical psychologists or as MindaNews columnists. Mostly, we make do with secondhand information. We tell our students about the war and what it is like by trotting out books - like Jowel Canuday’s award winning Bakwit or Gail Ilagan’s War Wounded.

In 2005, though, some quarters in the Mindanao academe – notably the Mindanao Working Group (MWG) on Reproductive Health, Gender and Sexuality - thought it imperative to revisit the effects of the recent Mindanao wars on some conflict-affected communities that we rarely hear about – the hinterlands of Agusan and forest communities of Lanao, in zamboanga del Norte and in Basilan. The MWG is a voluntary group of individuals representing different disciplines, sectors, and organizations from the four regions of Mindanao. It had enough resources then and the network to get into

BEGINLet the

War is unwanted these conflict-affected communities and get information directly from those affected. In fact, Gerry and the old Maranao were among their respondents back then.

It has been five years since the terminal reports for those research projects were submitted, but Gerry and the old woman are still saying the same thing. This tells me that not much has been done to improve the situation where they are.

And so again, forgive me, I need to self-flagellate. Early childhood exposure to the old nuns of the Religious of the Assumption developed my outsized superego. I take the guilt of my association.

You see, when we academics engage in research, we come at it with the intention that the information we provide would be useful to some quarters in devising ways to address real problems that real people have. That the problems persist for Gerry and the old Maranao after some respectable time had lapsed – five years! - means that these research reports have done very little to influence decision makers to come to the table and stay there, and come away only when decisive resolutions have been agreed to that would mean Gerry and the old Maranao would have cause to say something else. Something more in line with hope, for instance.

Of course, I also understand why policymakers do not look to these reports for direction. Hard to read. To my knowledge, only a handful of people have read all these reports. Most would just settle for an oral presentation.

These research projects were conducted on a very tight timetable with not enough time to call in all the contextual background information, and so they don’t explain too well why war happened in these places. But war did happen in these places. Between telling the world why war happened there and asking the people who lived through it how they are doing now, I’d agree that the researchers had their priorities right.

I sympathize with my colleagues. They went to these communities not knowing what they’ll find. They were investigating a topic that not many of us could claim an expertise – human suffering, bombs falling, violent separations, human shields. We who are taught to measure social phenomena in terms of frequency counts, duration, trends, and forecasts are at a loss when faced with human misery, grief, and desperation. So finally, they gave up and let the respondents’ words speak sans theoretical framing and all those other trimmings that allow us the right to interpret someone else’s reality. Despite that, the language barrier proved difficult to surmount, too.

In the final reports, what the researchers found hardest to work with was the fact that many of the respondents did not feel it safe to own up to their sentiments. Not in so many words they said, don’t tell them I said that, don’t tell them where I am. True enough. The ambiguity translates in the final reports.

And yet, there’s no missing the conclusion to these studies: War is unwanted in these little pockets of Mindanao.

And like the 20-year veteran who had seen a lot of combat in Mindanao, the MWG researchers echo the call not only for the talks to begin, but for this to go on to its rightful conclusion.


(Palam is a Mindanawon Sudoku enthusiast who is currently a PhD candidate at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York)

By Palam

SolutionRULES:

Fill in the grid so that every

row, column, 3x3 box, and

main diagonals contains the

digits 1 through 9.

Camiguin’s Mt. Hibok-hibok and today’s phivolcs

Did You Know?


By Jose Jowel Canuday / MindaNews IN PAGALUNGAN, MAGUINDANAO

The chal lenge of knowing and count ingP

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CLUSTERED IN THE SHADOW OF A RUINED HOSPITAL BUILDING ARE HUTS MADE OF

BAMBOO AND NIPA, TYPICAL OF RURAL COMMUNITIES ELSEWHERE IN THE COUNTRY.

FROM THE STREET, THE ECHO OF SHRILL VOICES AND CANNED APPLAUSE FROM A

NOONTIME SHOW ON TELEVISION RANG THROUGH WITH ALL CLARITY, LENDING


transformed. The schools have reopened, government grounds have been refurbished, and the skeletal remains of buildings have either been abandoned anew or occupied albeit more permanently as in the case in Pagalungan.

Many, indeed, have left the evacuation sites but where they went and what happened to them perhaps marks the most ambiguous episode of this long, seemingly unceasing war in Maguindanao and its neighboring regions.

It is this ambiguity that baffles observers of internal displacement trends in Mindanao. It has also triggered an earnest debate from among humanitarian and human rights groups serving in the conflict areas on how displaced people should be identified and counted.

For instance, the Oslo-based International Displacement Monitoring Centre which has consistently gathered evacuation trends in conflict areas across the Philippines since 2000, noted that at least 20,688 families, numbering between 103,000 to 124,000 individuals remain displaced from various episodes of armed conflicts in Maguindanao as of September 20, 2010. IDMC gathers and crosschecks its displacement data from reports released by various levels of government social welfare and disaster response committees as well as of civil society organizations.

Soaring displacement records notwithstanding, the IDMC noted that assessing the most reliable figures on the number of displaced families “remains a huge challenge in Mindanao.” IDMC in its website explained that the inconsistencies were because of “frequent population movement” and the inadequate collection of information that often

an air of tranquility to a town that had been a frequent battlefield for government troops and Moro revolutionaries in the last 40 years.

In one battle seven years ago, this area lying across the west side of the sprawling grounds of the Pagalungan town hall, was a dreadful sight of human suffering with hundreds of war-ravaged evacuees squeezing for every imaginable space.

Children, the elderly, male and female adults crammed under broad but thin plastic sheets that intensified the heat from the sun’s harsh radiation and left them vulnerable to the bitter cold night or the punishing torrent of tropical rains. Instead of entertaining sounds from television, the worrying screams of starving and ailing children filled the air.

The dreary scene was repeated many times over in several other evacuation camps in Pagalungan and its neighboring towns of Datu Montawal and Sultan Kudarat in Maguindanao and Pikit, Aleosan, Kabacan, and Carmen in North Cotabato during the massive military offensive against the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in February 2003.

That year, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) recorded close to half a million people forcibly displaced from their homes, many taking shelter in public elementary or Arabic-language teaching schools, the open grounds of town halls or mosques, gymnasium, or abandoned buildings like the hospital ruins in Pagalungan.

By 2010, seven years after the war, the evacuation sites have been


leaves government without records of some of the evacuees.

In most cases, as the IDMC noted, government and international humanitarian agencies record are often replete with discrepancies but with government “generally issuing the lowest figures and sometimes describing as ‘misleading’ those provided by agencies.”

Lawyer zen Malang, head of the Mindanao Human Rights Action Center, however, suspects that recent count of evacuees especially in many parts of Maguindanao has been deliberately bloated by government officials.

Malang speculates that the manipulation may have been related to long-standing corrupt practices, which in the case of inflated evacuee figures justifies the disbursement of legally mandated calamity funds. With the money out of the local treasury, it will ultimately be easy for local government executives to use up the money irregularly, according to Malang.

Malang’s observation adds up to the other layer of complexity in describing and understanding the condition of civilian displacement in Mindanao.

IDMC tried to qualify its displacement records as in the case of its latest 20th of September update. It noted that 16,419 of the over 20,000 displaced families are actually living in evacuation centers, 3,174 families are staying in the “relocation sites” and 1,095 families are home-based or those living in the homes of other relatives.

Yet the IDMC report, nuanced as they are, may still have failed to capture a situation like that of the people in the ruins of the Pagalungan hospital.

Samira Usman, a former representative of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the National Anti-Poverty Commission, said several

evacuees indeed tried everything imaginably possible to acquire the plots they have been occupying because of the uncertainty of the security of their families in their villages of origin. This tact, in some cases, meant selling what remained of their animal farms, lands, or inherited antique items.

Usman was one of the evacuees who sought shelter at the Pagalungan hospital at the height of the 2003 war. She and her husband decided to sell an inherited farm lot in the more peaceful parts of North Cotabato to be able to buy the rights of occupying a portion of the old hospital ruins in Pagalungan.

She and her family could have transferred to that peaceful North Cotabato village but her roots and relatives have always been in Pagalungan, in particular the interior but conflict-prone Barangay Kudal.

Usman said the last thing they would trade off is kindred connection as it runs deep into their culture. In fact, most of those who sought shelter at the Pagalungan ruins were all related to her or her husband.

For Usman, what they need is some kind of a safer halfway house near the town hall so that when the next war comes to Kudal, they need not set up and live under those plastic sheets again. They will simply wait out the war, integrating it into the cycle of everyday life in a conflict zone.

Usman’s logic is not hers alone. In 2004 and 2005, representatives of evacuees in Pagalungan and Pikit petitioned the government to construct “multi-purpose” buildings in town centers which they could use in times of government and Moro rebel battles in the interior.

None of these petitions had been answered but people from the interior in Pagalungan and neighboring North Cotabato towns of Pikit, Aleosan, Carmen and Datu Montawal -- indeed buy or rent lands in


the less susceptible areas in the town centers. These were actually the evacuee practices that I observed while conducting ethnographic fieldwork among the displaced people in South-Central Mindanao in 2004 and 2005.

For evacuees who may not have the resources to purchase or rent lands in the town centers, the ideal means of living in a conflict region still means having a “home” in the interior villages and evacuation sanctuary even deeper into the interiors.

Those who may have returned to the villages actually do not exactly re-occupy their former homes or government-reconstructed houses there. Too often, they hide in the forests or behind the lush leaves of floating water lilies in the marshes at night as I noted during my seven-month fieldwork.

Usman’s father, Ismael, said that since the war began in the 1970s, he and a thousand other families have kept evacuating, returning, and finding safer sanctuaries because the wars, too, have kept subsiding and then breaking out again after some time. The elder Usman, whom I interviewed in Pagalungan for yet another time recently, said the conditions that I witnessed in the interiors of Pagalungan a few

years ago are still the same today, as they were in the past 40 years of repeated cycle of peace and armed conflicts.

The lesson here perhaps is that there is no one and easy answer to categorize the immensely varied conditions of the displaced to a manner that merely distinguishes who are evacuees, who are not, and who are no longer evacuees. Years of reporting and thickening files of displacement reports are creating a better qualified picture of the displacement situation in Mindanao but the actual status of the displaced remains ambiguous.

One thing certain in the whole issue of evacuee assessment, however, is that the conditions that kept the displaced in an ambiguous state remains very much the problem. That is the repetitious nature of the four-decade war.

Perhaps with the recognition of the repetitious and cyclical nature of Mindanao peace and conflict, the question on who must be identified as an evacuee or “returned” evacuee may best be relegated as a technical issue that suits specifically narrow administrative purpose rather than a rubric in which to determine the state of internal displacement in these areas.

Jose Jowel Canuday, a member of the Board of Directors of the Mindanao News and Information Cooperative Center (MNICC) which runs MindaNews and OUR Mindanao is completing his fieldwork for his doctoral degree on social anthropology at Oxford University. His thesis for his MA Anthropology was on the bakwits (internally displaced persons). This was eventually published by the Ateneo de Manila University Press. The book won the National Book Award for the Social Science category.


By H. Marcos C. Mordeno / MindaNews MINDANEWS

A four-hour ride from Valencia City, Bukidnon to Talaingod town in Davao del Norte early October revealed surprises as well as brought anxieties on what the future may hold for a frontier that has slowly attracted settlers who have established colonies along the dirt road that connects the two provinces. The shanties built by Lumads as well as migrants, the continuing degradation of the surrounding landscape and yes, the sight of an ageing truck loaded with logs by around a dozen men as twilight fell reminded me that we’re passing along another road to perdition. Exasperated by what I saw, I told myself to inhale the scenes along the way as they may only be thriving on borrowed time. A few years or months from now, depending on the rate of migration and pace of “development,” much of the splendor will just be a memory. These morbid thoughts preoccupied my mind as our vehicle snaked through the desolate span of largely unpaved highway, illuminated by the faint glow of a sinking sun. Many times I’d look back to catch one more glimpse of the beauty behind, only to get the eerie feeling that soon nostalgia will be the only thing that this place could offer. Imagine the Bukidnon-Davao City highway 20 years ago to get an idea of how the present-day Talaingod road looks like. Time-lapse photography would have captured the maddening pace with which migrants, speculators and the filthy rich gradually invaded the areas along or near the former logging road for agriculture, settlements and resorts. Like vultures hovering above dying preys, the same threats haunt Talaingod’s interior villages with the opening of the highway. But for whom is this highway? The answer probably lies in the presence of major economic actors that stand to profit from it. For one, it will

shorten the travel time of trucks carrying bananas and other produce from Davao del Norte to Cagayan de Oro City especially if it’s completely paved. At present, the paved portion is only around 10 percent or less. Mining firms that are eyeing to disembowel the mountains of Davao del Norte and Pantaron Range in Bukidnon will also profit much from the project. Count in the loggers too who have had made a killing even before the government built the road. Soon too, like in areas along the Bukidnon-Davao highway, urban-based wealthy individuals will start buying up lands where they will construct high-end resorts or stylish mansions which will remain idle most of the time. The only thing going against them is that the government may need a budget far bigger than expected owing to the precarious condition of the road. Most parts are prone to landslides and apparently sit on loose soil. In fact, there were portions where the pavement had cracked and started to sink. If the cracks and depressions weren’t caused by soil stability, shall we conclude that those portions weren’t built according to sound engineering practice? Last thing I heard, journalists from Davao City were toured to the Talaingod-Bukidnon road a couple of months back – but only up to the cemented portion in Talaingod. Any word from the contractor or perhaps from the Department of Public Works and Highways?

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H. Marcos C. Mordeno is editor in chief of MindaNews and associate editor of OUR Mindanao. This piece was first published under Someone Else’s Windows, the author’s column, in www.mindanews.com on October 14, 2010.

On ThE ROad . . .


By Ruby Thursday More / MindaNews IN PIKIT, NORTH COTABATO

Here in Mindanao, native delicacies have often become “landmarks” of a place especially when you are travelling by bus. In almost every town’s terminal or bus stop, a unique delicacy is being sold that distinguishes it from the rest.

You are in Davao when you see vendors peddling Durian candies in all forms and sizes. You are in Matalam when you see the Ilonggo’s Apa. And you are in Pikit when you see the complicated-looking Tinagtag.

Seeing young boys hurriedly getting on buses, lugging rolled Tinagtag and coaxing passengers to buy one is your visual cue that you have finally arrived in Pikit—a Maguindanaon-dominated town in North Cotabato which has been known in past years as a battleground between government troops and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

Although Tinagtag can also be found in other towns where Maguindanaons live, this delicacy has become synonymous to Pikit for it is in this town where you will find makers of this unique Maguindanaon treat. Inside the Pikit market, there is a row of makeshift stalls where Maguindanaon women sell Tinagtag along with other Maguindnaon delicacies like Panyalam, Kumukunsi and Dudol. On rare occasions, you can witness Kulintang makers from Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao playing their instruments as they try to sell these to market goers, enriching your Tinagtag-buying or eating experience.

Derived from the word “tagtag” which means to hit, beat or tap, Tinagtag is a famous delicacy among Maguindanaons—one of at least 10 Moro tribes living in Mindanao. It is made of ground rice and sugar, mixed with a little bit of water. The glutinous mixture is poured over a coconut shell drilled with small holes and attached to a wooden

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stick held with a rope and tied to a pole. This contraption allows the cook to distribute the mixture evenly. The mixture then drips onto a pan of boiling oil as the cook taps the stick while making a circling motion, forming a round, thin crust with the crisscrossing strips fried until golden brown. It is removed from the pan using a pair of wooden sticks and folded like tacos.

Some people like to eat Tinagtag as it is. Others like it with beverages such as coffee. But for zaynab Ampatuan, a Moro rights’ group leader, it shouldn’t just be plain coffee. “I grew up eating Tinagtag paired with my mother’s unique mixture of coffee and gata (coconut milk). It’s the perfect accompaniment,” zaynab says.

For decades, this sweet and crunchy treat has been served at celebrations only like weddings, baptismal rites, kanduli or thanksgiving and Eid’l Fitr—a feast which marks the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting. Through the years though, the traditions surrounding the preparation and serving of this food have evolved. At present, the Tinagtag is readily available in markets, carinderias or from vendors at bus terminals particularly in Pikit, North Cotabato.

Syla Kadalim, 40, who learned to cook the Tinagtag when she was a little girl recalls a story passed on to her by her elders. It is said that their ancestors believe that people with ill intentions should not be around while it is being cooked for this makes a bad-tasting and easily rancid Tinagtag.

Syla says Tinagtag can last up to about three months even without refrigeration, making it a favorite padala or pabaon of Maguindanaons to their relatives working or living abroad.

Syla, who is often hired to cook Tinagtag during weddings and the Ramadan says fewer and fewer Maguindanaons know how to actually cook it “The accessibility of the

Tinagtag does not necessarily mean that this delicacy is flourishing,” she says. “People just buy in the market, without knowing how it was cooked. The traditions and process of cooking the Tinagtag are barely passed on to the younger generation,” she adds.

Norhaimi, a resident of Barangay Buliok in Pagalungan town observes that the Tinagtag is now rarely served in celebrations like weddings.

Both Syla and Norhaimi agree that another big factor in the decline of Tinagtag-making among Maguindanaons is the rising prices of rice and sugar, the main ingredients. Majority of Maguindanaons live below the poverty line. They can barely afford these ingredients, which are also basic commodities.

“Tell me what you eat, and I’ll tell you who you are,” said the famous gastronome Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin. Indeed, food has become reflective of people’s cultures, traditions and experiences.

For the Maguindanaons, the intricate appearance of the Tinagtag seems to represent their complex history as a people and their arduous struggles to keep a hold of Mindanao as their home. Its brittleness seems to symbolize the delicate state of peace and security where they live. But on the other hand, the Tinagtag’s sweetness also represents the hope and continued happy moments in their lives despite the odds and the rare celebrations for which it was cooked.

The next time you’re in Pikit or around Maguindanao, grab a bite of the Tinagtag and get a taste of

Maguindanaon history, culture and tradition.

This story was first published in www.mindanews.com in June 2010. Ruby Thursday More is a photojournalist and part-time graphic designer based in Davao City. She recently obtained her Diploma in Photojournalism from the Asian Center for Journalism at the Ateneo de Manila University as a scholar of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation.


OncE uPOn a TiME in MindanaO

By Ting Tiongco/MindaNews IN DAVAO CITY

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and the memories of my generation


[First published in www.mindanews.com on June 15, 2008. Dr. Jose “Ting” M. Tiongco, chief executive officer of the Medical Mission Group Hospitals and Health Services Cooperative-Philippines Federation, writes a column, Child of the Sun, for MindaNews. He is author of two books, “Child of the Sun Returning” (1996) and “Surgeons Do Not Cry” (2008). The second book is available at UP bookstore, National bookstore and MindaNews]

to jam sessions in the uppity Matina district when the Twist and the Mash Potatoes replaced the Boogie. She heard the first notes of the Beatles’ ‘I want to hold your hand’ over our car radios. And she was silent witness to our adolescent desires, ambitions and heartaches and also to the frequent hormonal rages of our teens.

But people grow up, and eventually go to Manila to study. And a city gets bigger even if bridges do not. So bridges get left behind and lose their romance, just like Puff the magic dragon, his green scales. Vandals shot away the big glass spheres from the ornate lampposts that were eventually replaced with more utilitarian, if uglier and taller, steel ones. Neon lights and gaudy billboards sprang up like mushrooms overnight in the city and around the bridge. Cars and other vehicles multiplied and people seldom saw the need or had the time to walk leisurely over to the other side. Traffic piled up and soon, the old Bankerohan Bridge (nobody ever called her Generoso Bridge during my time!) was deemed inadequate for the city’s needs. So they built an ugly one beside her, just a shade higher than the old one, as if to show how antiquated and insignificant she had become.

Soon, three more spans were built across the Davao River at more strategic areas and the old Bankerohan Bridge, already suffering from comparison with the new one next to it, lost her previous prominence and became just another convenience. She got lost in the hustle and bustle of a big and strange new city that had no time for genteel late afternoon walks and pensive river gazing. When I got home from my studies in Manila and abroad, she had practically faded out of sight.

Until April 12, 2007 when she finally decided to die.

Nobody would have noticed the old lady go away, if there had not been the attendant inconvenience of added traffic to her demise.

I often braved the inch-by-inch traffic over the other bridge just to pause a bit and gaze wistfully at the bridge of my childhood as people with jack hammers slowly dismantled her, baring her innards, the steel girders and concrete pylons that sank into the water. I felt sad, watching the autopsy of an old and very dear friend.

I silently begged the engineers and the workers to reverently put her back the way she was before all the other bridges were built. I wanted them to restore her to her previous splendor and importance, alone, as the repository of the images of the childhood and adolescence of my generation.

It was a vain wish, of course. Another bridge would span the same area. It would probably still be called the Bankerohan Bridge. It would be a technically bigger and better bridge and would last longer than the old one. It would carry more people and more cars from one end to the other.

But it would not carry the memories of my generation. They are gone with the old bridge. Swept silently away by the swirling river waters. Somewhere.

I crossed the new Bankerohan Bridge today. They opened it for traffic just in time for the first day of school this year. And it was a pleasant surprise. I did not expect the Department of Public Works to finish building the bridge that fast. After all, it did take them quite a while to even dismantle the old one that finally gave up its ghost more than a year ago.

The new bridge is wider, smoother and of course a lot cleaner than the old one, with gleaming new lamp posts standing like honor guards on one side with their swords stretched out in salute. I think they carry the new sodium lamps, the kind that are more energy efficient and emit an eerie orange glow that somehow manages to color even the clouds up there in the night sky.

I felt a twinge of pain as we rode through the bridge, zooming along with the other vehicles, intent on getting to the other side. The bridge’s sides were closed, and from the car, one could no longer see the river; and hadn’t I known that I was crossing a bridge, it would have felt like I was driving through just another part of the highway.

Time was when Bankerohan Bridge was the only bridge in Davao City. You might say that the old bridge and I were practically born together. I remember as a baby that often, to help me get over a tantrum, my father would bundle me into a big black 8-cylinder Ford sedan and drive over to the new bridge, for nothing else but to blink at the bright lights from big glass spheres that housed huge incandescent bulbs sitting on the extended arms of ornate lamp posts that stood as sentinels along the sides of the bridge.

There weren’t too many cars at that time, and people actually walked across the bridge, often not just to get to the other side, because there wasn’t really much yet on the south side of the bridge; but for the sheer pleasure of walking across, savoring the lights (there weren’t any neon signs then) and pausing in the middle to gaze down at the dark river current that swirled around the concrete pylons of the bridge.

There is something that stirs romance in a bridge that is built not only for people to get across but for the crossing itself. And Bankerohan Bridge was such a bridge. Then.

As a high school student in Ateneo, I used to stay later than I should have in the Matina campus so I could slowly walk down the bridge on my way home, passing my hand over her concrete balustrades, pausing now and then and gazing at the workmen below in the river water who gathered sand in huge tin basins and dumped them on flat bottomed boats to be collected later by trucks along the banks for eventual use in city constructions.

I envied the little boys who swam along the banks and gazed in awe at the braver and more intrepid ones who climbed on the bridge and jumped with whoops of joy and bravado into the current below.

She wasn’t really a beautiful or extraordinary bridge, our Bankerohan Bridge. She spanned that part of the river between what was the only market in the city and what was then considered the boondocks on the other side. She wasn’t anything grand like the Golden Gate Bridge or romantic like the Pont Neuf or historical like the Ponte Vecchio or popular like the London Bridge. But heck, she was OUR bridge, the only one Davao had, and we were mighty proud of her. She was the bridge of my generation. She was our bridge when war erupted between the fans of Elvis Presley and Pat Boone. Later, she took us


N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 0

In Barangay Indahag of this port city, one can see row upon row of solar panels tilted towards the skies, drawing electricity from an inexhaustible source of energy: the sun.

The first solar photovoltaic power plant in the Philippines, the facility uses some 6,480 solar panels to draw one megawatt of electricity every day from the sun.

The electricity the facility gets from the sun is channeled to some 800 houses in nearby Barangay Camaman-an, also in Cagayan de Oro, where consumers use it to power their household appliances every day.

Inaugurated on Sept. 26, 2004, the facility is so successful that its owner, the Cagayan de Oro Electric Power and Light Company (Cepalco), is thinking of building a bigger facility in Villanueva town, Misamis Oriental.

“Everyday this facility produces clean, renewable energy. We are operating every day except if it rains,” Oliver Labares, Cepalco staff engineer in charge of the photovoltaic power plant, said.

The facility sits on a two-hectare land in the mountain village of Indahag. It does not need

many technical people to run it. Labares only visits it occasionally to see if the inverters are running smoothly.

But it has drawn a lot of visitors, including at least 10,000 students from nearby schools and universities, who are eager to see the potentials of renewable energy.

Cepalco built the solar power plant with a US$4.3-million grant from the Global Environmental Facility (GEF). The company provided an additional US$1.3 million as its counterpart to the grant.

Labares said they believe harnessing solar power will be the next wave in the power industry of the future.

“This facility has proven that we can successfully harness the power of the sun. We need to harness its power because our traditional source of energy, hydropower, is no longer dependable because of climate change,” he explained.

Because of its success, Labares said Cepalco is drawing up plans to build a bigger facility, a solar power plant capable of producing 60 megawatts of electricity every day.

By Froilan Gallardo / MindaNews IN CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY

He said they have already identified a site for the solar plant, a 60-hectare lot in Villanueva town, Misamis Oriental, adding Cepalco is expected to infuse US $30 million in capital investments for the new facility.

“This 60-megawatt power plant is equivalent to 30,000 barrels of oil every day. That is quite a saving in terms of fossil fuel used,” Labares told MindaNews.

He said the new solar power plant will use 60,000 new silicon solar panels.

“We are just waiting for the National Renewable Energy Board to approve the feed-in tariffs,” he said.

Feed-in tariffs were issued by the Philippine Energy Regulatory Commission to facilitate and infuse investments to the development of renewable energy in the country.

Labares said Cepalco has conducted small experiments on other renewable energy sources like wind, bio-mass and ocean thermal waves but found out that solar power is the only feasible source for Cagayan de Oro.

“For instance, we found that we need three meters of wind energy to move a wind panel but winds around Cagayan de Oro generates only an average of two meters,” he explained.

He said extracting electricity using bio-mass will only be good for the province of Bukidnon, an agriculture-based province.

Country’s first solar power plant is in CDO

MindanaO is FiRsTP

HO

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Froilan Gallardo is photo editor of MindaNews and OUR Mindanao.


Sixteen year-old Julie Kristie A. De Guzman had hoped she would make it to the 5th place so she could have that blue shirt that says “I wrote a letter to P-Noy and got this shirt.” “I think it’s cool,” she said of the shirt. But Julie didn’t just land the 5th place, she topped the “Dear P-Noy” letter-writing contest of the zamboanga City-based Voice of Mindanao (VoM) organization in August and received not just the “cool” blue shirt but also a phone, a watch, gift packs and a letter from President Benigno Simeon Aquino III or P-Noy himself (she was supposed to have an audience with the President himself in zamboanga City but P-Noy has yet to visit the city). In her three-paragraph letter to President Aquino, written in Pilipino, Julie wrote about her dreams for Mindanao. “Hindi ka man si Superman o Batman, sana’y magkaisa tayong suportahan ang pagbabago alang-alang sa bayan. Hindi man biglaan ang pagbabago, sana’y makapagsimula tayo.” (You may not be Superman or Batman, but I hope we will be one in supporting change for our country. Change may not be immediate but we hope we can start). The 16-year old freshman student of BA English, major in Creative Writing, at the University of the Philippines in Mindanao, wrote about how the mere mention of Mindanao evokes fear in the listener and how she hopes there will be understanding among Lumad, Bangsamoro and Christians. “Pangarap kong mapagmasdan ang bawat bata sa Mindanao na nakabihis-uniporme sa eskwela na bitbit ang lapis at libro. Walang mga tambay sa lansangan. Lahat nasa paaralan at may mga disenteng trabaho ang mga tao kahit hindi nakapag-aral sa kolehiyo” (I wish I’d see every child in Mindanao in school uniform, carrying pencil and books. I wish there would be no street children. I hope everyone is in school and that people have decent jobs even if they weren’t able to go to school).

“While writing it, my focus was on the message and how it will reach thousand of youth through it. I thought of it as God-given opportunity

to be able to write it. I sent my entry just before the deadline,” Julie wrote. “As I clicked the `Send’ button, I whispered a silent prayer. I never did really expect of winning the 1st place. Just the thought of it makes me nervous. I must admit that I was quite interested about having the blue shirt that says: ‘I wrote a letter to P-Noy and got this shirt.’ I think it’s cool. Haha. So I prayed that if it is in His will, being in the 5th place would be great but if I won’t get it, I set up my mind that maybe it is not meant for me. I felt really blessed when my Papa called me and told me I got the 1st place! That was amazing,” Julie added. Julie’s friend Suellen Ogena shared with her her published essay in Voice of Mindanao which she wrote in junior high. Suellen told her she received an e-mail stating that her essay was published in a book and that she was going to receive gift packs from VoM. “I thought of her as an instrument by God to inform me about the letter-writing contest. She stated the mechanics and all. I was interested about the fact that as a student, though my voice may be too little to be heard, I attempted to join in order to voice out the reality,” she said. The letter-writing contest was initiated by VoM and People Power Volunteers Center-zamboanga.

Per contest rules, the main theme for the message must be “the letter-writer’s message for P-Noy, of his/her dreams for Mindanao. The message, coming from his/her heart, may contain his/her vision in line with P-Noy’s statement during his inaugural address as Philippine President of his action plan for Mindanao.”

“Kayo ang boss ko” (You are my boss), the President had said in his inaugural address, In his inaugural address.

The contest was open to residents of Mindanao, aged 11 to 18 years old, in-school or out-of-school. A total of 104 young Mindanawons sent their letters. The members of the Board of Judges were Christian Olasiman, head,

BaTang MindanaW


Youth for NoyNoy Movement and Member of the People Power Volunteer Center-zamboanga City; Frencie Carreon, Program Head, Voice of Mindanao and Editor-in-Chief of The PhilSouth Angle; Ryan Rosauro, Secretary-General, Peace and Conflict Journalism Network and correspondent of the Philippine Daily Inquirer-Mindanao Bureau; Carolyn O. Arguillas of MindaNews and Victoria Aquino-Dee of the People Power Volunteer Center-Philippines, as chair of the Board of Judges. The winners were announced on August 20 during the 3rd anniversary of VoM in zamboanga City and their letters turned over to P-Noy on August 21, 2010, the 27th death anniversary of his father, Sen. Benigno ‘Ninoy’ Aquino.

Fifth prize winner Kenneth Varquez, 18, a sophomore in BS Civil Engineering at the Universidad zamboanga urged P-Noy to “set a good example” to the Filipino youth.

Kristel Audrey Wertle of the Ayala National High School, zamboanga City, fourth prize winner, wrote P-Noy: “Give Mindanao rationally-designed projects and programs that will uplift the recipient communities away from a continuous cycle of dependency.”

“Being your boss, I ask you to improve education and build more infrastructure for more jobs and lesser OFWs. I will never forget you saying that ‘No one shall be left behind’,” wrote Farisia H. Buhari, 15, a senior high school student at the Pilar College in zamboanga City who tied for fourth prize.

Teresa Carmela Cruz, 18, an AB Mass Communications student at the Western Mindanao State University in zamboanga City, wrote: “I really want to have peace in Mindanao.” “I have already heard the peace advocates speak about the situation in Mindanao. For me, it’s one of the priorities that you should pay attention to,” wrote Cruz, who placed third. . Mikaela Joyce C. Somera, 17, BS Mass Comm student at the Ateneo de zamboanga University had no “order” to the President but expressed her dreams of a “united Mindanao.” “I dream of a Mindanao that is one in its vision to prosper. For this thing cannot be done by one person only. It cannot be done by a few. This dream will only come true if every Mindanaoan will work together in unity for the progress of Mindanao,” said Somera, who won second place. Julie’s letter:

Dear P-Noy,

Sa pagkakaluklok mo sa pinakamataas na posisyon sa bansa, nasa ’yo ang aking tiwala. Hindi man ganoon kalakas ang tinig ko bilang ordinaryong estudyante, hayaan mong maisalaysay sa pamamagitan ng liham na ito ang mga pangarap ko bilang taga-Mindanao. Hindi ka man si Superman o Batman, sana’y magkaisa tayong suportahan ang pagbabago alang-alang sa bayan. Hindi man biglaan ang pagbabago, sana’y makapagsimula tayo.

‘Pag sinabing ‘Mindanao’, takot pa rin ang namamayani sa mga nakakarinig nito. Unti-unting natatabunan ang kagandahan nito dahil sa mga pangyayaring hanggang ngayon ay wala pa ring hustisya. Sana’y maging matiwasay ang pagsasaayos ng hindi pagkakaunawaan – mapa-Lumad man, Bangsamoro o Kristiyano. Tulungan mong maiangat ang pangalang Mindanao mula sa kanyang pagkalugmok. Tutukan din sana ng iyong gobyerno ang pagsasaayos ng mga imprastruktura para sa transportasyon, turismo at pangangalakal dito sa Mindanao sapagkat lubusan na kaming naiiwan sa pag-unlad. Pangarap kong mapagmasdan ang bawat bata sa Mindanao na nakabihis-uniporme sa eskwela na bitbit ang lapis at libro. Walang mga tambay sa lansangan. Lahat nasa paaralan at may mga disenteng trabaho ang mga tao kahit hindi nakapag-aral sa kolehiyo

Mabigyan sana ng atensyon ang mga kababayan nating walang ligtas at maayos na komunidad na tirahan. Magkaroon sana sila ng pagkakataon upang may maituring na tahanan. Pangarap kong magkaroon ng kaayusan sa daloy kalsada. Walang naghahari-harian. Lahat pantay-pantay sa karapatan. Maging ganap na malinis sana ang bawat sulok ng kalsada. Sana’y maituring na lugar para sa kalinisan ang mga lugar sa Mindanao. Mapayabong pa sana ang mga produktong likas sa Mindanao upang magsilbing pang-akit sa mga turista maging sa mga negosyante na magsisilbing daan upang mapayabong ang ekonomiya ng bansa. Sana’y magkaroon ng ngiti sa bawat labi ng taga-Mindanao ngayon at bukas. Magsilbi sanang tulay ang liham na ito upang marinig mo ang pangarap naming mga taga-Mindanao.

The President’s response to Julie:

Minamahal kong Julie, Maraming, maraming salamat sa iyong tiwala. Kasabay ng kagalakan ko sa iyong liham ay ang pagkamulat sa mabigat na responsibilidad ko sa iyo at sa lahat ng kabataang Pilipino. Umasa kang hindi ko ito babalewalain. Malinaw sa akin ang situwasyon sa Mindanao, at nagsasagawa na tayo ng mga hakbang upang solusyonan ang mga problema natin. Handa na muli tayong umupo at makipag-usap sa ngalan ng kapayapaan. Nakapila na rin ang mga proyektong nagsisiguro sa paglago ng ekonomiya, upang maabot na sa wakas ang malawak na potensyal ng Mindanao.

Julie, napakalaking tulong ng iyong tiwala at pananalig sa prosesong dinaraanan natin para isaayos ang situwasyon sa Mindanao. Magtatagumpay lamang ang anumang usapan kung alam ng mga stakeholders na tapat ang kanilang kausap. Sa tulong ng tiwala ng taumbayan, lalong lumiliwanag ang tuwid na landas tungo sa kapayapaan. Muli, maraming salamat dahil dito.

Binabati kita sa pagkapanalo mo sa inyong letter-writing contest. Magpatuloy ka sana sa iyong pagsusulat, at sa pakikilahok upang tuluyan na nating maibangon ang Pilipinas.

(OUR Mindanao welcomes contributions from young Mindanawon writers. You can send essays, features, poems, illustrations, photographs. To encourage citizen participation, we also welcome letters addressed to President Aquino, in Dear P-Noy. Email [email protected])


By Joey Ayala IN QUEzON CITY

We Don’t Need No (2 more years of)Education

I HATED SCHOOL AS A KID. MANY A MORNING I’D HAVE

TO BE DRAGGED OFF, KICKING AND SCREAMING, TO

THE CURSED HALLS OF EDUCATION AND SAMENESS/

VAGUENESS WHERE ANOTHER PERFECTLY GOOD DAY

WOULD WILT LIKE AN ANONYMOUS FLOWER IN A FLOOR-

WAX-AND-CHALK BOUQUET AT A WAKE IN HONOR OF

IRRELEVANT KNOWLEDGE.

PHO

TO

BY

BOBB

Y T

IMO

NER

A


Who cares where Tennessee is? (Not a Grade 1 boy in the Philippines in the 60s.) What the hell is a dollar? What kind of dumb name for a dog is Spot?

Then I discovered the Library. Joy! I took out one book a day for maybe a whole schoolyear, three on Fridays to see me through the weekend. Heavy on fantasy and serial adventure. Fairy tales, Wizard of Oz, Tarzan, Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew… no wonder I tend to think in English. My name wound up on the bookworm list tacked up on the library door.Today, book-buying and reading are part of my life. I get a lot out of books and have two general classifications for them: entertainment and livelihood. In actuality, however, these two overlap. When I read entertainment it informs my work, and when I read to learn and satisfy my curiosity, I am entertained.

I don’t remember learning how to read, don’t remember anyone teaching me. Maybe, as kids, we just figure it out somehow because no one can really learn anything for us – which also means that ANYONE can facilitate the learning of reading. Sure there are specialists, but the point is: you don’t need to be a Teacher with a Degree in order to facilitate learning. The first degree-holder in the world probably just invented the degree for him/herself or so that he/she would have something to sell.

But I do remember that reading, writing and storytellingwere things my PARENTS did. They had lots of books and they weren’t just for show. Also, books became an ESCAPE from school. I read through my Reading and Language textbooks way ahead of the class. Got bored the rest of the year.My grades sucked. I enjoyed reading for its own sake and luckily my folks never equated my pagkatao with my grades.

So, as far as those additional 2 looong years of more school are concerned – I feel the effort to improve Philippine Education would be better spent addressing PARENTS and EDUCATORS. Why? Because the EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM and the EXPECTATIONS of PARENTS and EDUCATORS no longer match the realities of the real world. It takes a while for institutions to adjust to reality – let’s start adjusting teaching and parenting styles before we add to school-time. Simply adding time to a system that is already found to be faulty will probably just increase our education-related problems. There’s nothing wrong with the kids.

-- o --

Many teachers complain that kids nowadays have short attention spans. Here are four ideas that might help give fresh insight into this phenomenon.

The first idea is this: given two people of different ages, the younger person experiences an amount of time as LONGER than an older person would experience the same amount of time.

If you are 5 years old, 1 year is 20% of your life. If you are 50, that same 1 year would be only 2%.Asking a 5-year old kid to sit still for 5 minutes is proportionateto asking a 50-year old to sit still for 50 minutes.Remember how, when you were in grade school, that 40-minute Math class seemed to stretch into infinity like a number line? Boooooooring . . . And now that you are much older and not necessarily wiser, doesn’t it surprise you to find that it’s suddenly

Christmas time again? Parangkailanlang…

The second idea is this: younger people have had exposure to information of a HIGHER DENSITY than older people and, thus, are used to FASTER, MORE COMPACT data-flow – think full-color, full-orchestral music with mind-boggling graphics animation and bang-bang action movies. Think computer games. Glossy hi-tech layout magazines.Instant communication via texting.

You, on the other hand, may have been thrilled by sound-only radio drama and black-and-white television. You may have actually received telegrams and letters many days or even weeks after they were sent… and you may have considered it exciting!

The third idea is this, and it has nothing to do with age: when a person is confronted with a lecture or a book or any other kind of input or experience that is irrelevant or unpleasurable or not-understandable, that person will shut it out or ignore it or fidget and look out the window or scratch certain body parts that have suddenly become irritated or get sleepy, or all-of-the-above. This is normal. Everyone does it, including teachers and parents. So, do you punish the victim of ineffective communication or do you re-think the method of a lesson’s delivery?

The fourth idea is this: because educators and parents are obviously of a generation different from the students’, the concept of WHAT IS IMPORTANT is not 100% the same. Older people will remember World War II experiences and may refer to them – younger people will think World War II in terms of Tom Hanks in Saving Private Ryan or Tom Cruise in Valkyrie. Older people might think that getting high grades and landing stable jobs are linked – younger people may have noticed that the truth is way different, that high grades just means “good at tests and exams” and “stable job” means working with horses. Mag-a-artista na lang ako. The challenge to elders is to learn what kids hold as important and to use those things as LEAD-INS TO LEARNING rather than as things to label “useless” or “frivolous” or “a waste of time”.

-- o –

The concept “Schools of/for Living Traditions (SLTs)” such the ones found in certain Mindanao villages seems to me like a step in the right direction as far as education systematizing is concerned. Grow curricula from local and specific needs and capabilities. In this way there will (theoretically) be greater harmony between students, educators, parents, and local realities. Let’s move away from the “factory mode” of thinking – the idea that school is for producing somebody’s employees.

Singer-songwriter Joey Ayala is a Mandiriwa engaged in SiningBayan - the art of nation-building. He is current Chair of the National Committee on Music under the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, Chair of the Filipino Composers’ Development Cooperative, and President of Bagong Lumad Artists Foundation, Inc. Visit www.joeyayala.com and www.blafi.org.


BOOks

“Bakwit: The Power of the Displaced,” written by MindaNews’ Jose Jowel Canuday won the National Book Award in the Social Science category of the 29th National Book Awards held November 13 at the Metropolitan Museum of Manila. The annual National Book Awards is a project of the National Book Development Board (NBDB) and the Manila Critics Circle. The other finalist in the Social Science category was “Kalusugang Pampubliko sa Kolonyal na Maynila, 1898-1918: Heographiya, Medisina, Kasaysayan” by Ronaldo B. Mactal, published by the University of the Philippines Press. Canuday is a member of the Board of Directors of the Mindanao News and Information Cooperative Center (MNICC) which runs the daily news service, MindaNews and www.mindanews.com, where he was a reporter while taking up masters in Anthropology at the Xavier University. He is a grantee of the International Fellowships Program of the Ford Foundation and has just completed his fieldwork for his doctoral degree on social anthropology at Oxford University. “Bakwit,” referring to internally displaced persons (IDPs), is a seminal scholarly analysis on the conditions of people repeatedly displaced by armed conflict in Mindanao and was based on Canuday’s thesis for his MA Anthropology.

In an e-mail from Oxford, Canuday said he hopes the recognition “sheds greater light and attention to the plight, struggle, and most importantly the historical capacity of the evacuees in the long tradition of peace and community building in Mindanao and the country.” “That is a tradition because for every war and displacement, people in war-ravaged villages work without ceasing to rebuild their homes and lives though in less perfect and limited ways. But the capacity is there demanding public recognition that they do not sit helplessly at the receiving end of aid, rehabilitation, human rights advocacy, and peace building. They are meaningful and able actors in this quest,” he wrote.

A total of 24 finalists were named in nine categories: Literary Division for fiction; Literary Criticism/Literary History: Non-Fiction Prose; Graphic Literature; Poetry; Non-literary for Professions; For Social Sciences; For Art and For Design.

Eva-Lotta E. Hedman, then Senior Research Fellow of the Refugees Studies Center, Department of International Development at the University of Oxford, now Research Fellow of the Southeast

Asia International Affairs Program of the London School of Economics and Political Science, wrote the foreword to Canuday’s book.

Hedman said “Jowel Canuday offers a timely and probing study of mga bakwit in the southern Philippines… (he) has pieced together the first serious encounter between ‘forced migration studies’ and the lived experience of displacement in the southern Philippines.” “Drawing on existing scholarship on Mindanao, Canuday revisits the process of ‘internal colonisation’ and its significance for shaping politics and society in the southern Philippines. Indeed, it is useful to recall the emergence and entrenchment of armed ‘guerilla’ groups in the southern Philippines since the early 1970s represented not simply the strength of ‘Moro’ separatist sentiments, but also the distinctive features of state formation in the archipelago, notably the comparatively early introduction of elections. Indeed, when President Ferdinand Marcos abandoned his fledgling ‘Forward Movement’ into Mindanao with the signing of the 1976 Tripoli Accords, the ensuing cessation of hostilities allowed for the (re)emergence of live-and-let-live arrangements between the AFP and the MNLF (the Moro National Liberation Front), and the incorporation of ‘rebel surrenderees’ as local mayors and governors in Muslim Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago. With the restoration of competitive elections by the 1990s, moreover, the (re)devolution of substantial powers to local elected officials, and the elaboration of a regional autonomous government in the southern Philippines had served to further blur the distinctions between rebel movements, smuggling rackets, and electoral factions in the southern Philippines, helping to preserve the prominent role of local ‘men of prowess’ at the turn of the twentieth-century’s Sulu zone.”

“In a valuable contribution to existing scholarship, Canuday directs attention to alternative narratives of history and contested memories of belonging – to state, nation and ‘place.’ Such narratives and memories, he shows, offer powerful insights into the strategies and understandings of something akin to ‘everyday forms of making do,’ in the midst of war, and through repeated rounds of displacement. While mindful of the pitfalls of ‘romanticism,’ Canuday also shares in the stories and reflections, hopes and dreams, of mga bakwit, thus reminding the reader of the extent to which ‘they’ are, in fact, ‘us’. In this sense, he has courageously proposed to show us something of the human condition through the power of the displaced in the southern Philippines,” she wrote. (MindaNews)

“Bakwit” WInS naTIOnaL BOOk aWaRD


The Masses are Messiah: Contemplating the Filipino Soul. By karl M. gaspar, CSsR Published by the Institute of Spirituality in Asia, Quezon City. Launched at J-301, Ateneo de Davao University on December 10, 2010.

This research study was conducted nationwide from Basco, Batanes to Bongao, Tawi-tawi in 2008-2010 involving all sectors of Philippine population. The study sought to find the answers to the questions: a) Is there such a thing as Filipino spirituality. b) If there is, is this a transformation-oriented spirituality that affect us at the level of the self, family, community, the nation-state and cosmic reality?

Gaspar’s latest book is the third of a trilogy that began with To be Poor and Obscure (2004) published by Ateneo de Manila University Press and Mystic Wanderers: In the Land of Perpetual Departure (2005) published by ISA. The book’s Quezon City launch is at the Titus Brandsma Center, 28 Acacia St., New Manila, Quezon City afternoon of December 13.

Voices from Sulu, A Collection of Tausug Oral Traditions, compiled and edited by Gerard Rixhon was launched December 3 at the Conference Rooms 3 and 4 of the Social Sciences Building at the Ateneo de Manila University in Quezon City.

“Political conflict and religious fundamentalism coupled with the advent of audio-visual media have made it difficult for traditional oral literature to remain in the popular consciousness, especially in Sulu. This volume is an attempt to preserve and present to a new generation some of the Tausug oral art forms that were recorded and collected over fifty years ago in the Sulu Archipelago,” a press statement from the publisher, the Ateneo de Manila University Press, said.

“The storytellers and singers then are the real authors of this volume. It contains their stories, chants, poems, proverbs, and riddles that first saw print in earlier Sulu Studies issues. (The storytellers are Mullung (Muhammad Absari Salahuddin), Saluan Panay, T. Iklali Jainal, Imam Ibbalahim, Dayang-Dayang Putli’ Nunukan, Indah Annura, Tarabasa Idji, Intan Idji, Muhan Julasman, Hatib Mama, and Panglima Adjarani Kuja’asan.) Included here as well are the contributions of H. Arlo Nimmo from his own collection of Tausug tales from the early 1960s,” it added.

Rixhon is a Belgian-born Filipino citizen who dedicated his first 20 years in the Philippines working in the Ungus Matata and Sibutu villages of Sulu and Tawi-Tawi. He founded the Notre Dame of Sibutu high school, after which he was transferred to Siasi to head the Notre Dame of Siasi high school and start a two-year normal education program. After obtaining an MA in Anthropology from the Ateneo de Manila University, he was appointed director of the Coordinated Investigation of Sulu Culture at the Notre Dame of Jolo College, Jolo, Sulu, and there began recording the oral traditions of the Sama and the Tausug. After the battle of Jolo in 1974, he left to work in various scholarship and development programs under the Ford Foundation and Winrock International.

Soldiers as Peacemakers, Peacekeepers and Peacebuilders. By Lt. Gen. Ben Dolorfino. Dolorfino, known among peace advocates as the “Gentle Giant,” retired in November as chief of the Western Mindanao Command (WesMinCom).

Limited copies of the book have been distributed by the author. The Institute of Autonomy and Governance based in Cotabato City is reprinting the book to make it accessible to more readers. The book will be off the press this December.

Dolorfino says his advocacy for peace in Mindanao “started right at the beginning of my military career thirty-nine years ago in the portals of the Philippine Military Academy.”

“As budding plebes undergoing Sum mer Camp training, we idolized our Squad Leader 1st Class Cadet Jan Erfe Muyargas, for leading us through our most trying period of abrupt transfor mation from a civilian to a military life. His sterling display of leadership evoked lasting respect and admiration from us. We witnessed him graduate, and we were glad to hear that he joined the elite Philippine Marines. Un fortunately, 2Lt Muyargas died while leading the Marines in a combat soon after his deployment in Basilan Province. Instead of the common feelings of hatred and anger among the cadets, my heart bled in search for the reasons why our fellow Filipinos have to fight in Mindanao. Are we not all Filipinos? Why do biases, hatred and animosities prevail in the heart of the people in Mindanao? Why do Muslim Filipinos prefer to call themselves ‘Moros’ and rise in arms to secede from our country? Is it because they are Muslims and we are Christians, hence, an irreconcilable religious conflict? Will fighting ever resolve the Mindanao situation? His search for answers “grew stronger as we progressed with our mil itary training in PMA.” He recalls they were “trained as warriors to fight the war in Mindanao, where many of our upperclassmen (had) perished in search of an end to the conflict.”

“The Department of Physical Education (DPE) required us to engage in combative sports during our final year to de velop the so-called “killer’s instinct”. Our military training was capped with Ranger Course, a month prior to our graduation. We romanticized on never ending tales of combat exploits of our instructors in Mindanao. However, stories of brutalities and inhumanities of unrestricted application of military force that also brought so much of sufferings to non-combatants appalled my moral and ethical senses. Are we not losing the trust of our people at the same time that

we are fighting to win the battles thereby exacerbating the problems?”

Dolorfino joined the Navy where he was “exposed to Islam under the tutelage of Commander Robert Abdurahman Bruce, a Muslim convert who was my Executive Officer aboard the Navy’s flag ship, RPS Datu Ka lantiaw (PS 76).” He narrates that he learned that “Islam is a religion for peace, tolerance and co-existence. So, why the belligerent attitude of our brother Muslim Filipinos? There must be other reasons.”


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Bo’s Coffee ClubDon A. Velez Hayes St.,

DivisoriaFree wifi

Brewberry CafeDon A. Velez Hayes and Chavez Sts.,

DivisoriaFree wifi

Coffee WorksLimketkai Center

Free wifi

COTABATO CiTY

Cafe Le SorelleParang Road

free wifi

Badens Parang Road

Free wifi

SURigAO CiTYCafé Maharlika

Near Lipata PortFree wifi

SURIGAO DEL SURSanctuary Café

National Highway, Lanuza

SouthBrews2/F NCCC Mall

McArthur Highway, Matina

Free wifi

Tata Benito’s A Whole Latte

LoveLegaspi Suites, Pelayo St.,

Free wifi

P 30 power charge for 1 hour

P 60.00 power charge for unlimited use

Tata Benito’s A Whole Latte

LoveRobinsons Cybergate, Lanang

Free wife

P 30 power charge for 1 hour

P 60 power charge for unlimited use

The Cafe MediterraneanSales St.,Free wifi

Zabadani Layered Coffee

Ponciano Street

Free wifi

gENERAL SANTOS CiTY

FagioliBrgy. Lagao

Free wifi

FagioliGround Floor KCC Mall

LagaoFree wifi

Coffee Club 101Quirino Ave.

Free wifi

Coffee Club 101Robinsons Gensan

LagaoFree wifi

Mcgregor Coffee HouseNational HighwayIn front of GenSan Doctor’s HospitalFree wifi

BlugreRobinsons GenSanLagao

Free wifi

BlugreJMP BuildingSouth Osmena StreetFree wifi

Cafe imelda Pension Alonzo Aradaza St. Free wifi

BUTUAN CiTY

Margie’s 1342 Sentro Building

J.C. AvenueFree wifi

True Brew gourmet Coffee ShopDoor 2 Acerado Ave.,J.C. Aquino Avenue

Free wifi

ZAMBOANgA CiTY

Cafe De SolPaseo del Mar

Free wifi



Date post:	28-Mar-2016
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