Pangasinan Today

Malacañang has acknowledged that there are other ways of granting Muslims in Mindanao their demand for an ancestral homeland without changing the system of government from unitary to federal. 

But Palace officials declined to discuss these alternatives while the Supreme Court is still deliberating on the initialed Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) between the Arroyo administration and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

According to abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak’s sources, the government’s peace negotiators will no longer sign the MOA-AD in the face of widespread opposition to it and questions about its constitutionality. Instead, the government will try to renegotiate it with the MILF.

The sources said the government’s peace panel first has to inform the MILF about its decision not to sign the MOA-AD, which was supposed to be done August 5 in Malaysia.

The government also has to inform the peace brokers such as the Malaysian government and the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC).

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, in her meeting Friday night with the visiting Prime Minister of Kuwait, said her government would be playing a “supporting role” and would let civil society groups iron out the problems in the peace process.

“Yes, there are political dynamics. We are working to sort them out. The government will assume a supporting role and let non-government organizations support on the peace efforts spearhead the discussions for the problematic concerns. We want to end the conflict that clearly claimed more than 120,000 lives,” she said.

Supreme Court hearing

The Supreme Court stopped the signing of the MOA-AD on August 4 in response to petitions from local government officials of North Cotabato, Zamboanga and Iligan City. They complained they were not consulted on the agreement and questioned the legality of some provisions of the MOA-AD.

The Supreme Court held oral arguments on the various petitions Friday afternoon after a closed-door, “in chamber session” with the Office of the Solicitor General and lawyers of the various petitioners. Another hearing on the oral arguments was set on August 22.

Senator Mar Roxas, who is also opposed to the MOA-AD, said the government already wants to back out of the MOA-AD. “They’re telling the justices, ‘Don’t rule on this anymore. We’re going to withdraw the MOA-AD so that there will be a renegotiation, so this will become moot and academic,” he told reporters in the Supreme Court.

Business opposes MOA-AD

In a press statement, Roxas said the business sector has “added its voice” to the various groups opposed to the MOA-AD.

He said the Makati Business Club, a forum of influential business leaders, has issued a statement opposing the MOA-AD.

The MBC statement said: “We oppose the GRP-MILF Peace Panel Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain because it is flawed in the process just as it is flawed in its provisions. What was lost in the process was any appreciation for legitimacy in a democracy that stems from winning consensus, including the consent of the governed. Many, if not all, of its provisions violate the Constitution, which strangely enough the Memorandum never mentions by name.”

The Management Association of the Philippines, another influential business association, likewise issued a statement of “grave concern on the proposed MOA with the MILF.”

“We further strongly oppose provisions in the MOA-AD granting the MILF, through the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity (BJE), exclusive ownership over the Bangsamoro homeland and removing this area from the public domain,” the MAP said in its paid newspaper advertisement.

The MOA-AD will expand the current Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao with 700 additional villages, subject to a plebiscite. Wealth generated from exploitation of natural resources, including mineral resources in the south, will be shared 75:25 in favor of the Moro government.

‘Studying possibility’

When asked Friday if the Office of the President was open to revising the MOA-AD, Press Secretary Jesus Dureza said in a press conference it was still too early to discuss possible changes since the matter is still pending before the Supreme Court.

But Dureza said Malacañang was “studying the possibility” of revising the MOA-AD.

He said Malacañang would have to study the inputs from its consultations with Catholic bishops and Ulamas.

“It [inputs] will be collated first. It is premature to make an initiative while there is an oral argument [in the Supreme Court]. We are studying the possibility but we are careful not to get into what the judiciary is doing,” Dureza said.

Presidential Adviser on Political Affairs Gabriel Claudio said it would be best to wait for the decision of the Supreme Court.

“There might be something in the decision of the Supreme Court that will guide us on how to proceed with legal processes to give life to the intent of the MOA-AD,” Claudio said.

He added the government would “never run out of avenues for peace.” If one route to peace is shut, Claudio said there were other ways to consider.

“As long as there is openness on both sides and as long as there is goodwill and good faith on both sides,” Claudio said “We should not be deterred by any result of the hearings or the decision of the Supreme Court.”

Dureza said the “search for peace is constant” and that the government’s “resolve is always there” since the alternative to not getting a peace settlement is war.

He said that ever since President Arroyo assumed the presidency, she has sought to lay the “building blocks of peace in Mindanao not just for Muslims but for Lumads, Christians and Muslims.”

Peace negotiator Ret. Gen. Rodolfo Garcia told dzMM last Saturday they may have to “revisit” the MOA-AD if it is struck down by the Supreme Court.

Other critics

Aside from local government officials and leaders of the Liberal Party, even allies of the president in the House of Representatives are against the MOA-AD

According to an informal survey of Rep. Darlene Antonino-Custodio, 136 congressmen are against the MOA-AD, which is already a majority of the 238-member House of Representatives.

US Ambassador Kristie Kenney also said Friday, that the US government would not want to see a separate and independent Mindanao. “We believe that lasting peace in Mindanao should be done within the territorial integrity of the Philippines,” she said.