tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20196602471441374762024-02-06T21:28:23.555-08:00CBCS InformationThe Official Blog of the Consortium of Bangsamoro Civil Society (CBCS).webmasterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02365741235290615567noreply@blogger.comBlogger245125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2019660247144137476.post-37901228076699308812010-12-19T23:59:00.000-08:002010-12-20T00:02:47.132-08:00DECLARATION OF OPPOSITION TO THE CONSTRUCTION OF PULANGI DAM VWritten by Mike G. Kulat <br />Monday, 20 December 2010 06:29<br /> <br />We, the undersigned Civil Society Organizations and Community leaders of Moro-Indigenous Peoples gathered at Simuay, Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao, hereby declare and manifest our STRONG OPPOSITION TO THE CONSTRUCTION OF PULANGI DAM V because it will destroy our much-valued ancestral domain and heritage from our ancestors that are the foundations of our unique identity since time immemorial. <br /><br />That we hereby declare this opposition to the construction of the Pulangi Mega Dam V on the following grounds, to wit: <br />1. That construction of the Pulangi Dam V will submerge 22 barangays and communities of the Moro-Indigenous Peoples located upstream of the proposed site of the dam;<br /> <br />2. That eventually the Burial site of Apu Mamalu with all other burial grounds, the sacred places, hunting grounds, and heritage sites of both our ancestors and contemporary generations will be inundated by the Pulangi Dam V, thereby forever erasing our identity as indigenous and cultural communities;<br /><br />3. That the Pulangi Dam V construction will lead to the physical, economic, political and cultural displacement of all the Moro-Indigenous Peoples who are residents of the barangays and villages both upstream and downstream of the dam site;<br /><br />4. Thus, Pulangi Dam V will engrave and eventually end the history of harmonious relationships, peaceful co-existence and blood-brotherhood of the Menuvo and Maguindanaon tribes as both indigenous along the Pulangi stretch for so long a time in the past. <br /><br />5. That on the downstream of the proposed Pulangi Dam V, the lives and living condition of around 1,094,170 Moro, Indigenous Peoples and Settlers (*2000 Census) living in 27 municipalities in the provinces of Sultan Kudarat, North Cotabato, Maguindanao and the city of Cotabato will be adversely affected;<br /><br />6. That the Ligawasan Marsh, notwithstanding that it was declared as a “Game Refuge and Birds Sanctuary” since 1941 and as part of National Integrated Protected Areas System (NIPAS) under RA#7586, is also a repository of Moro culture and heritage;<br /><br />7. That the construction of the Pulangi Dam V will eventually destroy the Pulangi River which is the only tributary supplying water to the Ligawasan Marsh;<br /><br />8. That ruining the flow of the Pulangi River will endanger the Ligawasan Marsh of being drained thereby its significant heritage as well as economic value to the Maguindanaon tribes will be lost forever;<br /><br /><br />9. And finally, the construction of the Pulangi Dam V, when pushed through, is a blatant violation of the rights of the Moro and Indigenous Peoples affected as inscribed in both domestic and international laws such as but not limited to basic human rights laws, Bill of Rights of the Philippine Constitution, RA#7586, RA#8371 (IPRA Law), UNDRIP Declarations and other instruments.<br /><br />Now, let it be declared further, this day henceforth as the start of the symbolic revival of UNITY, BROTHERHOOD AND COOPERATION between Moro and Indigenous Peoples to relentlessly pursue all available legal and peaceful means to oppose the construction of Pulangi Dam V and other form of development aggression within our ancestral domain.<br /><br />That in pursuit of our desire to protect our identity, culture and ancestral domain, we are cognizant of the important role of “support groups” as we welcome others both within and without who sympathize with our plight as cultural minorities. <br /><br />Signed this 30th day of August 2010 at Crossing Simuay, Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao province in the Island of Mindanao, South of the Philippines.<br /><br />Signed<br /><br />DATU WILMAR ‘Bobong’ AMPUAN<br />Chairperson,NATABUK Federation Inc.<br /><br /> <br />DUMA MASCUD, AL-HAJ <br />Chairman CBCS – Kutawato Regional<br />Management Committeewebmasterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02365741235290615567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2019660247144137476.post-71792597256733466452010-12-15T19:09:00.000-08:002010-12-15T19:12:11.322-08:00STORIES OF PEACEBUILDING<strong>PEACEBUILDING: Its Contextual Application Base on Experiences</strong><br /><br /><em>[This program is undertaken under the Peacebuilding and Development Program of the Consortium of Bangsamoro Civil Society headed by Mike G. Kulat as Project Coordinator]</em><br /><br /> <br /><strong>I – Background:</strong><br /><br />The Mindanao land had been marred by war and armed conflict since the arrival of the Spaniards, Japanese and American invaders and colonial forces starting in 1521 as well as the succeeding administrations under the Philippine Government.<br /><br /> Pages of history books are not sufficient in the transcriptions of long sufferings and agonies of its people who were directly affected by this wars and conflicts.<br /><br /> In contemporary eras, during the ILAGA turmoil in the late 60s, followed by the Martial Law disarray, both governmental and non-governmental records varies from one hundred sixty thousand (160, 000) to two hundred forty thousand (240, 000) lives were either lost or died, maimed and or missing as a consequence of armed confrontations, massacres, tortures and summary killings. Moreover, there was no record of exact figure of displacements; however we can safely conclude that 90% of the Native Inhabitants of Mindanao had a taste of abandoning their homelands including some Settlers in the epicenters and immediate peripheries of war areas. <br /><br /> These conflicts dragged on to wars between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) in 1973 that lasted until late 1976 when the MNLF signed the Tripoli Agreement that lead to the GRP-MNLF Final Peace Agreement after twenty years (September 2, 1996).<br /><br /> The struggle of the Bangsamoro for freedom and right to self-determination was continued on by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) that sow wider armed confrontations and more serious impacts on the lives of the civilians. Notable among these wars were the 1997 MALMAR war, the 2000 all-Out War of ERAP administration that displaced more than 740,000 individuals and the 2003 “Buliok War or All-Out Military Offensive’ of the Arroyo Administration that displaced more than 203,000 civilians and the death of one hundred seventeen (117) mostly children, women and elders in different evacuation centers. The account of deaths of non-combatants in evacuation center had been recorded coming from the municipalities of Pikit, North Cotabato and Pagalungan and Datu Montawal in Maguindanao province, excluding those in Lanao and Zamboanga del Sur provinces where the war escalated.<br /><br /> In all of the above miseries, notwithstanding unaccounted damages to billions and billions of properties every time war erupts. More importantly, these wars happened despite of the 1996 GRP-MNLF Final Peace Agreement and the emplacement of the Agreement on General Cessation of Hostilities signed between the GRP and MILF Representatives on July 18, 1997 at Cagayan de Oro City. <br /><br /> As a result of these unending wars, countless efforts on the ground had been initiated by both governmental and non-governmental agencies, international, national and local entities in order to appease the sad plight of the civilians. They endeavored in terms of peace and development programs in conflict-affected areas.<br /><br /> These gave birth to the flooding of peace and development theories, frameworks and strategies mostly patterned from outside settings and from different parts of the world and or designed by people outside of conflict-affected areas of Mindanao. More often, as a consequence, it did not cater to the needs and problem of the people rather add confusion to the already messy situation. Of course, we admit that different endeavors had their short term impact; nevertheless, it brings about demobilization and reintegration of communities’ own systems rather than strengthening and harnessing values, cultures and indigenous systems of the affected communities.<br /><br /> The efforts, social and physical assistance, peace and developmental works usually had been confined at the war epicenters. Unknown to the many is the continuing sufferings of great numbers of IDPs out side of war epicenters or as peripheral effects of war. This was the situation in the remote villages or communities in the boundaries of North Cotabato and Bukidnon provinces. That aside from being neglected of social and physical reconstruction, they are sustaining every big wars between Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF) into tribal or ethnic conflicts especially between the Maguindanaon and the Menuvo tribes in the area.<br /><br /> It is at this juncture, the Consortium of Bangsamoro Civil Society (CBCS) ventured to start a Peacebuilding program that the communities could proudly call their own. It is a daring step but other says, “there is no harm in trying.”<br /><br /><em>[First of a Series]</em>webmasterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02365741235290615567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2019660247144137476.post-971598724007729392010-12-12T22:49:00.000-08:002010-12-12T22:54:45.460-08:00TEDURAY-LAMBANGIAN POSITION PAPER ON GRP-MILF PEACE TALKS<strong>POSITION PAPER, AGENDA AND DEMANDS OF THE NON-ISLAMIZED INDOGENOUS PEOPLES (LUMAD) OF ARMM AND PORTIONS OF SULTAN KUDARAT PROVINCE ON THE GRP – MILF NEGOTIATIONS</strong><br /><br /><em>[Editor’s note: This position paper in support to the GRP-MILF Peace Talks was formulated and signed by fifty one Officers and Council of Elders of the Organization of Teduray, Lambangian and Dulangen-Manubo Conference (OTLAC) and was conferred and affirmed by around two thousand tribal members in a general assembly held for the purpose at the Municipal Gymnasium of the Municipality of Upi, Maguindanao on November 19, 2010]</em> <br /><br />We, the Non-Islamized Indigenous Peoples (LUMAD) of Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and portion of Sultan Kudarat Province have convened our selves to formulate a Position Paper, Agenda and Demands relative to the forthcoming GRP-MILF Peace Negotiations on Bangsamoro Homeland and Bangsamoro Juridical Entity (BJE) under the new administration of the Republic of the Philippines; His Excellency President Benigno Semion Cojuangco Aquino III;<br /><br />That as indigenous inhabitants of ARMM and Sultan Kudarat Province, the issue on Bangsamoro Homeland and Bangsamoro Juridical Entity clearly and adversely affect our distinct historic rights to ancestral domains/lands and territories;<br /><br />That as indigenous peoples’ whose rights to ancestral territory and culture have been recognized, promoted and protected by the 1987 constitution, existing national statutes enacted by congress and international instruments, we strongly feel that our position will facilitate the resolution of the long decade Mindanao problems with the resumption of the GRP-MILF peace talks;<br /><br />And now, the new Administration of the Republic of the Philippines under the leadership of His Excellency President Benigno Semion Cojuangco Aquino III opens the portal to winning lasting peace in Mindanao through peace negotiations. He reiterated that the peace process is for the people and should be by all Filipinos. He enjoins every Filipinos, the general citizenry, the private sectors, the Lumads, the Moro and all stakeholders to be actively involved in the peace process. The Filipinos have long been shacked not only by violence, but also by the insecurity, cynicism and paralysis that arises from violence, he added.<br /><br />On this basis, we the Non-Islamized Indigenous Peoples (LUMAD) of ARMM and portion of Sultan Kudarat Province have agreed among ourselves to present the following as our consistent positions, agenda and demands on the GRP-MILF peace negotiations on Bangsamoro Homeland and Bangsamoro Juridical Entity. Our stand therefore on the issue of ancestral domains, resources, territory and governance stated as follows:<br /><br />A. Affirm and recognize traditional peace agreements between Apu Mamalu and Apu Tabunaway executed through the traditional PEACE PACT known as Tampuda hu Balagen, Safa, Pakang, Diyandi and other cultural processes (estimated by many scholars that took place between 1450 – 1475A.D). This incident led to the historical separations of the two brothers and their followers and then sealed with SAFA (PACT) with conditions summarized as follows: 1. Respect and recognition of one’s Territory, Systems of Self-Governance and Justice Systems; 2. The continuing and non-Limit Circulation of the means and livelihood and the sawit System or gift among communities; 3. Respect and recognition of ones customs, tradition and culture; 4. Unity against common enemy and 5. Lifetime treatment as brothers and sisters including the generations to come.<br /><br /><strong>1. On Ancestral Domains</strong><br /><br />For the moment, the Tribes had laid claims to our ancestral domains covering the estimated land area of 289,268 Hectares comprising the municipalities of Upi, South Upi, Ampatuan, Shariff Aguak, Datu Unsay, Datu Saudi, Guindulongan, Talayan, Datu Odin and Datu Blah of the province of Maguindanao and portion of Esperanza, Lebak, Bagumbayan, Senator Ninoy Aquino, Kalamansig and Palimbang of Sultan Kudarat province and portions of Cotabato City (PC-HILL- Pedro Camfilo Kolina down to Datar Selongon – ORC now Daubab – Esteros and Tamuntaka now). Note: Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA Law) RA#8371 of 1997 is not yet implemented in ARMM.<br /><br /><strong>2. On the Political Territory</strong><br /><br />Consistent with our principle of peaceful co-existence, we recognize and support a broader territory for the Bangsa Moro shall recognized the Teduray, Lambangian and Dulangan Manubo territory within the Bangsa Moro Nation. It is also the desire of the tribes stated above to be at liberty to practice and promote our cultural identity by way of actual implementation of tribal and customary laws through the commonly accepted Tribal Governance.<br /><br /><strong>3. On the Resources</strong><br /><br />The rights of the Teduray, Lambangian and Dulangan Manubo Tribes in matters of the exploration, exploitation and Use of natural resources that maybe found within our ancestral domains shall be upheld and respected for the purpose of ensuring ecological, environment protection and the conservation measures pursuant to national and customary laws. The tribes shall have priority rights in the utilization and management of all numeral resources to include strategic minerals and forestry resources.<br /><br /><strong>4. On Governance</strong><br /><br />As earlier stated, the Tribes shall conform to any type or form of governance that maybe agreed upon and mutually adopted, hence its is also the desire of the Tribes to have equal opportunities and representation in all levels of governance from local to the regional level, side by side with our Muslim brothers and sisters. Provided, that in the territory identified by the Tribes their rights to rule and govern must be pursued, implemented, recognized and respected vis-à-vis their Bangsa Moro Nation. In the case of Federal System, our Tribal Based Self-Governance shall converge with other Tribal Based Self-Governance outside ARMM to form a single state.<br /><br /><strong>5. Independent Indigenous Peoples’ Peace Panel – ARMM (IPPA)</strong><br /><br />Both GRP and MILF must recognize and provide technical and financial support for the creation of Independent Indigenous Peoples’ Peace Negotiating Panel as legitimate body to represent the major issues and concerns of the Indigenous Peoples/Indigenous Cultural Communities. This si a local mechanism who has the authority to talk to both parties (GRP-MILF) with regards to the above mentioned position, agenda and demands.<br /><br />B. Establish effective mechanism to promote and protect the historic rights of the Indigenous Peoples/Indigenous Cultural Communities based on Native Titles through the execution of Memorandum of Agreements/Treaties with Indigenous Peoples/Indigenous Cultural Communities.<br /><br />Therefore, based on the above positions, agenda and demands, we hereby agree to support the peace talks between GRP and MILF and we call on both parties to give due attention and consideration to the above positions and demands to ensure that our distinct rights are recognized and respected.<br /><br /><strong>CONCLUSION</strong><br /><br />We fully recognize and respect the existence of our Maguindanao brothers and sisters in their owned identified territory and those that are lawfully resettled in our own communities. On this basis, WE AFFIRM our strong commitment to the Apu Mamalu and Apu Tabunaway PEACE PACT and formulate guidelines on setting modern conflicts between the Non-Islamized Indigenous Peoples (Lumad) in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and in the portion of Sultan Kudarat Province not only in our areas cluster but throughout Mindanao. Our position paper, agenda and demands is an expression of our serious support to the forthcoming peace negotiations of the GRP and MILF until its conclusion. This position is an expression of our active participation on the ground level to be considered in the process of the negotiation.<br /><br />And above all, WE PRAY that any political decisions for political change the application of the statutes must not above and beyond human beings. Any use of the laws should not divorce from its social context.webmasterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02365741235290615567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2019660247144137476.post-51089021680661424352010-12-09T18:21:00.000-08:002010-12-09T18:24:49.872-08:00BISDAK BIKERS TOURED VISAYAS-MINDANAO FOR PEACE<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcKYsf_eTtYS7ygrlmaS1WKNghhzF3SGI9-D-uQvHtlv2VtPs1GFymiKvwqyjYM__9WUYMqEhhDSYJfGFKheOzwprwY81bjpqMo7fFr35fFMCZLEdq2uF9dl2PpC6RAPjsm65sUNCQ87hO/s1600/dsc_0068.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 269px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcKYsf_eTtYS7ygrlmaS1WKNghhzF3SGI9-D-uQvHtlv2VtPs1GFymiKvwqyjYM__9WUYMqEhhDSYJfGFKheOzwprwY81bjpqMo7fFr35fFMCZLEdq2uF9dl2PpC6RAPjsm65sUNCQ87hO/s400/dsc_0068.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5548873866248118850" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvsGejQR_OrjoInpKju8SMbxStaHnAFdYX1Kge033jrHYLfJp9qosVdQNkQ2EU5n7X9GseviMonK9aFR8Iswb8cE62QSHX4_2OfnsY1SOSDkxX13WDdZdJmk9Jo0potKAfKqIp2XMno-eA/s1600/dsc_0016.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 265px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvsGejQR_OrjoInpKju8SMbxStaHnAFdYX1Kge033jrHYLfJp9qosVdQNkQ2EU5n7X9GseviMonK9aFR8Iswb8cE62QSHX4_2OfnsY1SOSDkxX13WDdZdJmk9Jo0potKAfKqIp2XMno-eA/s400/dsc_0016.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5548873570659376450" /></a><br />Fifty seven members of BISDAK Bikers for Peace from Bohol in Visayas Island just completed their tour to different areas of Mindanao with a theme: “Ride for Peace and Solidarity for Mindanao”. which started on November 28 and ended on December 6, 2010. BISDAK is an acronym for Bisayang Dako alang sa Kalinaw – an organization of Boholano Bikers who endeavored to extend their share of building peace as well as build bridge of understanding between the people of Visayas and Mindanao.<br /><br />The Bikers traversed the route from Bohol, Agusan del Norte, Agusan del Sur, Compostela Valley, Davao del Norte, Bukidnon, Cotabato province, Cotabato City, Maguidanaop, Davao del Sur Davao City and back to Bohol. During their travel there are selected areas where they were hosted by different groups where brief forum for peace was undertaken for the orientation of the objectives of their tour as well as their intent to be in solidarity for a quest for peace of the people of Mindanao. This is their own contribution too to a week long celebration of the “Mindanao Week of Peace” which is being commemorated by peace advocates in Mindanao every year. The endeavor was initiated by Initiatives for International Dialogue (IID) under its “Right to Self-Determination Program” headed by Jude Cabusao as Program Officer.<br /> <br />On December 4, the Bikers was invited and hosted by the Consortium of Bangsamoro Civil Society (CBCS) in Cotabato City where they were briefed by its Secretary General in the person of Sammy Maulana on the Mindanao situation especially on the context of Bangsamoro and the peace process followed by interactive discussions where substantial issues related to the negotiation and the urgency of needs of the people of Mindanao to resolve the centuries old Bangsamoro Quest for Self-Determination that crafted the Bikers’ “Manifesto for Peace”. <br /><br />Peace Manifesto<br /><br />We All Must Contribute to Building Peace<br />Peace begins in each of us. Start with a sincere discernment as to what we truly value that will create goodwill and understanding. Carry on by making concrete efforts that will help promote meaningful solidarity within, among and between diverse communities. Continue by solving the causes of enmity between individuals and among the people.<br />We bike for peace because we believe that we can do something for peace. Every sweat we shed, the pain we endure, the cold and rain and searing heat that freeze and burn our skin serve to remind us of the pain and sadness that continue to plague the peoples of Mindanao.<br />Love. Respect. Understanding. Solidarity. Learn from the past. Justice. These are our individual messages to the peoples of Mindanao.<br />Jobs and livelihood for all people. End discrimination. Continue the peace process and achieve a peaceful settlement of the armed conflict not only in Mindanao but also in the whole country. These are our messages to the Government of the Republic of the Philippines, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the National Democratic Frontwebmasterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02365741235290615567noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2019660247144137476.post-39260432432360834502010-11-16T23:20:00.000-08:002010-11-16T23:21:39.748-08:00MASS RALLY FOR JUSTICE AND PEACE CONDUCTEDritten by Mike G. Kulat <br />Thursday, 11 November 2010 03:37<br /> <br />More than twenty thousand Bangsamoro inhabitants staged mass rally at the Cotabato – Davao – Lanao national highways junction in Crossing Simuay, Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao Saturday, November 6, 2010.<br /><br />The mobilization was spearheaded by the Mindanao Alliance for Peace (MAP) of which the Consortium of Bangsamoro Civil Society (CBCS) is a member-convener. The bulk of the participants came from Cotabato City and nearby municipalities of Maguindanao and North Cotabato. The affair was aired over radio station DXMY in Cotabato City as complement from the block-time radio program of CBCS.<br /><br />Summing up from the messages of various resource speakers, the public gathering was triggered by the growing concerns of the Moro civil society organizations and the Bangsamoro as whole of ever deteriorating peace and order condition and insecurity of civilians brought about by spate of bombings, killings and consequently arbitrary arrests perpetrated by government authorities.<br /><br />One youth Moro leader Datuan Magon called on the Aquino Government to exercise his will and make true his campaign and inaugural speech promises of “Daang matuwid tungo sa pagbabago” or commitment to solve the “situwasyon sa Mindanao” within his term. He even stressed: “Pangulong Aquino, magpakatutuo ka! Tuparin mo ang iyong pangako sa mamayan na pagbabago at ang mamayan ang iyong Boss.” This sentiment was triggered by the recent development on the national situation started by “travel advisory” of different countries of an alleged impending “terrorists” attack in the Philippines which was followed by erratic bomb explosions in some parts of Mindanao.<br /><br />These bombing incidences victimize civilians and consequently the pursuit operations being conducted by authorities against alleged perpetrators are also civilians. The scenario is not a new occurrence in the lives of Bangsamoro which they pinned hope of renewal under the Aquino regime. The latest double-blow to civilians was the one on October 21, 2010 where a bomb exploded in a Rural Transit Bus plying Cagayan – Tacurong route at Matalam, North Cotabato killing nine and wounding ten innocent civilians. Akin to the previous occurrence in manner, government authorities apprehended on October 23 five innocent Moro civilian residents of Rosary Heights 3, Cotabato City namely: (1) Abdulalim Talusob – 19 years old (2) Yasser Talusob – 24 years old (3) Alamin Samal – 42 years old and Ibrahim Alimanan – 30 years old. Samal and Alimanan are government employees of the Cooperative Development Authority and National Labor Relations Commission of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) respectively.<br /><br />On the other hand, Hadji Murshid Mascud head of the CBCS – Kutawato Regional Management Committee in an interview express his disgust over authorities’ punitive actions against civilians without the benefit of impartial investigation and due process of law. On the GRP-MILF Peace Talks, he expressed Moro civil society’s concern over the plight of the negotiation. This he said as even ranking officials of the MILF involved in the peace process which ought to be covered by Security and Immunity Guarantee under GRP-MILF Ceasefire agreement were not spared from these arbitrary arrests.<br /><br />Mascud re-echoed the general sentiment of the rally participants that at the event the annoying situation is not remedied by the government, they will issue a strong call to the leadership of the MILF to withdraw or cool-off from the GRP-MILF Peace Talks and find other venue in achieving the Bangsamoro quest for self-determination.webmasterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02365741235290615567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2019660247144137476.post-75223408892122661312010-11-16T23:17:00.000-08:002010-11-16T23:18:42.361-08:0028 DAYS TO GO28 DAYS TO GO <br />Written by admin <br />Saturday, 13 November 2010 06:58 <br /> <br />While the impasse between the Government of Philippines (GPH) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) is currently centered on the issues of "comfort levels", "proper" channels, facilitator and facilitation architecture, there is a possibility that this negotiation deadlock, if prolonged,will soon affect the situation on the ground and once this happens, the situation on the ground (not the comfort levels of negotiators ) will determine the tempo and direction of the political negotiations. From experience, once the situation on the ground unravels and hostilities begin, political negotiations will have to take a back seat.<br /><br />One of the stabilizing factors that has kept the "peace" despite the lack of significant movement in the political negotiations between the GPH and the MILF is the presence of a multinational International Monitoring Team (IMT) in Mindanao. At present, the IMT, which was deployed on February 28 this year, is composed of "39 members, 20 from Malaysia, 15 from Brunei, three from Libya and one from Japan who is focusing on development aspects." <br />Thus, in IMT records only 3 armed skirmishes between AFP and MILF in 2010, MindaNews reports that:<br /><br />"The Malaysian-led International Monitoring Team (IMT) has recorded only three armed skirmishes between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) from January to October this year, a significant drop from 110 for the same period in 2009.<br /><br />A total of 116 armed skirmishes were recorded from January to December 2009, and 222 from March to December 2008. In 2008, the highest recorded incidence was 77 in August, the month the Supreme Court issued a temporary restraining order barring the government peace panel from signing on August 5 that year, the already initialed Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD)."<br /><br />Clearly, the IMT has served both as a deterrent to hostilities and a symbol that the peace process is alive and remains to be a viable alternative to war. In fact, for most people in the conflict-affected area and even to the foot soldiers of the GPH and the MILF, the IMT is the most visible face of the peace process. The IMT as a symbol contributes an "intangible" - a sense that things are moving and that war is not imminent.<br /><br />If the impasse between the GPH and the MILF continues and no new agreement on the IMT happens, the IMT will have to go and leave Mindanao by December 8, 2010. Yes, the red date is December 8, 2010. Based on the Terms of Reference of the International Monitoring Team dated December 9, 2009, the term of the mandate of the IMT is only for 12 months:<br /><br />"8. DURATION - The term of the mandate of the IMT shall be 12 months except Civilian Protection Component (CPC) which shall remain in place and continue to perform its function should the IMT cease to operate. Extension of the term of the mandate may be considered on a year-to-year basis upon the request by both GRP and MILF."<br /><br />In order for the IMT to continue fulfilling its duties of monitoring the interim agreements on ceasefire, humanitarian, development and rehabilitation aspects, its mandate must be renewed by the parties. If no new agreement on the term of the IMT happens before December 8, 2010 then the IMT has to leave. Once the IMT leaves, what remains will be the Civilian Protection Component which is composed of the Brussels-based Nonviolent Peaceforce, MinHRAC, Mindanao Peoples Caucus and MOGOP.<br /><br />(Thw Author - Atty Bong Montessa served in the GRP-MILF Peace Talks in various capacities.Today is November 10. 28 days to go to.[ Also published at: http://bongmontesa.wordpress.com] and [kusogmindanaw] 28 days to go [Wednesday, November 10, 2010 9:54 AM – Today is November 13. 28 days to go MEANS – 25 DAYS LEFT….)webmasterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02365741235290615567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2019660247144137476.post-2461701401470988752010-11-16T23:11:00.000-08:002010-11-16T23:13:33.593-08:00CBCS KEY LEADERS EMBARKED ON “DO NO HARM” TRAININGTwenty Five key leaders of the Consortium of Bangsamoro Civil Society Organization (CBCS) just concluded its training on “Do No Harm” principles held at Estosan Garden Hotel in Cotabato City last November 9 -12, 2010. The participants were headed by no less than its Chairperson Guiamel M. Alim and the members of its Secretariat in the Central Office.<br /><br />The bulk of participants were composed of Chairmen and Regional Coordinators of CBCS Regional Management Committees (RMCs) coming from the eight Regions covering SOCSKSARGEN, Davao, Lanao, Zamboanga, Sibugay, Basilan and Sulu areas. The input and facilitation of the training was handled by Miriam Riechers, Supervisor for the Do No Harm program of the German Development Services (DED). <br /><br />The “Do No Harm” principles or framework is already proven important tools in analyzing the impact of projects especially dealing with interventions being made by International Communities in conflict-affected and related to relief assistance all over the world. But a deeper look at the framework as an “impact analysis tool” can be very useful in a wider sense. It can be an effective tool in analyzing impact of individual, group or organization decisions, project, programs or activities.<br /><br />The core-substance of Do No Harm principle is its very comprehensive “Conflict-Mapping Tools” and the analysis of “Implicit Ethical Messages” of every individual, group or organizations attitude, undertakings or programs. Through this method, one is able to identify the classification of individual or group’s acts and can be either “divider” or “connector” in a conflict situation inadvertently.<br /><br />By nature, man is born good but more often than not people or group commits error not by intention but as result of hasty decision-making or just simple neglect of other elements which are taught to be of less importance. In principle explicit attitudes or intentional can be easily detected and prevented and therefore the frameworks focus more on the implicit ones which are consequence of unintentional acts and can be considered more dangerous than former.<br /><br />Guiamel Alim, CBCS Chairperson hoped that the skills acquired by CBCS Key Leaders will be utilized and be effectively applied in every level of interventions on the ground. This he said could be a great help to lessen the burden of managing a complex organization like CBCS which is operating in a network category.webmasterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02365741235290615567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2019660247144137476.post-81891795330373932262010-11-01T21:10:00.000-07:002010-11-01T21:19:05.812-07:00GRP-MILF PEACE TALKS TRENDS UNDER THE AQUINO REGIMEGRP-MILF PEACE TALKS TRENDS UNDER THE AQUINO REGIME<br />By: Mike G. Kulat<br /><br />Resolute but Vague Start<br /><br />Summing up, the GRP-MILF Peace Talks in the first one hundred days of the Aquino Administration although a mixture of optimism and pessimism is undoubtedly cumbersome on the bright prospects of negotiation in the eyes of peace activists.<br /><br />The upheaval started when President Benigno Aquino III in his inaugural speech, the centuries old Bangsamoro Question in Mindanao earned only a sentence or so. Although the statement is typified by resoluteness to solve the problem “within his term”, it was lighten when he lumped the problem altogether as “situwasion sa Mindanao” (Mindanao situation). This was followed further by media statements that the peace talks will start after the month long fasting in Ramadhan to end in September 10, 2010.<br /><br />The matter raised public opinions that lumping together the already deep-rooted and complex Moro problem in “Mindanao situation” will exaggerate its complexity. A holistic outlook and approach of the Mindanao problem will surface the issue of Abu Sayyaf Group, the so-called terrorists such as the Jama’ah Islamiyah, Al-Qaeda and Kidnap for Ransom Groups. Along with this is the problem of impunity, the proliferation of loose firearms, rampant private armies and vigilantes under the guise of para-military in the control of politicians and the widespread poverty in Muslim Mindanao areas notwithstanding the communist insurgency. This is the predicament of the president’s statement that might drown the hope of the Bangsamoro for self-determination through the GRP-MILF Peace Talks.<br /><br />Blended Emotions<br /><br />The fading hope for the peace talks twisted positively when in early August 2010, the GRP announced the composition of their panel, remarkably with the appointment of Dean Marvic Leonen of the University of the Philippines College of Law with members composed of former Secretary Senen Bacani, UP Professor Miriam Ferrer-Coronel and later Dr. Hamid Bara and Upi vice mayor Ramon N. Piang. The bright prospect was anchored on the integrity and expertise of the new GRP Panel on both domestic, international framework and knowledge of the Bangsamoro Question.<br /><br />But the optimism for peace was quelled down when one reporter of Inquirer Mindanao interpreted in his own language the statement of MILF Chairman Al Haj Murad Ebrahim during the forum on the GRP – MILF Peace Process with the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines (FOCAP) held at Camp Darapanan in Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao on August 9, 2010. During the forum Chairman Murad with a news titled “The Only Way for the Peace Process is Forward” was quoted as saying: “It is our hope that the Moro Question and armed conflict in Mindanao will be settled 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 to carry on the great task of liberating our people from the yoke of oppression and thralldom,” in response to the question of their prospect for peace.<br /><br />Jeoffrey Maitem in his article with a title: “MILF girds for war; Aquino braces for talks” adding among others that the Moro rebels are amassing guns, undergoing trainings and prepared for war if negotiation does not resume. As natural reaction, Lt. Col. Randolph Cabangbang, spokesperson of the military’s Eastern Mindanao Command quoted in the same article to have said: “If they [MILF] are ready for war, we are also prepared to go to battle.” And, “We will not permit them to gain more guns while we have peace talks. They must show they are sincere.” Prior to this there were already pronouncements by no less than P-Noy’s Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines to defeat all ‘insurgent” in Mindanao within 2013. Pundits have it that by the word “all insurgents” to mean including the MILF. <br /><br />Sensing the sensitivity of the situation, Mindanao Development Authority Chair Jesus Dureza in reaction to the article was quoted in MindaNews in its August 14, 2010 issue to have warned: “that giving news reports a wrong ‘angle’ could compromise the outcome of peace negotiations [with the rebels]”, this he stated in his speech before editors and senior journalists in the First Northern Mindanao Media Conference in Davao City.<br /><br />Waning the Heat<br /><br />Chair of the GRP Panel Dean Marvic Leonen underpinning the early pronouncement of the government that the “negotiation will start after Ramadhan” the fasting month of the Muslims all over the world. Earlier he was quoted by MindaNews in its August 13, 2010 issue to have said, “let us make peace happen immediately.” Later in a speaking engagement to ANC, Atty Leonen further boosted the positive hope for peace by hinting that “the talks may resume even before end of Ramadhan in September 10.”<br />Reinforcing the expectations for peace is seemingly rising support expressed from notable local government unit officials and some religious leaders for early resumption of the GRP-MILF Peace Talks. Noteworthy of them was Lanao Norte Provincial Peace and Order Council Resolution headed by Governor Khalid Dimaporo urging President Benigno Aquino III to order the immediate resumption of the peace negotiation between the government and MILF. Likewise, Sarangani Governor Miguel Rene Dominguez urging the government and MILF to start the stalled talks and quoted in MindaNews in its August 12 issue to have said: “begin in earnest the resumption of the peace talks to put an end to the Mindanao conflict.” <br /><br />Marawi City Bishop Edwin Dela Pena was quoted by media in his article in news site of the Catholic Bishop Conference of the Philippines of being supportive of the GRP-MILF Peace Talks and even at the expense of changing the 1987 Constitution if only to ensure reaching a peace agreement between the government and MILF. He was further quoted to have said: “We can change some provision in the Constitution… that would be the best way to go forward." <br /><br />The above scenarios are new occurrence in the existence of the GRP-MILF Peace Talks as the local government unit officials and some Catholic Religious groups used to be the leading figures in blocking smooth flow of the negotiation or just simply heedless of the peace process in the past decade.<br /><br />Muddled Hope <br /><br />Boosting the hope for peace stakeholders are the statements pronounced by the GRP Panel Chair of the bright prospects of the GRP-MILF Talks in his various speech engagements and media outlets culled from his dealing with different sectors of society.<br /><br />The positive outlook of the GRP Panel Chair Dean Marvic Leonen is rooted on the “political will” of President Aquino to solve the problem which was absent in the Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s administration. He based his viewpoint that the president “won landslide” in the presidential race in May 2010 election and therefore have the backing of the majority Filipinos.<br /><br />Dean Leonen went on stressing in several instances that “the government will be open for the discussion of constitutional amendments if it is the demand of time.” Or “there is no problem in changing the constitution” if only to reach sustainable and concrete agreement to end the Mindanao conflict.<br /><br />However, the arena of hopes at once was extinguished by contradicting statements by key figures within the Aquino administration itself. No less than Secretary Teresita “Ging” Quintos-Deles of the Office on Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) and Aquino’s Communication head Ricky Carandang were quick to release statements that “discussions of constitutional amendments is not an agenda of the Aquino administration” and “that discussion of constitutional amendments is not priority of the Aquino administration” respectively. At the Lower House of the Congress, Representative Rodolfo Biazon threatens to sponsor legislative actions against any attempt to change the 1987 Constitution saying: “changing the constitution to accommodate any GRP-MILF Agreement is tantamount to surrendering the state to insurgents.” It should be recalled that during his stint as senator under Gloria Macapagal_Arroyo’s administration already filed Resolution No. 81 seeking to stop the GRP-MILF Peace Talks.<br /><br />Conclusion<br /><br />In conclusion, the first one hundred days of the Aquino administration dissecting at the viewpoint of the negotiation ended with a mixed optimism and pessimism characterized by rhetoric hope from the government’s peace instrumentalities and contradicting assertion of the other half coupled with provocative work of the military and police establishments on the ground.<br /><br />The only modest hope remained in this period was the formation of the MILF Panel on September 12, 2010 and the continuing struggle of the new additions to the peace talk’s structure such as the International Contact Group (ICG) and the Civilian Protection Component (CPC) of the International Monitoring Team (IMT) to carry out their mandated task. Nevertheless, they can only do that much as the source of their power and authority is from the GRP and MILF Panels which is virtually non-existent since they have not yet met nor any hope in the near future.webmasterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02365741235290615567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2019660247144137476.post-22449800000311564842010-10-14T02:18:00.000-07:002010-10-14T02:20:05.959-07:00COCOY’S PUBLIC STATEMENT*“Sige ka, magiging Cocoy ka.”*<br /><br />This line has become part of the equation to scare Human Rights workers and the people in Sulu away from the very thing that is inherent to human -- their rights. The Tausugs are being turned into a bunch of walking zombies apathetic to state abuses and pass them off as another foul meal gone into their stomachs. By making a case out of me, the Sulu local government has so far been relatively successful in their tactics to shut people’s voices from speaking out and having a take on what is right and wrong in their own community. But so long as there are Tausugs who know believe in the sanctity of Life, the government can never debauch the very purpose of its existence -- to protect its people. There’s always one out of ten souls who dare and resist to be gagged and mummed and they serve as that sliver of light all throughout our struggle. With that, i cannot say that the Voldemorts of Sulu local government are wholly successful in their attempt to silence us.<br /><br />Around at the same time today last year, my wife received my arrest warrant at our home in Jolo, Sulu. I was charged of Multiply Frustrated Murder with Use of Explosive under RA 9615 for, the warrant claims, bombing Governor Abdusakur Tan near the local provincial office in Sulu. I never had the chance to read and see it myself, i was not at home during that time. My wife called me up and told me about it in an unperturbed manner. Since then, i never got the chance to go back home and see my kids running and lounging around the house or in their schoolbags and lunchboxes going to and back<br />from school.<br /><br />I received a diarrhea of criticisms, for one, “If he is really not guilty, why doesn’t he submit to the law and come out clean?” This is precisely why i chose Human Rights advocacy to be my lifetime endeavor. In the Philippines, let alone in Sulu, the law does not work for the people to whom it is supposed to be serving. The assumption “innocent until proven guilty” has never been the case but otherwise; you are “guilty until proven innocent” and, chances are, you’d be locked away in oblivion. No way. Allowing them to get me would be unwise. I refuse to be a victim. I refuse to participate in the ridiculous and unfounded verdict of the state against me. The state needs me to justify their own lies and shamelessness.<br /><br />A year after this so-called hiding, I say this is probably both the best and worst time of my life. The life of an HR advocate is no joke. If it’s worse in the rest of Philippine regions, it’s worst to be one in Sulu. One year outside Sulu allowed me to get a good grasp of my community’s social ills. To sow chaos in the hearts and minds of Tausugs whose sole aspiration is the Right to Self-determination, the national government’s divide and rule tactic has worked quite well. Now, as non-Muslims see it, it’s Muslims against Muslims. Puppet leaders are installed to create an illusion of self-governance and oppress any hints of assertion of historical and political rights. The state is the larger enemy. The Philippine state is the womb of all sins committed against the people of Sulu which keep us broken, divided and swamped in all of these wrong intentions.<br /><br />Sulu is possibly the vaguest or most complicated thing one would ever encounter. HR workers has to battle against the damaging consequences of governance tailored to suit the vested interests of those in power -- autocracy and anarchy combined. The parasitic nature of both is out there ruining the lives of our common people. The leaders and followers are caught in a corrupted “Lord-and-Slave” mindset where the autocratic Lord sanctions the lawlessness of its followers cultivating a medieval attitude of shamelessness known to any man. As a result, everyone becomes a warlord.<br /><br />This explains the nerve of the state and its armed forces to bomb us while we’re praying during Eidl Fitr, to declare an unnecessary State of Emergency and create the Civilian Emergency Forces (CEF), to perpetrate HR violations through massacres and mass killings, to shrug gang rape off, to ignore the mushrooming of communities of drug-pushers, among others. The are no words to describe the local government of Sulu today but a huge perversion of the idea of an Islamic community. Root of the ill is simple. It is nothing more but ego, pride and politics of human relationship. One wants to rule over the other. And, at the expense of Tausug lives.<br /><br />Massacre of innocent civilians and families in Sulu hinterlands is already a common phenomenon in Sulu and why it has become so is due to the law that is selective and state that is oppressive. At the risk of being redundant, it is clear how this create terrorists in the minds of the public ,and justify wars and ultimately the bulk of national expenditure allotted to the Philippine military. Have you ever heard of massacre victims to whom justice has been served?<br /><br />During the 2009 State of Emergency, wives, mothers and daughters of victims of warrantless and random arrests came to my house and sought any form of help. I tried to negotiate with Governor Tan only to get a wild and heartless reply, “There is nothing we can do if they are poor and cannot afford lawyers.” Have you ever heard if justice has been served to these victims?<br /><br />I am not sure how many of you -- Filipinos, the national government, Philippine media -- knew about the condemnable 2009 gang rape in Sulu where it is not anymore safe for students and young girls to roam around the town even in broad daylight. And the local government has the face to tell us that there should be a news blackout on gang rape because the province is already suffering from bad image. More so, Sulu became a landfill of garbage with such a garbage attitude of local leaders. Have you ever heard of a single gang rape victim who saw her perpetrators being brought to justice?<br /><br />Answers are NO, NO and NO. The state and the media could not care any less because the victims are Muslims. And therefore no way am i gonna submit to their theatrical exercise of their law. The act of oppressing and silencing me is an act of admission that the government has an unimaginable abuses to hide.<br /><br />Why am i not in Sulu right now?<br /><br />First, I need to raise this issue into the national scale where there would be a relative application of the law otherwise i would be completely at the mercy of manipulative hands of local executive and judiciary branch whose services have a corresponding price. I cannot afford their services.<br /><br />Second, i wouldn’t want this to turn into another family feud or families against families as i have very good friends from the side of the Tans. As reprehensible the culture of family feud as it may be, there can never be any good reason to involve other family members who do not wish to be in the middle of this conflict. Every single Tausug would know the trouble of a family feud in Sulu. It is very clear that this conflict is not a personal one between me and Governor Tan as i have experienced this same kind of harrassment from previous Sulu governors. The real issue at hand is that of Tausugs being made defenseless and helpless against the state abuses.<br /><br />Third, I am obliged to share that sometime in June and July 2009 when i was invited for questioning, my families and supporters armed themselves to prevent the authorities from getting me. Schools, government offices and institutions, private establishment temporarily closed down due to the panic created by the possibility of armed conflict between the two families. The disruption of classes, official and business activities are inexcusable. It defeats my purpose of working for the betterment of my community.<br /><br />Whether we admit it or not, Sulu is down the gorge of moral decadence. In the course of the Bangsamoro people’s fight for change, divide-and-rule tactics successfully ambushed us, and not choosing to stand up again is definitely something our sons and daughters from the next generation will condemn us for. There can be no other option but for the Tausugs to unite again for we are slowly dying. We are a life gradually turning chlorotic and arid.<br /><br />It is our responsibility to fight for this right to life—a fight that I do not intend to abandon—one that gives me more reason to face the malicious charges filed against me. I am very much willing to face my accuser, but not in any of the courts in Sulu as they have already been rendered incompetent to handle my case since my accuser has virtually become the judge and executioner in my home province.<br /><br />Lastly, i would like to thank all the peacekeeping forces and organizations who ceaselessly believe in the strength of peace, understanding and unity, in the strength of Tausugs to achieve the genuine Right to Self-determination, and in the strength of possiblity that Sulu can still serve as a portion of Ummah to all the adherents of Islam.<br /><br /><br />TEMOGEN “COCOY” TULAWIE<br />Sulu Human Rights Defenderwebmasterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02365741235290615567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2019660247144137476.post-49095900309502045012010-10-12T02:15:00.000-07:002010-10-12T02:18:45.682-07:00A CALL FOR THE REALIZATION OF HUMAN RIGHTSThe Consortium of Bangsamoro Civil Society (CBCS) is a network of key Moro civil society organizations strategically located in the Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) including Moro communities in some parts of Mindanao. To date, the CBCS has eight (8) regional formations with their corresponding regional management committees (RMC} based in Cotabato City, General Santos City, Digos City, Marawi City, Pagadian City, Zamboanga City, Basilan and Sulu to pursue the advocacy for human rights, peace and good governance <br /><br />After the formation of its management committee in the Sulu Region in 2006, the CBCS member organizations in the area have elected Mr. Temogen “Cocoy” Sahipa Tulawie as the first chairperson of their RMC. With his 3- year stint with the Sulu RMC as chairperson, Mr. Timogen “Cocoy” Tulawie has shown extraordinary courage and a sterling performance in the protection of human rights, advocacy for peace, and promotion of good governance. <br /><br />As a human rights defender, he spearheaded the staging of a protest rally to seek justice for the victims of the Ipil massacre where eight civilians, among them a 4 year-old child died as a result of an indiscriminate firing of the Philippine Navy under the Western Mindanao Command in Bgy. Ipil, Maimbung Sulu on February 4, 2008. He also led protest actions against the implementation of the Sulu Provincial Identification Card System in January 2008, which ordered the mandatory wearing of ID cards by Sulu citizens.<br /><br />When the state of emergency was declared in the Sulu island province by Governor Sakur Tan on March 31 last year, he exposed the rampant human rights violations committed by the Civilian Emergency Forces (CEF) and spearheaded the move to call for the lifting of the state of emergency. <br /><br />When the GRP-MILF peace negotiation was on the brink of collapse in 2008 and 2009, he led the move to call for the sustenance of the peace talks. When the GRP and MNLF squabbled on the interpretation of the Final Peace Accord, he spearheaded a move to call for a comprehensive review and full implementation of the said peace accord. <br /><br />As a staunch peace advocate, he also mobilized key leaders of CBCS member-organizations in his region to mediate and settle local conflicts. And as a proponent of good governance, Cocoy Tulawie mobilized the same group to monitor and ensure the conduct of a clean, honest, accurate, meaningful and peaceful election in his beloved island province of Sulu. <br /><br />With this track record in defending and promoting human rights as well as responsible governance, it is no wonder then that his daring and passionate advocacies may have threatened or gotten the ire of some parties and political personalities in the province.<br /><br />When Mr. Temogen “Cocoy” Tulawie was tagged as among the suspects in the alleged ambush of Governor Sakur Tan a year ago, he immediately tendered his resignation as chairperson of RMC of Sulu Region to avoid dragging the name of CBCS on the issue. On August 5 this year, he was again tagged as mastermind behind the bombing attack on Gov. Tan outside the arrival area of the Zamboanga City airport.<br /><br />We in the CBCS were and are deeply saddened by this development and find it ironic -- but not at all surprising -- that being a human rights defender, peace advocate and a proponent of good governance, he was harassed and charged with a crime merely founded on questionable and non-validated source of information and testimonies.<br /><br />We are also alarmed that if this arbitrary practice will not be properly checked, more human rights defenders, peace activists and proponents of responsible governance will be put into risk by being harassed and charged with a crime similar to that of Mr. Temogen “Cocoy” Tulawie. <br /><br />We vehemently condemn the harassment done on Mr. Timogen “Cocoy” Tulawie and members of his family. We also sympathize with the suffering and anguish he has undergone since he went into hiding to avoid falling into the hands of Sulu and Zamboanga authorities he referred to as both his “judge and executioner.”<br /><br />As we manifest our unwavering unity and solidarity with the people of Sulu, we are also urging the government, especially the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Presidential Commission on Human Rights (PCHR), to immediate conduct an impartial re-investigation of the case charged against Mr. Temogen “Cocoy” Tulawie and for the speedy resolution of the Petition for Review and Prohibition he filed at the DOJ. <br /><br />Uphold the integrity of human rights defenders! Protect the peace advocates and proponents of good governance in the ARMM! Uphold the integrity of Mr. Temogen “Cocoy” Tulawie as a staunch human rights defender and protect his rights as a citizen, as a peace advocate and a proponent of good governance!<br /><br />Adopted and issued in Cotabato City, this 12th day of October 2010.<br /><br />Reference:<br /><br />Sammy Maulana<br />Secretary-General<br />Consortium of Bangsamoro Civil Society (CBCS)<br />Handy numbers: 09282277154; 09061893507webmasterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02365741235290615567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2019660247144137476.post-15046212429999107972010-08-28T00:33:00.000-07:002010-08-28T00:36:19.102-07:00Vatican Message to Muslims for Ramadan<br /><br />"Christians Are Spiritually Close to You During These Days"<br /><br />Christians and Muslims:<br />Together in overcoming violence among followers of different religions<br /><br />Dear Muslim Friends,<br /><br />1. 'Id Al-Fitr, which concludes Ramadan, presents, once again, a favorable occasion to convey to you the heartfelt wishes of serenity and joy on behalf of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue.<br />Throughout this month, you have committed yourselves to prayer, fasting, helping the neediest and strengthening relations of family and friendship. God will not fail to reward these efforts!<br /><br />2. I am delighted to note that believers of other religions, especially Christians, are spiritually close to you during these days, as is testified by the various friendly meetings which often lead to exchanges of a religious nature. It is pleasing to me also to think that this Message could be a positive contribution to your reflections.<br /><br />3. The theme proposed this year by the Pontifical Council, Christians and Muslims: Together in overcoming violence among followers of different religions, is, unfortunately, a pressing subject, at least in certain areas of the world. The Joint Committee for Dialogue instituted by the Pontifical Council and al-Azhar Permanent Committee for Dialogue among the Monotheistic Religions had also chosen this topic as a subject of study, reflection and exchange during its last annual meeting (Cairo, 23 - February 24, 2010). Permit me to share with you some of the conclusions published at the end of this meeting.<br /><br />4. There are many causes for violence among believers of different religious traditions, including: the manipulation of the religion for political or other ends; discrimination based on ethnicity or religious identity; divisions and social tensions. Ignorance, poverty, underdevelopment are also direct or indirect sources of violence among as well as within religious communities. May the civil and religious authorities offer their contributions in order to remedy so many situations for the sake of the common good of all society! May the civil authorities safeguard the primacy of the law by ensuring true justice to put a stop to the authors and promoters of violence!<br /><br />5. There are important recommendations also given in the above mentioned text: to open our hearts to mutual forgiveness and reconciliation, for a peaceful and fruitful coexistence; to recognize what we have in common and to respect differences, as a basis for a culture of dialogue; to recognize and respect the dignity and the rights of each human being without any bias related to ethnicity or religious affiliation; necessity to promulgate just laws which guarantee the fundamental equality of all; to recall the importance of education towards respect, dialogue and fraternity in the various educational arenas: at home, in the school, in churches and mosques. Thus we will be able to oppose violence among followers of different religions and promote peace and harmony among the various religious communities. Teaching by religious leaders, as well as school books which present religions in an objective way, have, along with teaching in general, a decisive impact on the education and the formation of younger generations.<br /><br />6. I hope that these considerations, as well as the responses which they elicit within your communities, and with your Christian friends, will contribute to the continuation of a dialogue, growing in respect and serenity, upon which I call the blessings of God!<br /><br />Jean-Louis Cardinal Tauran<br />President<br /><br />Archbishop Pier Luigi Celata<br />Secretarywebmasterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02365741235290615567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2019660247144137476.post-56610697449474119862010-08-11T03:02:00.000-07:002010-08-11T03:04:57.860-07:00Opening statement of Al Haj Murad Ebrahim, Chairman of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, during the MILF-FOCAP Forum on the Peace Process(Darapanan, Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao on August 9. 2010)<br /><br />Mr. Alastair McIndoe, President of the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines<br />My Colleagues in the Moro Islamic Liberation Front<br />Mr. Manny Mogato and other members of the FOCAP<br />Members of other media organizations, who are here with us this morning<br />Ladies and Gentlemen<br />GOOD MORNING!<br /><br />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.”<br /><br />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.<br /> <br />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, wants 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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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. <br /><br />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. <br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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. <br /><br />Thank you and again good morning!webmasterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02365741235290615567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2019660247144137476.post-39986451570790802952010-08-10T23:00:00.000-07:002010-08-10T23:02:33.162-07:00STATEMENT OF THE PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR ISLAM AND DEMOCRACY ON RECENT DEVELOPMENTS ON THE PEACE PROCESSAs our Muslim brothers and sisters observe the holy month of Ramadan, the Philippine Center for Islam and Democracy (PCID) calls on both the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to err on the side of optimism. <br /><br />Several statements from the Aquino administration criticizing what it termed as the "mistakes" in the forging the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) as well as indicating their desire to change the Malaysia as mediator has gathered criticism from the MILF.<br /><br />MILF chief Al Haj Murad Ebrahim has expressed skepticism about the chances of the MILF and the Aquino government forging a peace agreement saying that the MILF has not seen any sign of the Aquino government’s capability to offer a lasting solution to the Moro problem. The MILF added that they would be ready to use more than 60,000 weapons to wage war if peace talks with the government collapse. <br /><br />The MILF, through its chief negotiator Mohagher Iqbal, has also announced it would file a protest against government security forces for launching air strikes against their position in Maguindanao violative of the existing ceasefire when they fired rounds of howitzers towards the MILF position in the town of Datu Piang.<br /><br />The PCID appeals for calm and circumspection from both parties to avoid a breakdown of the talks even before it begins, especially as we enter Ramadan. <br /> <br />Despite the doubts expressed by the MILF, we urge their leadership to give the new administration a chance to prove its sincerity in achieving a just peace. <br /> <br />We likewise call on the government to be more cautious in referring to the controversial Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD). <br /> <br />While the previous regime has admittedly mishandled the peace process, the MOA-AD does contain provisions that represent the aspirations of the Moro people, particularly the Right to Self-Determination. Despite the Supreme Court ruling on its unconstitutionality, the MOA-AD contains substantive language for ancestral domain on which the new peace talks can be founded upon.<br /> <br />Despite these initial glitches, however, we remain hopeful that a peace agreement can be forged. <br /> <br />We laud Presidents Aquino's commitment to a peaceful settlement of the conflict when he said in his inaugural State of the Nation Address (SONA): "Mararating lamang ang kapayapaan at katahimikan kung mag-uusap ang lahat ng apektado." <br /> <br />We also commend MILF Chair Murad when he reiterated the MILF’s belief in negotiations as the path to peace in Mindanao.<br /> <br />PCID reiterates its belief in a politically negotiated settlement of the conflict that has caused so much suffering to our people. We restate our adherence to democratic processes as the only way by which conflicting interests of groups can be mediated.<br /> <br />We also share the fear expressed by the MILF chief and other peace advocates that a more radicalized generation of Moro that could prove to be more difficult to deal with might emerge if peace is not achieved.<br /> <br />For this reason, the PCID has focused its programs in ensuring that democratic reforms take root in our communities. Many of our projects, like the Islam and democracy lecture series supported by the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS), are intended to promote dialog to confront the growing radicalization in our communities.<br /> <br />We appeal to everyone, Muslim and non-Muslims, to support the peace efforts in Mindanao. After all, if it is claimed that Muslims are part of this republic, then peace in Mindanao means peace in the Philippines.<br /><br /><br />Philippine Center for Islam and Democracy<br />Unit 307 Continental Court Bldg<br />#47 Annapolis St., Greenhills<br />San Juan City, Philippines<br />Telefax: (+63 2) 722-9064<br />www.pcid.org.phwebmasterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02365741235290615567noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2019660247144137476.post-16569925110774712662010-08-10T22:49:00.000-07:002010-08-10T22:54:52.188-07:00CBCS STATEMENT RE ZAMBO AIRPORT BOMBINGA CALL FOR SOBRIETY AND PERSISTENCE IN ATTAINING A JUST AND LASTING PEACE<br /><br />The gains of the continuous and painstaking journey for peace in Mindanao undertaken by many groups including the Civil Society both Moro and Non Moro, Government, Religious and International actors is now threatened by despicable acts of senseless violence against innocent people who have not exploited anybody in this society. <br /><br />The Consortium of Bangsamoro Civil Society (CBCS), a solidarity network of Bangsamoro NGOs and POs and other civil society organizations in Mindanao vehemently condemn in its highest form the recent bombing incident in Zamboanga City Airport on August 5, 2010 that left 3 dead and 24 others wounded. Such action constitutes a heinous crime that is not tolerable, and even condemnable, under a democratic and civilized society. <br /><br />As staunch peace advocates that are collectively committed to a more sustained advocacy for Peace, Human Rights, Good Governance and Development, the CBCS strongly renounce violence of any form to realize its advocacy goals. From its inception in 2002, the CBCS grew a network of more than a hundred member-organizations all over Mindanao despite persistent challenges. The CBCS cultivated the philosophy of cooperation, collaboration and coordination among all stakeholders in facing the challenge of creating a peaceful and just society. <br /><br />The CBCS operates in a highly professional manner in pursuit of its ideological, political and organizational undertakings. It has eight (8) regional formations all over Mindanao called the Regional Management Committee (RMC) composed of local member organizations that elects among themselves a set of officers. These RMCs are collectively managed by the Council of Leaders (CoL) composed of leaders of network members elected by their respective regions. <br /><br />While we urge the government particularly the Philippine National Police to conduct an impartial investigation to identify the real perpetrator of such crime and let the rule of law govern to mete justice for the victims, we also caution the law enforcers to take into consideration the observance of human rights in carrying out their tasks. <br /><br />Finally we ask all individuals and organizations both at the local and international level especially the peace advocates and human rights defenders to make tighter their ropes of perseverance in confronting the challenges of attaining a just and lasting peace in Mindanao. <br /><br />Adopted and signed in Pagadian City this 7th day of August 2010. <br /><br />The CBCS <br /><br />SAMMY P. MAULANA [Secretary-General] 0918-3881760 <br /><br />--- <br /><br />The regional formations of CBCS are: KUTAWATO REGION (Provinces of Maguindanao, Sultan Kudarat, North Cotabato, and the Cities of Cotabato, Kidapawan and Tacurong), RANAW REGION (Provinces of Lanao del Sur and Lanao del Norte and Cities of Marawi, Iligan and part of Cagayan de Oro City), DABAW REGION ( Provinces of Davao del Sur, Davao del Norte, Davao Oriental and Compostela Valley and the Cities of Davao and Digos), SIBUGAY REGION ( Provinces of ZAMBOANGA DEL Sur, Zamboanga del Norte and Sibugay and the Cities of Pagadian, Ipil and Dipolog), SAMBOANGAN REGION (Zamboanga City) BASILAN REGION (Province of Basilan and Isabela City) SULU REGION (Province of Sulu), TAWI-TAWI REGION (Province of Tawi-Tawi) and RAJAH BUAYAN REGION (Provinces of South Cotabato, Sarangan, Sultan Kudarat and the Cities of Koronadal and General Santos).webmasterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02365741235290615567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2019660247144137476.post-71032082555817938282010-07-01T23:15:00.000-07:002010-07-01T23:18:23.909-07:00GRP-MILF TALKS CLOSURE AND TRANSITION STATEMENTHON. RAFAEL E. SEGUIS<br />Chairman, Government Peace Negotiating Panel<br />In Talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front<br />2 June 2010, Kuala Lumpur<br /><br />Datuk Othman bin Abd Razak, Chief Facilitator,<br />Honorable Chairman of the MILF Peace Negotiating Panel, Mohagher Iqbal<br />Honorable Members of the MILF Peace Negotiating Panel<br />Distinguished Members of the GRP Peace Negotiating Panel,<br />Distinguished Members of the International Contact Group,<br />Excellencies,<br /><br />Assamalu Alaykum wa Rahmatullaha wa Barakatu. We all desire peace in Mindanao. But the road towards it has been characterized by alternating chapters of talks and impasse. Since the talks with the MILF began in 1996 there have been several roadblocks that led to standoff in the negotiations. In August 2008, after the Supreme Court decided on the unconstitutionality of the MOA-AD, some MILF commanders attacked villages and communities in protest of decision. The talks were stalled once more.<br /><br />Peace, however, has been a constant policy of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo since she assumed office in 2001. Despite the challenges, she remained committed to achieving peace. She convened the new GRP Panel to start the peace talks.<br /><br />Against all doubts and cynicism, the GRP and MILF Panels were able to pick up the talks from the unfortunate consequences of the MOA-AD decision and the violence that erupted thereafter. What ensued are months of serious and extensive negotiations.<br /><br />Today, we are about to conclude this chapter of the negotiations. Before we step further, I would like to trace back our footsteps in this journey, if I may call it so. For in retrospect, none can argue the fact that we have done so much within a relatively short time.<br /><br />From the beginning, I was very much aware of the formidable challenges of engaging in these negotiations, and in particular in searching for a negotiated political settlement to the conflict in Mindanao. During our first formal meeting in July last year, as again reiterated in the succeeding meetings especially during the formal resumption of our Talks in December, I was given enormous hope by the statement of Chairman Iqbal and Datuk Mike Mastura – that the MILF has dropped the option of independence, and that it is not negotiating for independence but for the highest form of autonomy.<br /><br />Of course, in what design the highest form of autonomy may be realized would still be the subject of laborious discussions. However, this declaration, insofar as the GRP Panel is concerned, opened up an entire spectrum of possibility that a negotiated peace agreement may be forged. And it continues to be so. Armed with that hope, the GRP Panel negotiated with utmost good faith, and in a manner that would positively and constructively contribute to the process and move the negotiations forward.<br /><br />And so on 28-29 July 2009, the first official meeting between the Chairmen of GRP and MILF Panels took place in Kuala Lumpur, marking the formal reestablishment of communication lines between the two sides after almost a year of impasse in the talks. I am equally proud that since the declaration of SOMO by the GRP last 23 July 2009 and the MILF’s SOMA two (2) days later, we have been able to keep the peace. There has been to this date no major incident of armed clashes between the Government and MILF forces. We all desire that this continues through the new administration.<br /><br />On 15 September 2009, we signed the Framework Agreement on the Formation of the International Contact Group (ICG) for the GRP-MILF Peace Process. This gave birth to a pioneering mechanism in peace negotiations which brings together state and non-state actors in aid of the negotiating process. And considering that this is the first time for this kind of role, our gratitude go to the hard-working members of the ICG – the United Kingdom, Japan, Turkey, The Asia Foundation, Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, Conciliation Resources, and Muhammadiyah.<br /><br />On 27 October 2009, we signed the Agreement on the Civilian Protection Component (CPC) of the International Monitoring Team (IMT). Later, we renewed the Terms of Reference of the IMT on 9 December 2009, and agreed on the Terms of Reference of Civilian Protection Component of the IMT last 5 May 2010. Today, we signed the Guidelines for the Humanitarian, Rehabilitation and Development (HRD) Component of the IMT.<br /><br />The IMT, with its untiring efforts and invaluable contribution, has indeed made the ceasefire agreement work. For this reason, we thank our partners for their indelible mark in maintaining peace in Mindanao: Malaysia, Brunei, Libya, Japan, and soon, the EU, Norway, Indonesia, and Qatar. We also thank in advance and look forward to the engagement of the following Philippine-based organizations as members of the Civilian Protection Component of the IMT – the Non-Violent Peace Force Philippines, Mindanao People’s Caucus, Muslim Organization of Government Officials and Professionals (MOGOP), and Mindanao Human Rights Action Center (MINHRAC).<br /><br />We also signed on 5 May 2010 a very significant agreement on the clearing of landmines/unexploded ordnances in conflict-affected areas in Mindanao – the Guidelines for the Implementation of the Philippine Campaign to Ban Landmines –<br />Fondation Suisse de Deminage (PCBL-FSD) Project. This will allow affected civilians to return to their villages and resume the tilling of their farms. These agreements are of great significance to the civilian population who are the unfortunate victims of armed conflict. In concrete terms, they have obtained the commitment of both Parties to respect the universally-accepted human rights of the civilians notwithstanding the conflict.<br /><br />For the past six months since we formally resumed peace talks, we have undoubtedly accomplished worthy and noble feats, which add up to the past gains of signed agreements between the previous Peace Panels, namely:<br /><br />• Agreement for General Cessation of Hostilities, 18 July 1997<br />• Tripoli Agreement on Peace, 22 June 2001<br />• Implementing Guidelines for the Security Aspect, 7 August 2001<br />• Implementing Guidelines of the Humanitarian, Rehabilitation and Development <br /> Aspects, 7 May 2002<br />• Operational Guidelines of the Ad Hoc Joint Action Group (AHJAG), 21<br /> December 2004<br /><br />These agreements notwithstanding, we are aware that the parties have still some distance to go to ultimately secure peace and development in Mindanao. Indeed, we have tried to negotiate and conclude a final peace agreement, but it is a Herculean task that requires more give-and-take, and most of all, patience, understanding and time. We tried to bargain an interim agreement. This too proved to be similarly difficult as the concepts and principles involved are delicate and complex, as they affect numerous communities, sectors and stakeholders.<br /><br />Both Panels bargained hard because we would like to ensure that the agreement would be acceptable to all concerned, notably to those in Mindanao. From the start, the GRP Panel declared its intention to respect the fundamental law of the land while opening the possibility for a negotiated solution that may require Constitutional change. It is of course guided by the Supreme Court’s pronouncement on the MOA-AD case.<br /><br />At this juncture of the peace process, we make a choice which path to take, what to look back on, and what to look forward to. But for me, only one path, one choice is in clear sight – and that is to preserve our past gains and to ensure that the negotiations continue on with the next administration. With this in our minds, we sign this Declaration.<br /><br />We consider this Declaration a document to preserve the past gains and provide a smooth transition to the next administration. It is a retrospective affirmation of our accomplishments, and a recapitulation of our past discussions as we toiled to come up with an agreement.<br /><br />My Panel has always been guided by adherence to the Constitution. In particular, we have abided by the Supreme Court decision in Province of North Cotabato vs. GRP Peace Panel on Ancestral Domain. Reframing the consensus points on ancestral domain will have to follow such guidance. To ensure that, we have consulted and obtained a legal opinion from the Department of Justice for some of the clauses that are in this declaration.<br /><br />Thus, in the phrase “to exercise self-governance on the basis of consent in accordance to an agreed framework”, we understand the word “framework” as referring to the Constitution. We cannot negotiate and adopt an agreement that is outside the boundaries of the Constitution.<br /><br />Also, we agreed to consider “new formulas that permanently respond to the legitimate aspirations of the Bangsamoro”. For us, it is clear that these “new formulas” and “new modalities to end the armed hostilities” should respect the Constitution. “New formulas” may include enhanced autonomy while “new modalities” may include innovations such as “all party talks”.<br />We interpret the phrase “building on prior consensus points achieved” as referring to the overall gains in the process since 1997.<br /><br />We commend the inclusion of the protection of the rights of the indigenous peoples both under the IPRA law, which we understand as being referred to by the phrase “respect the existing property and community rights”, and the UN Declaration on the Rights of the Indigenous Peoples. The declaration does not have an “s” in the first instance. “Indigenous People” is used but we assume that the right phrase is “Indigenous Peoples” and not “Indigenous People”. While we have advanced these formulations in our discussions, it is up to the next administration to make the final decisions on what should be in a political settlement.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />It has been a privilege to have sat across this negotiating table with you all, and an honor to be in the company of distinguished men and women. I would like to take this opportunity to thank most sincerely our Chief Facilitator Datuk Othman bin Abd Razak for his tenacity and dedication for helping us finally sign this Declaration.<br /><br />Thank you.webmasterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02365741235290615567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2019660247144137476.post-18647673718585249592010-06-22T21:36:00.000-07:002010-06-22T21:44:53.725-07:00A Sound Lesson of the 2010 Philippine ElectionA Sound Lesson of the 2010 Philippine Election <br />Written by Mike G. Kulat <br />Wednesday, 23 June 2010 01:14<br /> <br />The 2010 Philippine National Election did give much wisdom that both national and local candidates should ponder. Analyzing the outcome of the election particularly in the Bangsamoro dominated areas will give us some thought of its effect to the winning or losing of candidates from local to national level. On the other hand, the lessons learned could also be a potential tool of the Bangsamoro in advancing their aspiration for their right to self-determination. <br /><br />To begin with, an interesting focus is the unpredicted fate of vice presidential candidate Mar Roxas who had been forecasted to win a wide margin against all his opponents nationwide. He had shown consistent advantage in different poll surveys from the start of the campaign period to the near end. On the local contest, the Pinol brothers in the province of North Cotabato were also forecasted to win landslide margins over their political rivals. <br /><br />Looking closely at the outcome of the election in vice presidency race, the turnout of votes in the five provinces (Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi) of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) vice presidential candidate Jojo Binay won in four provinces by a high margin except in the province of Tawi-Tawi where Mar Roxas won with a slight margin of 5.6%. In comparison to Jojo Binay who won with an average margin of 26.17% over Roxas in the other four ARMM provinces. The trends in ARMM final turn out of votes ended with Mar Roxas trailed in a distant third place. <br /><br />This is in sharp contrast to his expectation said to offset the more than 600,000 advantage of Binay and eventually win in the race once the votes in ARMM are counted. Roxas is true to its expectation if the ARMM votes went in his favor considering that its registered voters are more than 1.6 million. <br /><br />In the presidency race, Presidential candidate Joseph Estrada won in around half of the areas in Mindanao, which is also amazing due to the unforgettable devastations in Moro dominated areas in Mindanao due to his “All-Out War” policy in 2000 aside from being criminally convicted of plunder charge. This is understandable in the Settlers’ areas. Nevertheless, in the Moro dominated and ARMM areas Erap Estrada tremendously lost over Noynoy. <br /><br />Still best trends that represents Moro vote is in the province of North Cotabato which is outside ARMM, though constitutes only around thirty percent out of its total voters, it is interesting to note how Moros did in their selection of leaders. Let us examine the Moro Barangays in Midsayap, North Cotabato where Erap Estrada posted a winning percentage of 62.97% over his rivals. Nonetheless, the Moro dominated Barangays that equally suffered the consequences of government’s over-emphasis on military action in reacting to Bangsamoro question in Mindanao shows otherwise. In Barangays, Kadingilan, Macasendeg and Nabalawag Erap Estrada got only an average of 0.87% against Noynoy’s winning percentage of 80.14%. <br /><br />It is interesting too to scrutinized, the fate of the Pinol brothers. Everyone knows that the Pinol’s already established powerful political dynasty in the province of North Cotabato who almost if not totally swift out of their positions. Roger Talino, father of the North Cotabato Governor elect Lala Talino Mendoza tried in the previous election in full force to unseat the Pinols and their contenders but failed. Aside from the latter’s claim of massive cheating, we can hardly think of any other reasons for the unprecedented sad event in their political career. <br /><br />Recalling back the post election scenario on the focus candidates, presidential bets Erap Estrada and Gibo Teodoro already left a permanent ugly mark in the history of Bangsamoro due to their “2000 All-Out War” and “2008 Military Surgical Operation” that uprooted more than a million” and 703,000 individuals mostly Moro civilians respectively. <br /><br />In like manner, vice presidential candidate Mar Roxas with their local allies such as the Pinols are leading figures in opposing and eventually lead to the aborted signing of the much hoped Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) ON August 5, 2008. Their being vocal in opposing any steps towards reaching concrete agreement between the GRP-MILF Peace Talks earned them the moniker as “spoilers of peace” and “anti-Moro” leaders. <br /><br />Shortly before the Election Day, there were mass mobilizations conducted in some strategic places in Moro dominated provinces issuing “Fatwa” (religious verdict) that it is “haram” (prohibited) for the Muslims to vote for the above candidates on line. In some instances the Moro groups burned epigies and replica of these candidates. Locally, some Moro civil society organization leaders unify their campaign and advocacies against the Pinols. <br /><br />The downfall of the anti-Moro candidates for whatever reason, the election trends are sensible lessons for the future candidates to consider. That in winning or losing both national and local elections, the Moro votes if it went solid matters much. More so on the part of the Bangsamoro, the learning would somehow make them realize that their unified votes can make and unmake candidates. And therefore, this can be a useful tool in installing leaderships who have heart in the plight of the Bangsamoro. [The author is peacebuilding and Clustered Coordinator for Southeast-Central Mindano Regions of the Consortium of Bangsamoro Civil Society]webmasterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02365741235290615567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2019660247144137476.post-6478352458014756962010-05-18T19:39:00.001-07:002010-05-18T19:39:58.136-07:00Police torture, burn a man with lit cigarette in General Santos CityASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION – URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME<br /><br />Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-065-2010<br /><br />14 May 2010<br />------------------------------------------------------<br />PHILIPPINES: Police torture, burn a man with lit cigarette in General Santos City<br /><br />ISSUES: Torture victims; torture; police assault; right to liberty and security; arbitrary arrest and detention<br />------------------------------------------------------<br /><br /><br />Dear Friends,<br /><br />The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to inform you that a man arbitrarily arrested by the police in General Santos City was tortured while in custody for seven days. The police had him severely beaten, subjected him to suffocation using a plastic bag and burned his thumb with lit cigarettes. When carrying out the arrest, the police neither showed him the arrest orders nor explained to him the nature of the charges. The police unit who tortured him has in the past been accused of involvement in torture and forcible disappearances.<br /><br />CASE NARRATIVE: (According to information received from the Task Force Detainees of the Philippines (TFDP) - Mindanao)<br /><br />On April 4, 2010, Anuar Hasim was riding his motorcycle near Champaca Street in General Santos City when two persons riding on another motorcycle stopped him. He described the two persons as wearing plain clothes. One of them grabbed his left arm and sternly warned him, "Come with us, do not attempt to run otherwise you will be killed".<br /><br />When Hasim asked the two men of what he had done wrong and why he was being arrested they told him to: "just come with us". At that time, the two persons had Hasim's hands handcuffed. One of them also took over his motorcycle. After that he was taken to a place near the City Hall building, two other persons arrived a few minutes later.<br /><br />Those who had arrested him (whom he later came to know as policemen attached to the General Santos City Office (GSCPO)) took him to the police headquarters. While in police custody, those questioning him slapped him hard several times about his face. He was interrogated and questioned about the incident (the victim did not elaborate the details of the incident) that took place in Maasim town, in Sarangani province. He was also forced to admit that he is a commander of a rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation front (MILF); and when he refused to answer they slapped him.<br /><br />At 7pm that day, he was brought to the GSCPO's Police Station No. 6 located in Barangay (village) Bula where he was severely tortured. Once again, the policemen forced him to admit perpetrating the crime that took place in Maasim town. The police punched him hard in his stomach several times. There were five persons wearing in plain clothes who were questioning and torturing him.<br /><br />While inside the Bula police station, he was kicked three times on his chest and burn his left thumb with lit cigarettes several times (he could still feel the pain and torture marks were visible when he was interviewed on April 14). He was also suffocated for moments at a time when they wrapped cellophane around his face and head. Every time he refused to admit what the police were accusing of they repeated the procedure. This happened on several occasions.<br /><br />The torture included blindfolding and strangulation. He was also forced to squat, handcuffed in an position so that they could punch and kick him. His ordeal went on until 3am the following day.<br /><br />The following day, April 5, at 10am his mother visited him at the Police station. When his mother hugged him, the police grabbed him and hid him inside a car, depriving them of the opportunity to talk and tell his mother about his condition. At about 1pm that day, the police subjected Hasim to another interrogation and slapped him repeatedly. By 8pm, the police took him back to the Police Station No. 6 in Barangay Bula.<br /><br />On April 6, Hasim was taken back to the headquarters. He was asked about whether he knew the names of persons the police are asking from him, but every time he replied in the negative his shirt would be removed to blindfold him. On one occasion, he heard them say, "Why don't we just will kill this person and dump him at the sea". On April 6, Hasim's family had seen him and his wife at the police station. His wife was able to take photographs of the visible torture marks on his chest. He was held there until April 11.<br /><br />It was only on April 12, 2010 at 2:30pm that Hasim was remanded to the Provincial jail in Alabel, Sarangani Province. He later learned that he had been charged with Double Murder with criminal case nos. 3043-08 and 3044-08; for Destructive Arson, criminal case no. 3045-08; Arson, criminal case no. 3046-08; and Robbery with Violence and/or Intimidation of persons criminal case nos. 3047-08 and 3048-08, before the Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 38 in Alabel, Sarangani Province.<br /><br />BACKGROUND INFORMATION:<br /><br />The AHRC has in the past documented cases of persons having been illegally arrested, detained, tortured and forcibly disappeared by policemen attached to the General Santos City Police Office (GSPO).<br /><br />On 24 April 2002, the same police unit arrested three men whom they accused of having been involved in the bombing of a mall on 21 April 2002 in General Santos City (UA-74-2005). The police claimed the three were responsible for the bomb attack, but they nevertheless did not charge them for the bomb blast. One of the three victims was sexually and verbally humiliated for being a homosexual. All the victims were Muslims and political activists who are affiliate members of Bayan Muna, a political party.<br /><br />Also in 12 December 2005, a man was arrested, tortured and held for three days in the same police headquarters without charges (UA-251-2005). The police arrested Haron Abubakar Buisan, a 25-year-old man over allegations that he was the same person whom they claimed to have been responsible in robbing a passenger bus. But despite Buisan family's showing documentary proof that he is not the person the police accused him to be, the prosecutor pursued on prosecuting him for robbery.<br /><br />The placard reads: "God-fearing, for the people, for the country, for the environment"<br /><br />Also on 27 May 2007, another victim, Arnold Aliman, had been forcibly abducted and disappeared by persons who were seen using the police service vehicle (UA-198-2007). According to the witnesses' accounts, those who had forcibly abducted Aliman were seen using the vehicle belonging to the office of the Criminal Investigation Branch (CIB), a unit attached to the same police unit.<br /><br />ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:<br /><br />In the Philippines, torture is a criminal offense following the enactment of the "Anti-Torture Act of 2009" in November 2009. Under Section 4 of this Law, the following acts of torture committed against Hasim would have had a penalty of Reclusion Temporal (twelve to twenty years imprisonment) once the perpetrator is prosecuted and convicted.<br /><br /> (1) Systematic beating, head banging, punching, kicking, striking with truncheon or rifle butt or other similar objects, and jumping on the stomach;<br /><br /> (4) Cigarette burning;<br /><br /> (12) The use of plastic bag and other materials placed over the head to the point of asphyxiation;<br /><br /> “Mental/Psychological Torture” refers to include (2) Threatening a person(s) or his/her relative(s) with bodily harm, execution or other wrongful acts; (4) Prolonged interrogation; (11) Deliberately prohibiting the victim to communicate with any member of his/her family;<br /><br />SUGGESTED ACTION:<br />Please write letters to the concerned authorities below requesting them to conduct an investigation into the victim's allegation of torture. The policemen involved must be identified and that they should imposed with sanctions or restriction while they are subjected to an investigation to ensure its impartiality.<br /><br />The AHRC has also written letters to the Special Rapporteur on the Question of Torture for his intervention.<br /><br /><br />Source: http://www.ahrchk.net/ua/mainfile.php/2010/3451/webmasterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02365741235290615567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2019660247144137476.post-11355164093292087882010-05-18T19:38:00.000-07:002010-05-18T19:39:12.680-07:00Soldiers torture a man held incommunicado for six daysASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION – URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME<br /><br />Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-067-2010<br /><br />17 May 2010<br />------------------------------------------------------<br />PHILIPPINES: Soldiers torture a man held incommunicado for six days<br /><br />ISSUES: Torture; torture victims; right to life; right to liberty and security; arbitrary arrest and detention<br />------------------------------------------------------<br /><br /><br />Dear Friends,<br /><br />The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) had been informed that a farmer, whom soldiers had arbitrarily arrested over allegations that he was a commander of a rebel group, had been tortured and held incommunicado for six days. The soldiers did not turn him over promptly to police custody, but illegally detained him in their detachment. They also ignored the victim's request to contact the village head and his wife to inform them of his whereabouts.<br /><br />CASE NARRATIVE: (According to information received from the Task Force Detainees of the Philippines (TFDP) - Mindanao)<br /><br />On February 26, 2010, Abdulbayan Guiamblang was passing from his farm through the detachment of the 38th Infantry Battalion, Philippine army in Barangay (village) Solon, Sultan Mastura, province of Maguindanao. He usually passes through this detachment to tend his farm that is adjacent to the village where he lives. But on this occasion a soldier guarding the detachment had stopped him.<br /><br />Without explaining to him why he was being held, the soldier took him to a nearby community center (Purok house) in the village. Soon after they arrived, soldiers cuffed his hands behind his back. They wrapped his legs around with adhesive tape and blindfolded him, using the same tape. Later he felt himself being loaded into a truck. He realized that it was a military 6x6 truck that drove him for about 20 minutes to an unknown place. Here, he was interrogated and severely tortured.<br /><br />While in custody, those questioning him told him that they had been looking for him for some time, and that he has pending arrest orders from the court. They also insisted that he is a commander of the rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). He admitted that he is an MILF member but is not a commander. Nevertheless, he was forced to admit that he is a commander in the MILF's 1st brigade under the command of Ameril Umbra Kato.<br /><br />During questioning, he was hit several times on the head with a bottle of water. His interrogation lasted from the time of his arrest on the 26th of February until 12 midnight of that same day. When he slept that night, his handcuffs were attached to the lower portion of the door, making it extremely difficult for him to move, or to sit or lie down freely.<br /><br />The following day, February 27, Guiamblang was taken to another room for more interrogation, again asking him the same questions as the day before. They put him face down on the table. He was asked how many houses he had burned and when he explained that he had not burned any houses, they called him a "liar". Three times he was hit on the head and the lower back portion of his head with a bottle of water. The questioning and torture lasted for than an hour.<br /><br />On the third day, February 28, Guiamblang was taken to the same interrogation room asking him the same questions as before. The left side of his body was punched hard twice and he was once again subjected to interrogation for more than an hour. Guiamblang, on March 1 and 2 again endured the same things mentioned above. Each time they took him to the interrogation room they doubled the adhesive tape blindfolding his eyes.<br /><br />Guiamblang had also asked his custodians to inform the chairperson of his village about his arrest so that they would also be able to contact his wife, but his request was denied. He was now detained for five days.<br /><br />On March 3, Guiamblang was taken by his interrogators for a medical check-up; however, no real medical checkup took place. The person examining him only took his blood pressure. While in the soldier's custody, he was given food twice a day.<br /><br />It was only on March 4 that he was able to take a bath and was given a shirt to wear and was subsequently taken to court in Midsayap, North Cotabato where charges had been filed against him. When they got down from the vehicle, his blindfold was removed, having been in place for six continuous days. At the court, Guiamblang was made to sign a document, the contents of which were not properly explained to him. At 1pm that day, he was remanded to the North Cotabato Provincial jail in Amas, Kidapawan.<br /><br />When he was taken to court and remanded in jail, Guiamblang came to know the charges against him. They included Frustrated Murder, criminal case no. 08-294; Attempted Murder criminal case no. 08-293; Kidnapping and Serious Illegal Detention criminal case no. 08-286, Robbery (29 counts) criminal case nos. 08-229 to 08-258 and Arson (68 counts) criminal case nos. 08-198 to 08-228 to 08-296 before the Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 18, in Midsayap town, province of North Cotabato.<br /><br />On March 12, 2010 his family was finally able to visit him in the provincial jail.<br /><br />ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:<br /><br />In the Philippines, torture is a criminal offense following the enactment of the "Anti-Torture Act of 2009" in November 2009. Under Section 4 of this Law, the following acts of torture committed against Guiamblang would have had a penalty of Reclusion Temporal (twelve to twenty years imprisonment) once the perpetrator is prosecuted and convicted.<br /><br />Under Section 4, the torture perpetrated on Guiamblang is defined as Acts of Torture in the excerpts below;<br /><br />(1) Systematic beating, head banging, punching, kicking, striking with truncheon or rifle butt or other similar objects, and jumping on the stomach;<br /><br />(2) Food deprivation<br /><br />(6) Being tied or forced to assume fixed and stressful bodily positions<br /><br />(b) “Mental/Psychological Torture”; (1) Blindfolding;<br /><br />(3) Confinement in solitary cells or secret detention places;<br /><br />(4) Prolonged interrogation;<br /><br />(11) Deliberately prohibiting the victim from communicating with any member of his/her family<br /><br />Under Section 7 (it) Prohibited Detention — Secret detention places, solitary confinement, incommunicado or other similar forms of detention, where torture may be carried out with impunity, are hereby prohibited.<br /><br />SUGGESTED ACTION:<br />Please send letters to the concerned authorities requesting them to thoroughly investigate the torture victim's complaint. Also, the charges laid on him must be withdrawn unconditionally once it is found that the evidence and testimonies used were the result of torture.<br /><br />The AHRC has also written letters to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Question of Torture for his intervention. <br /><br /><br />Source: http://www.ahrchk.net/ua/mainfile.php/2010/3453/webmasterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02365741235290615567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2019660247144137476.post-22441631387087898842010-04-19T23:56:00.001-07:002010-04-19T23:56:20.257-07:00Inter-religious groups to Basilan assailants: "choose the human way"DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/17 April) – The Inter-religious Solidarity Movement for Peace and Peace Advocates Zamboanga (PAZ) are urging the perpetrators of the Basilan attacks on April 13 to “choose the human way” as “violence and terrorism is the way of the savages, of impoverished, starved souls.”<br /><br />This, as the Consortium of Bangsamoro Civil Society (CBCS) said it is “shocked and saddened” over what happened but added that as they analyzed the incident, ”we came to a conclusion that this is not an issue between Muslims and Christians. Rather, it is an issue of who monster-minded it and what is the real motive.”<br /><br />On April 13, at least 20 armed men disguised as military and police personnel and later alleged to be members of the Abu Sayyaf “struck treacherously and violently in the heart of Isabela City, shot innocent civilians and unready soldiers, killing as many as 15, reports say. They set and exploded bombs, including one that damaged the main Roman Catholic cathedral and wounded churchgoers,” the statement of the Inter-religious Solidarity Movement for Peace and PAZ said.<br /><br />“This assault in a province plagued by a history of violence and impunity but reveals a further moral deterioration and depravity of the attackers. We condemn this senseless, evil act of barbarism and banditry. We appeal to authorities to take swift and appropriate action to catch and punish the culprits,” the groups said.<br /><br />“We commiserate and condole with the families of those killed and wounded. We pray that the victims be accorded speedy justice as well as assistance to the victims and their families.. We appeal to their loved ones and the good people of Basilan to harness the ultimately triumphant power of justice in the land,” the statement read.<br /><br />Addressing the attackers, the groups said: “your atrocities and killings and destruction of properties are irrational and counterproductive. Armed violence always sets back the only true, effective vehicle of human progress, which is a peaceful and democratic process where the citizens regardless of their creeds cooperate and work together for a better life for their families and communities.”<br /><br />“This peaceful and democratic means, this struggle and journey of and in solidarity, is the way of the truly enlightened and humane; violence and terrorism is the way of the savages, of impoverished, starved souls. We appeal to your conscience to choose the human way instead, whose peaceful struggles test to the limits one’s faith and so enrich in many ways, yes even The materially in the end,” the groups added.<br /><br />The statement also urged Basilan’s local government leaders “to exert extraordinary efforts to address and put to end the culture of violence and hatred in our midst.”<br />“Violence diminishes us all - by harnessing the culture of peace and love, of dialogue and journeying together, to reconcile and restore hope to the lost and fallen. This is what we mean when we say: Peace is in our hands, peace is the only way,” the groups added.<br /><br />CBCS, in its statement calling for sobriety and unity on the crisis in Isabela City, said that as it vehemently condemned “whoever the perpetrators are,” it is also calling on “our political leaders to unite and sit together to address and resolve the Isabela City crisis through peaceful means. We likewise call on the Muslim and Christian populace and their spiritual leaders to share their part in maintaining our peaceful co-existence in our province for the safety and security of the Basileño.”<br /><br />“As we sympathize with the parents and relatives of the victims of the tragedy, we urge the government to conduct an immediate and impartial investigation to identify the culprits and let the rule of law govern over them,” adding that the group found it “shocking, frightening, and alarming that this happened at the height of our campaign for a Clean, Honest, Accurate, Meaningful and Peaceful (CHAMP) elections towards good governance and responsible leadership.” (MindaNews)webmasterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02365741235290615567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2019660247144137476.post-87923699239125722532010-04-17T02:23:00.000-07:002010-04-17T04:49:34.298-07:00A CALL FOR SOBRIETY AND UNITY ON THE ISABELA CITY CRISISConsortium of Bangsamoro Civil Society<br />E-mail: secretariat@cbcsi.org<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">A CALL FOR SOBRIETY AND UNITY ON THE ISABELA CITY CRISIS</span><br /><br />We are shocked and saddened by the Isabela City crisis that took place on April 13, 2010. As we analyzed the incident, we came to a conclusion that this is not an issue between Muslims and Christians. Rather, it is an issue of who monster-minded it and what is the real motive.<br /><br />As we vehemently condemn whoever the perpetrators are, we call on our political leaders to unite and sit together to address and resolve the Isabela City crisis through peaceful means. We likewise call on the Muslim and Christian populace and their spiritual leaders to share their part in maintaining our peaceful co-existence in our province for the safety and security of the Basileño.<br /><br />As we sympathize with the parents and relatives of the victims of the tragedy, we urge the government to conduct an immediate and impartial investigation to identify the culprits and let the rule of law govern over them.<br /><br />We find it shocking, frightening, and alarming that this happened at the height of our campaign for a Clean, Honest, Accurate, Meaningful and Peaceful (CHAMP) elections towards good governance and responsible leadership.<br /><br />Signed and adopted in Zamboanga City this 15th day of April 2010.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">CBCS Basilan Regional Management Committee</span><br />Chair: Nathan Insung<br />Members:<br />Damona C. Sadjail<br />Mistiri A. Tarami <br />Muhti H. Abdulla<br />Arthur D. Baul<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">CBCS Samboangan (Zamboanga) Regional Management Committee</span><br />Chair: Munib A. Kahal<br />Members:<br />Meriam G. Abba<br />Persing A. Dangkahan<br />Ailarahma A. Taupan<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">CBCS Lupah Sug (Sulu) Regional Management Committee</span><br />Chair: Vandrazel M. Birowa<br />Members:<br />Edmund C. Gumbahali<br />Jocelyn A. Basaluddin<br />Berkis A. Basaluddin<br />Nur-in M. Hapas<br />Farida A. Hadjulani<br />Hadzer M. Birowa<br />Zoraida Gumbahali<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">CBCS National Secretariat</span><br />Secretary General: Sammy P. Maulana<br />Project Staff: Mohammad Omarwebmasterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02365741235290615567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2019660247144137476.post-25022005817194798652010-04-15T22:28:00.000-07:002010-04-15T22:29:45.966-07:00(Human Rights Watch) Philippines: Candidates Should Propose Plans to End Killings<span style="font-weight: bold;">Perpetrators of Political Violence Remain at Large</span><br />April 15, 2010<br /><br />(New York) - Philippine presidential candidates should make ending impunity for extrajudicial killings central to their platforms ahead of the May 2010 general elections, Human Rights Watch said today.<br /><br />Recent unsolved killings of regional and local candidates, party activists, and relatives of witnesses raise concerns that perpetrators are emboldened by the Arroyo administration's failure to hold those responsible to account. Human Rights Watch urged presidential candidates to tell the public the concrete steps they will take to stop killings, prosecute perpetrators, and protect witnesses during their first 100 days in office.<br /><br />"Presidential candidates should explain how they will put an end to the scourge of killings that has so discredited the Arroyo government," said Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "Bare condemnation of killings is not enough - the country needs to see a commitment to action."<br /><br />There have been numerous apparently politically motivated killings in the lead up to the elections, scheduled for May 10, in which the authorities have been slow to respond.<br /><br />On April 6, unidentified men fatally stabbed and shot Mohamadisa Simpal Sangki, 51, in front of the Cotabato City Plaza on the island of Mindanao. Mohamadisa was the brother of Ampatuan town mayor Zacaria Sangki and uncle of Ampatuan Vice Mayor Rasul Sangki. Both had testified against Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr., the principal suspect in the November 2009 Maguindanao massacre, which left at least 57 dead, including relatives and supporters of a candidate for provincial governor and media personnel. At least two people connected to the Sangki family had earlier been shot and killed. Additionally, in February, the brother of a suspect-turned-witness, police officer Rainier Ebus, was shot multiple times in Datu Piang in Maguindanao and severely wounded.<br /><br />These killings remain under investigation by the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) and local police. A CIDG spokesperson confirmed that the Sangki family and families of other witnesses are experiencing harassment that is most likely related to the witnesses testifying in court. He told Human Rights Watch, "So far, no witnesses will give statements." Investigators are waiting for witnesses to come forward with signed statements, instead of proceeding with the investigations based on all available information.<br /><br />"The authorities need to demonstrate to witnesses that they can and will protect them and their families," Pearson said. "Lacking signed statements is a sorry excuse for not investigating a criminal offense."<br /><br />Local candidates and party activists have also been the targets of attacks. On March 24, unidentified armed men abducted two Bantay party-list campaigners, Juliana Noquera and Ronald Miranda, in Davao City. Their bodies were found, separately, in the days following. Davao City Police told Human Rights Watch that the investigation is ongoing.<br /><br />According to the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), between January 10, when the official election period began, and April 14, it has received 71 reports of violent incidents targeting elected officials and candidates, involving 86 victims. Thirty-eight people have been killed. The CIDG public information officer, Felix Vargas, told Human Rights Watch that suspects include "guns for hire," political opponents, and members of paramilitary forces. To date, one suspect has been charged, eight suspects have been cleared, and investigations are continuing in the remainder of the cases. Vargas said that to date, no candidates for office have been interviewed during investigations as it is difficult to link them to the crime.<br /><br />During the administration of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, hundreds of political party members, human rights activists, journalists, and outspoken clergy have been killed or forcibly disappeared in apparently politically motivated attacks. Human Rights Watch investigations into the so-called Davao Death Squads have revealed the involvement over several years of local police officers and officials in killing alleged petty criminals, drug dealers, gang members, and street children in Davao city.<br /><br />Despite a reduction in killings since 2007, attributed to international and local pressure, the killings continue. While Arroyo has announced numerous initiatives to address those abuses, there has been no real progress in bringing those responsible to justice, Human Rights Watch said. Reforms have largely been symbolic while genuine structural reforms recommended by United Nations bodies, human rights organizations, and even the government's own Melo Commission have been ignored.<br /><br />Of the hundreds of killings and enforced disappearances of leftist activists since 2001, Human Rights Watch knows of only six cases that have been successfully prosecuted, resulting in the conviction of 11 suspects. Although the military has been implicated in many of the crimes, none of those convicted were active military personnel at the time of the killing.<br /><br />A multi-agency task force that includes the Commission on Human Rights, police, army, and other government agencies has been investigating death squad killings in Davao City since June 2009. But Human Rights Watch found that the task force has faced a series of unnecessary judicial delays and obstacles in its investigations. Human Rights Watch is not aware of any successful prosecutions of those responsible for death squad killings.<br /><br />Human Rights Watch urged presidential candidates to provide a comprehensive action plan to end impunity for extrajudicial and death squad killings and for enforced disappearances. Only one presidential candidate has promised to implement the recommendations of Philip Alston, the UN Special Rapporteur for Extrajudicial Executions.<br /><br />Human Rights Watch said that presidential candidates should explain what measures they will take to enable witnesses to testify safely, for example by using videotaped testimony, closed courtrooms, or depositions, and to create mechanisms for witnesses to and transfer their places of residence, including to other provinces, prior to and if necessary after trial. Candidates should also support open hotlines to receive anonymous information on abuses perpetrated by local government officials, security forces, and state-backed militia members.<br /><br />"Even continued killings have not prompted presidential candidates to propose urgently needed reforms," Pearson said. "This election period should be an important moment to get the Philippines back on track toward respecting basic rights."<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Source: </span><a href="http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2010/04/15/philippines-candidates-should-propose-plans-end-killings">http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2010/04/15/philippines-candidates-should-propose-plans-end-killings</a>webmasterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02365741235290615567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2019660247144137476.post-28449428030878185282010-03-26T04:55:00.000-07:002010-03-26T04:56:04.592-07:00The Philippines' private armies<object width="560" height="340"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/T1EzVaUJ3-s&hl=en_US&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/T1EzVaUJ3-s&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object>webmasterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02365741235290615567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2019660247144137476.post-15602143647697385532010-03-24T04:18:00.000-07:002010-03-24T04:20:03.570-07:00WAYWARD AND FANCIFUL: Memories of Erap's All-Out WarBy Gail Ilagan
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<br /><p style="margin-right: 9pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/21 March) -- It happened ten years ago. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">The Battle of Matanog came about with the launching of <em>Operation Dominance</em> on 29 April to 3 June 2000. The operational plan was intended to assert government control over the Narciso Ramos Highway in Central Mindanao. In <em>In assertion of sovereignty: The peace process</em>, military researchers Pobre and Quilop write that in that battle, government troops met heavy resistance made more difficult by the presence of “heavily fortified MILF bunkers which provided the MILF easily defensible and well-entrenched positions.” </span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 9pt 0.0001pt; text-indent: 27pt;" class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">On 3 to 18 May 2000, <em>Operation Freeway</em> was activated to complement <em>Operation Dominance </em>which led to the eventual capture of Camp Abubakar, a 10,000-hectare complex stretching from the Maguindanao towns of Matanog, Barira, Buldon and Parang, and well into portions of the Lanao del Sur towns of Kapatagan, Balabagan and Butig. </span></p><p style="margin: 0in 9pt 0.0001pt; text-indent: 27pt;" class="MsoNormal"> </p><p style="margin: 0in 9pt 0.0001pt; text-indent: 27pt;" class="MsoNormal"> </p><p style="margin: 0in 9pt 0.0001pt; text-indent: 27pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Seventy-one government troops died in the clearing of the Narciso Ramos Highway. The AFP lists MILF body count at 424 from <em>Operation Dominance</em> and 216 from <em>Operation Freeway</em>. This narrative gotten 9 October 2009 refers to events on 3 May 2000 in what Pobre describes as “one of the costliest engagements, if not the costliest battle, of the whole campaign."</span></p><p style="margin: 0in 9pt 0.0001pt; text-indent: 27pt;" class="MsoNormal"> </p><p style="margin: 0in 9pt 0.0001pt; text-indent: 27pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Body counts do not the total cost of battle make. </span></p><p style="margin: 0in 9pt 0.0001pt; text-indent: 27pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">
<br /> Ten years later, we revisit the psychological cost of war on our combat troops. This excerpt is the tip of the iceberg. This is a preview of the material in my book <em>War Wounded</em>, where I hope to provide a roadmap to the AFP and to like-minded helping professionals to help soldiers heal from the psychological burden of the call to duty.</span></p><p style="margin: 0in 9pt 0.0001pt; text-indent: 27pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">
<br /> In <em>The Charge of the Light Brigade</em>, Tennyson wrote: “Into the Valley of Death rode the six hundred… Theirs not to reason why… Theirs but to do and die.”<span>
<br /></span>A most appropriate material to set the mood.
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<br />Read on and weep.
<br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 9pt 0.0001pt;" class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">
<br />…Most that I saw fall among my comrades…that was in Matanog. From my company, there were nine dead that we had to leave in the encounter site. It was not safe to get them. This happened in 2000. My comrades died in that encounter. It was about a week before their bodies were recovered. A long time. The dogs had been at them… ate their ears. They bloated. Some had been beheaded. Mutilated.
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<br /></span></em></p> <p style="margin: 0in 9pt 0.0001pt;" class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">No, I didn’t see that personally. I saw on TV. I was already in the hospital then. It was very painful for me because they were my companions. There were nine from us, the Rangers. The Marines had many KIA, too. We were not able to get them because if we were to get them, more of us would die, so we had to leave them there. It would be a week before other Rangers could come for them. I wasn’t there for that. I was in the hospital because I was also wounded. But the Scout Rangers sent troops to recover them.<span>
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<br /></span></span></em></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0.25in 0.0001pt 9pt; text-indent: -9pt;" class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"> </span></em><strong><em><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span> </span>What happened there? Can you tell me?
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<br /></span></em></strong></p> <p style="margin: 0in 9pt 0.0001pt;" class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">The dead among us… around 24. Just one operation, 24 dead. The wounded… So many. That was a four-day operation. This was about President Estrada’s all-out war. We were sent to overrun Camp Abubakar, but I never did get to Abubakar. When we got to Matanog… that’s still a long way to Abubakar… the MILF attacked us immediately. So we marched to Abubakar, meeting heavy resistance all the way.
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<br /></span></em></p> <p style="margin: 0in 9pt 0.0001pt;" class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Four days of intense fighting. No let up. The enemy troops were in bunkers. They used the irrigation ducts as bunkers. We couldn’t flush them out and we also did not know how many more there were. So, 24 dead. And the wounded… so many. Many were wounded from the three Ranger battalions… about 50 percent. Almost 50 percent. I know because we almost could not carry them all. That many. We had to leave nine of them there. Plus the… some from the Marines.
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<br /></span></em></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0.25in 0.0001pt 9pt; text-indent: -9pt;" class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"> </span></em><strong><em><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span> </span>Sarge, let me take you back to the encounter. Did you see anyone who was dying?
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<br /></span></em></strong></p> <p style="margin: 0in 9pt 0.0001pt;" class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Yes, ma’m. They were dying. The most painful one for me was my commanding officer, Lt. Paler. He was a good man. I was the aid man, at the same time I was the team leader of the leading team. So while I was treating him, he told me ‘Don’t leave me alone,’ so I told him, ‘Yes, sir- I’ll be here for you, sir.’ But he died as we were withdrawing. He never got to Parang alive. The doctor there said he could have stood a chance had he gotten in ten minutes earlier. But we had a hard time withdrawing. We couldn’t do it very fast. Too many… we almost couldn’t carry them all out…
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<br /></span></em></p> <p style="margin: 0in 9pt 0.0001pt;" class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Lt. Paler was hit…Heavy fighting… around 4:45 in the morning until 1:00 in the afternoon. Lt. Paler was hit around 10:00 am. It was quite some time that he could still <span> </span>talk. Then he said, ‘Take care of me.’ I said, ‘Sir, I’ll take care of you.’ And I did, ma’m. That’s why it’s very painful when I remember.
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<br /></span></em></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0.25in 0.0001pt 9pt; text-indent: -9pt;" class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"> </span></em><strong><em><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span> </span>You were taking care of him and you were taking care of others, too.
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<br /></span></em></strong></p> <p style="margin: 0in 9pt 0.0001pt;" class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">There were a lot… Where we were, that’s where the wounded would come. They would come crawling… because where we were was a bit safe. Of course, their injuries needed attending. I had to take care of them, too. And then, CO said, ‘Sarge, I got hit.’ I thought he was only wounded on the head. He was bleeding very profusely. But when I examined him, I found he also had a chest wound. He said, ‘I think it went through.’ I did not tell him that blood wasn’t coming out. The bullet had punctured his skin and the surrounding area had turned black. It looked bad. But I didn’t tell him that. I was afraid he was losing blood inside. Hemorrhage.
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<br /></span></em></p> <p style="margin: 0in 9pt 0.0001pt;" class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">He said, ‘Take care of me.’ I told him, ‘Yes, sir, I won’t let anything happen to you, sir.’ But he couldn’t walk anymore. I propped him against a tree by my side.
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<br />Sometimes, I had to leave him to take care of someone else. And then the enemy fire would get intense again and I had to help fight back. He’d say, ‘It’s okay, Sarge. Go.’ He still had strength. He still gave commands.
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<br /></span></em></p> <p style="margin: 0in 9pt 0.0001pt;" class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">But when we withdrew… we really had to withdraw. The enemy was increasing in number. They were too close. Almost touching distance. They were coming for us. So, it wasn’t a proper withdrawal. We had to do it in haste. We just had to get them out of the line of fire and bring them to safety. I thought he was strong enough to survive that, so when I heard that he died on the way to the hospital… I really did not know what to think, ma’m. I did not know what I felt.
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<br /></span></em></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0.25in 0.0001pt 9pt; text-indent: -9pt;" class="MsoNormal"><strong><em><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span> </span>What were you looking at before the order for withdrawal came?
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<br /></span></em></strong></p> <p style="margin: 0in 9pt 0.0001pt;" class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">The wounded. In front, at the back, all around. So many. Really many. And no… so many wounded troops. There were 75 soldiers in our company… 17 or 18 were wounded, three were already dead. From our company, we got them all out, even the dead ones. We didn’t have anyone who died on the spot, actually. The three died during withdrawal. The other companies suffered more casualties. They were the ones who fell where we couldn’t get them. They were out there pinned down where the enemy would fire at anyone who would attempt to get them. And that was why so many died because we kept trying to get them. We tried. We did not want to leave them there. </span></em></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">(Wayward and Fanciful is Gail Ilagan's column for MindaViews, the opinion section of <span> </span>MindaNews. Ilagan teaches Social Justice, Family Sociology, Theories of Socialization and<span> </span>Psychology at the Ateneo de Davao University where she is also the associate editor of Tambara. You may send comments to <script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript"> <!-- var prefix = 'ma' + 'il' + 'to'; var path = 'hr' + 'ef' + '='; var addy69090 = 'gail' + '@'; addy69090 = addy69090 + 'mindanews' + '.' + 'com' + '.' + ''; document.write( '<a>' ); document.write( addy69090 ); document.write( '<\/a>' ); //-->\n </script><a href="mailto:gail@mindanews.com.">gail@mindanews.com.</a><script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript"> <!-- document.write( '<span style="\'display:">' ); //--> </script><span style="display: none;">This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it <script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript"> <!-- document.write( '</' ); document.write( 'span>' ); //--> </script></span> "Send at the risk of a reply," she says).</span></em></p>
<br />webmasterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02365741235290615567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2019660247144137476.post-5945974372058849842010-03-24T04:15:00.000-07:002010-03-24T04:18:05.510-07:00An Inconsistency to the GRP-Moro Peace ProcessBy Ahmed Harris “Tommy” R. Pangcoga<br /><br />Dialogue Mindanaw is an inconsistency to the GRP-Moro Peace Process. I make this assumption based on the “Theory of Interconnected or Embedded Peace Negotiations”1.<br /><br />In this theory, we see two parties with a negotiation table and a backdoor in the middle. On each side are the panels, their principals, and their respective constituent masses. If we are to contextualize this theory to the whole GRP-Moro Peace Process, we see two negotiation tables, with the peace panels of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) on one side and their counterpart peace panels of the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) on the other side. The principals of the peace panels are the Central Committees of the MNLF and MILF and the GRP leadership. The panels cannot negotiate on anything without a “by-your-leave” from their respective principals. On their part, the principals set what contentious issues are to be negotiated by the panels. The constituent masses of the GRP, as claimed, are three – the majority mainstream, the Indigenous Peoples, and the Bangsamoro People. The constituent mass of the MNLF and MILF is only one – the Bangsamoro People. Now, the principals cannot be principals in a negotiation process without mandate from their respective constituent masses, whether under the Constitution or outside the Constitution but in a similar manner. Mandate, therefore, runs inwards, from the constituent masses, to the principals, and to the peace panels. Legitimacy of representation, on the other hand, runs outwards, from the peace panels, to their respective principals, and then to the constituent masses.<br /><br />With these basic roles laid out, I find Dialogue Mindanaw as an inconsistency to the GRP-Moro Peace Process. It sticks out like a sore thumb. Somehow, it doesn’t belong.<br /><br />Dialogue Mindanaw, as defined on its primer, is the “biggest communication plan” entered into by the GRP. In particular, it is a series of consultative activities covering nine key regions in Mindanao and four regions from the rest of the Philippines, with special focus on the Mindanao peace negotiation, and using a particularly designed process called “reflective dialogue.” It touches on “critical issues that are being discussed in the GRP-MILF peace talks” through three components, namely: 1) Public Relations and Media Advertising Campaign to reach a broader audience, 2) Public Conversations at the grassroots communities, and 3) Reflective Dialogues2.<br /><br />The initiative and the people running Dialogue Mindanaw, as a whole, cannot be classified either as principal, or panel, or constituent mass in the embedded negotiation process, neither from the GRP side, nor from the MILF side, considering that it had consulted both the identified constituent masses of the principal parties involved in the GRP-Moro Peace Process.<br /><br />Now, I wholeheartedly agree that there should be greater people’s participation in the peace process, not only in the GRP-MILF peace talks but in the entire GRP-Moro Peace Process. The majority mainstream, Indigenous Peoples, and Bangsamoro People (who are also indigenous to Mindanao, by the way) have every right to be informed and their sentiments heard by their principal representatives to the peace negotiations and that the latter’s respective decisions therein should be based on these sentiments. But establishing mechanisms that would enhance and ensure people’s participation should be consistent as well to the roles defined in the embedded negotiation process.<br /><br />But who has the rightful obligation to consult these constituent masses? The inconsistency lies in the fact that, in this instance, it was not the MILF that consulted its constituent masses, but Dialogue Mindanaw, which is a government initiative. Through the “dialogue”, the GRP has reached out to the Bangsamoro People directly, the constituent masses of the two Moro fronts, and asked them what their views are in relation to restoring peace in Mindanao. If this course of action is related to the negotiation process, which it is, then this to me is unethical. As a matter of delicadeza, the GRP should have left it to the MILF to consult the Bangsamoro People. Let the GRP consult its own constituent masses, as it should. But let the MILF and MNLF consult the Bangsamoro People by themselves as well. A transparent stakeholders’ analysis is, therefore, in order.<br /><br />Contrary to prevailing notions, “it is not the Bangsamoro People that belong to the MNLF, or the MILF. Rather, it is the MNLF and MILF that belong to the Bangsamoro People”3. It is from the “loins” of these long-suffering constituent masses that the MNLF, the MILF and all other manifestations of “freedom fighting” – armed or non-armed – past, present and future, have and will come forth from.<br /><br />Furthermore, I believe this initiative has undermined several very important facts.<br /><br />First, it has undermined the 1996 Final Peace Agreement with the MNLF and the 20-year long peace negotiations that led to it. This document has already been signed. The first phase has already been implemented (with questions and reservations on the part of the MNLF hierarchy, and contrary pronouncements on the part of the GRP) and has for several years now been in review (until when, we can only guess). What we are waiting for now are the results of this review and the manner by which the second phase of the Agreement will be implemented (and, maybe, how long and how consistent to the document it will be).<br /><br />Second, it has undermined the 13-year long ongoing peace talks with the MILF. This negotiation is anchored on the presumed recognition of the GRP to the mandate given by the Bangsamoro People to the MILF; that they are the Bangsamoro People’s duly constituted representatives (or vanguards, if you will) in the peace talks, in particular, and in this people’s overall assertion to restore its lost right to self determination, in general. All interim agreements signed by the MILF with the GRP have been made with that mandate as basis.<br /><br />Third, it has undermined the mandate of the Bangsamoro People itself given to the MNLF and the MILF (on separate occasions) to spearhead their assertion for the restoration of their lost right to self determination, whether through an armed struggle, or through the negotiation tables with the GRP (The Bangsamoro General Assembly at Palimbang, Sultan Kudarat in 1971 for the MNLF, the 3rd Bangsamoro General Consultative Assembly at Darapanan in 2005 for the MILF, etc). Both approaches have the end view that the historical injustices done to the Bangsamoro People would be acknowledged and appropriately addressed by the GRP.<br /><br />Under the ambit of the peace talks, the mandate given by over two million Moro who attended the 3rd General Consultative Assembly at Camp Darapanan to the MILF was to engage with the GRP towards resolving the issue of what the GRP “can still return to the Bangsamoro and NOT what it can give. Because the Bangsamoro is not begging anything from the GRP.”4 (While ABS-CBN reported an attendance of one million in Darapanan 2005, the attendance sheets of the assembly was said to show over three million, so I take the median figure of over two million.) This clearly shows that mandate was already given and what specific task should be done. If Dialogue Mindanaw had consulted communities who had attended any of these Bangsamoro assemblies, then their consultations with them will have become moot and academic, in addition to being unethical. And they will have also contributed to the confusion that is already prevailing within the peace process.<br /><br />Although the GRP also claims that its mandate comes not only from the mainstream majority and the Indigenous Peoples, but also from the Bangsamoro People (those who have decided to exercise their right to suffrage under the sovereignty of this Republic – though for decades the question as to whether this individual right has been accurately tabulated and counted during elections), this claim is suspect.<br /><br />If Dialogue Mindanaw would claim that their consultation process is already a way of getting fresh mandate from the respective constituent masses of the GRP and the MILF, then I would cite the fact that this “authentic dialogue” of sorts is a unilateral initiative of the GRP and not a consensusly agreed one.<br /><br />Fourth, it has undermined the historical antecedent of the Moro Question, to wit:<br /><br />1. The Moro-Spanish Wars from 1578 to 1878, where the people of the sultanates, the principalities and their respective protectorates fought off wave after wave of Christianized natives from Luzon and Visayas who were drafted through the “polistas” law of the Spaniards to fight the Moro people in a three-century long attempt to colonize Mindanao.<br /><br />2. The outright rejection of the Moro leaders to the offer of Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo when he sought to develop a “national political vision” and talk about a “Philippine Nation” with them, because he was “300 years too late,” and that “when (the Moro people) were fighting to preserve their freedom, the Christianized natives (from) the north were helping the colonizers.”<br /><br />3. The Treaty of Paris in 1898, which included MINSUPALA, the original ancestral domain of the Bangsamoro, as among the “commodities” sold by Spain to the US for 20 Million Mexican Dollars; this WITHOUT the Moro people’s knowledge and consent.<br /><br />4. The February 1, 1924 Moro Declaration in Zamboanga, where Moro leaders called for the creation Mindanao, Sulu and Palawan as an “unorganized territory” of the US, separate and distinct from the Philippines (Luzon and Visayas). Or, that if this would not be granted, it be given its own independence as a “Moro Nation.”<br /><br />5. The March 18, 1935 Dansalan Declaration, where Moro leaders expressed preference to remain under American rule and forecasted trouble should governance over the Moro people and their lands be placed under the “Christian Filipinos”, because ever since, the Moro and the Filipinos have never seen eye to eye.<br /><br />6. The Kamlon Rebellion, the Bongabong Uprising, the Mindanao Independence Movement, etc., all of which are expressions of the strong desire of the Moro people to be restored of their right to self determination.<br /><br />Add to this the centuries-long prejudice and discrimination of the majority mainstream towards the Moro people (a treatment that is still prevailing today), and the distrust of the Moro people towards the majority mainstream and their government.<br /><br />Also, add to this the resettlement, pacification, assimilation and divide-and-rule programs initiated by the GRP, which has resulted to the systematic dispossession of ancestral lands from the Moro people in favor of settlers and multinational corporations.<br /><br />And let us not forget the ever widening divergence amongst the Moro people. Many Moro may have forgotten, or may be ignorant of, or may have devalued the historical antecedent of the Moro Question and may have become contented and happy at being called and referred to as “Filipino-Muslims” rather than as “Moro” as a result. This portion of the Moro masses may be what is being claimed by the GRP as the source of their “Moro mandate” in the negotiation tables.<br /><br />These are just a few of many other dilemmas being faced by them today.<br /><br />Now, although it is stated that the results of the consultations of Dialogue Mindanaw are to be presented only to the two negotiating panels, the fact remains that (and I repeat) the consultations-cum-dialogue is a GRP initiative only, and NOT a joint action with the MILF.<br /><br />And besides, the two panels cannot do anything to the results, except present these to their respective principals (the GRP itself and the MILF Central Committee) for consideration. The question now would be, will the MILF leadership recognize the legitimacy of an initiative that it had not only not agreed to, but also has usurped its rightful obligation to engage with its constituent masses?<br /><br />Though the purpose and efforts of Dialogue Mindanaw is noteworthy and laudable, and the methodology of reflective dialoguing is excellent per se, the motives behind it – and the motives behind these motives – have become a source of suspicion for me. What I see is that Dialogue Mindanaw is there to help the GRP in “solving the Bangsamoro problem from its eyes, or in solving the GRP’s problem with the Bangsamoro, but it is NOT helping to solve the Bangsamoro problem as seen from the eyes of the Bangsamoro People.”5<br /><br />As a Moro and as someone who works for justice and peace for my people and my progeny, the last thing we all want to be in is to be more confused. If we are to call for sincerity and greater people’s participation in the peace process, then let us also call for a sense of order and consistency to the peace process.<br /><br />I do not know if the MNLF or MILF and their respective leaderships would agree to this analysis, but that is how I see it.<br /><br />----<br /><br />1 Maria Ida Denise Giguiento and Jonathan Rudy. Mindanao Peacebuilding Institute. 2008<br /><br />2 A Primer on Dialogue Mindanaw, Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process. 2010<br /><br />3 Sammy P. Maulana, Secretary General, Consortium of Bangsamoro Civil Society.<br /><br />4 Ibid.<br /><br />5 Ibid.<br /><br /> <br /><br />(Tommy Pangcoga is the Training and Project Development Officer of the Consortium of Bangsamoro Civil Society. He is a writer who considers himself a student of the GRP-Moro peace process.)webmasterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02365741235290615567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2019660247144137476.post-53661566938856056652010-03-18T23:10:00.000-07:002010-03-18T23:11:54.872-07:0010 years after Erap’s “all out war,” GMA’s “all out peace” is not within reachby Carolyn O. Arguillas/MindaNews<br /><br />DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/18 March) -- The “all out peace” and “primacy of the peace process” policy statements notwithstanding, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo ends her nine-year Presidency with peace as elusive as it was under predecessor Joseph Estrada, the man who declared “all out war” against the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) on March 21, 2000.<br /><br />For one who promised “all out peace” in contrast to her predecessor’s “all out war,” and who in her 2005 State of the Nation Address bragged “permanent peace in Mindanao is within reach,” Ms Arroyo has become the only post-Marcos era President with at least two major wars fought against the MILF: in 2003 and 2008 – both avoidable wars, coming as they did, in the midst of peace talks.<br />The chairs of the peace panels no longer talk about a peace agreement in the remaining days of the Arroyo administration. Instead, they are talking about an “interim agreement” before her administration ends at noon of June 30.<br /><br />A press statement of the Department of Foreign Affairs on March 5 quoted Foreign Affairs Undersecretary and government peace panel chair Rafael Seguis as saying that a “significant interim agreement can still be realistically pursued” before then.<br /><br />MILF peace panel chair Mohagher Iqbal told MindaNews on the same day that they had ruled out forging a comprehensive compact. “Only interim agreement is possible.”<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Ten years from all-out war</span><br /><br />Fr. Eliseo Mercado, Jr, executive director of the Cotabato City-based Institute of Autonomy and Governance (IAG), was a member of the GRP-MILF’s Independent Fact-Finding Mission tasked to look into reported violations of the ceasefire during Estrada’s “all out war” in 2000.<br /><br />“There is no short cut to peace, no quick fix to our woes,” he said of the war ten years ago.<br /><br />But Mercado maintains that the “all-out war” is “no solution at all.”<br /><br />“It only exacerbates the problem,” he said.<br /><br />Guiamel Alim, a member of the Council of Elders of the Consortium of Bangsamoro Civil Society and executive director of the Kadtuntaya Foundation, Inc. (KFI), says ten years have shown us the need for the government to “be consistent in its policy for peace.”<br /><br />Unfortunately, Alim adds, only Erap (Estrada) is consistent with his peace policy as President in 2000 and as candidate for President in the 2010 polls. Estrada has vowed to continue what he started: “eliminate the Abu Sayyaf and the MILF, wage war to win the peace in Mindanao.”<br /><br />Fr. Angel Calvo, a Claretian priest who spent years in Basilan in the 1970s and 1980s and convenor of the Peace Advocates Zamboanga (PAZ) said he is “afraid we’ll ask similar question in ten years but we’ve learned that we need to find a socio-political solution to our historical problems, not only military. We struggle to find a peaceful formula for all But this is a long process.”<br /><br />For MILF peace panel chair Iqbal, the major lesson learned in the last 10 years has been that the government is “not serious.”<br /><br />It is an unfortunate assessment given by the group that government is negotiating peace with, considering the optimism that the Arroyo administration brought to Mindanao, particularly the Bangsamoro, at the onset.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Right things</span><br /><br />And it did all the supposed right things: for the first time in the history of the peace process, a government peace panel finally acknowledged that the Philippines had committed a historical injustice against the Bangsamoro.<br /><br />The President also declared Eid’l Fitr, the end of Ramadhan, as a national holiday.<br /><br />Also for the first time, the five-person peace panel was composed of all Mindanawons and was headed, for the first time again, not by a retired military general but by a non-combatant: Jesus Dureza, then concurrent Presidential Assistant for Mindanao and chair of the Mindanao Economic Development Council.<br /><br />Dureza’s panel also had two women – Emily Marohombsar, who was also a member of the peace panel under Estrada and Irene Santiago of the Mindanao Commission on Women – and two government officials: Cotabato City Mayor Muslimin Sema (also then secretary-general of the Moro National Liberation Front Executive Committee) and then ARMM Vice Governor Mahid Mutilan.<br /><br />Dureza resigned in May 2003, after the Buliok war, purportedly to focus on his role in MEDCo. He was replaced briefly by Eduardo Ermita, a retired general; then Silvestre Afable; briefly Eliseo Mercado, Jr. who was replaced briefly by Acting chair Rudy Rodil; then retired general Rodolfo Garcia whose panel was dissolved on September 3, 2008, following the aborted signing of the already initialled Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD).<br /><br />The Seguis panel was set up in December 2008.<br /><br />Ten years earlier, in late June 2000, Seguis was among Filipino career diplomats then assigned in the Middle East who were brought to Kuala Lumpur by the Philippine government to attend the Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, as guests of the OIC Committee of the Six headed by Indonesia (it became Committee of the Eight to include Malaysia and Brunei at the end of that conference), to look into the claims of the Moro National Liberation Front and the MILF in the OIC to be able to respond to these in the diplomatic world.<br /><br />It was the first time the MILF was represented in an OIC meeting.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">GRP-MNLF peace pact review</span><br /><br />It was under the Arroyo administration when the OIC sent in May 2006 a fact-finding team to look into the progress of implementation of the 1996 peace pact. A Tripartite Review Committee was tasked to do that and it held its first meeting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in November 2007 where MNLF chair Nur Misuari, in a 15-page speech read for him by Al Tillah, warned the Philippine government from signing a peace agreement with the MILF, citing claims by an American diplomat that a peace pact with the MILF “will be illegal.”<br /><br />Misuari quoted the diplomat as saying, “It was the consensus of these jurists or legal luminaries, and I fully agree with them, that any peace agreement between the GRP and the MILF is illegal as it will (be) tantamount to an imposition or super-imposition on a pre-existing international peace treaty agreement. Because any such GRP-MILF peace deal could only but involve the same people, the same territory, and the same administrative apparatus. This administrative apparatus can only be a mere autonomy no different in essence and substance with than already committed in the Tripoli Agreement of December 23, 1976 and the Jakarta-Manila Final Peace Agreement of September 2, 1996 to the MNLF!”<br /><br />The Seguis panel on January 27 this year, handed over to the MILF a draft peace agreement that did not consider the guidelines the two panels had agreed upon in December 2009, but offered instead an “enhanced autonomy” (see Diaz analysis, Part 2) purportedly to enable the “highest form of autonomy” for Muslim Mindanao. The government peace panel had offered “enhanced autonomy” for the third time to the MILF and thrice this was rejected.<br /><br />The first was in May 2000 and the second, in February 2003, both in the midst of war. The MILF had repeatedly said the autonomous region is an experiment that has failed.<br /><br />The Seguis panel also committed to “advocate for” executive, legislative and other policy actions and vowed that “within 30 days from the signing of this Agreement, the President shall issue an Executive Order to optimize fiscal autonomy for the ARMM; provide technical support for identifying sources of revenue” among others.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Self-determination</span><br /><br />The MILF draft, on the other hand, provides a “political framework for a democratic system of governance, accountability, equality, respect, and justice for all citizens” (see Diaz analysis Part 2).<br /><br />“In pursuit of self-determination, it is possible to redress the legitimate grievances of the Bangsamoro people in Mindanao and likewise meet their aspirations,” the draft states.<br /><br />The draft also provides that compact rights entrenchment emanating from the regime of daru-ul-mua’hada or territory under compact and dar-ul-suh or territory under peace agreement “partakes the nature of a treaty device by which a compact of free association will regulate the relations between the Government and the Bangsamoro people.”<br /><br />Provisions on representation in central government are similar to the provisions on representation under the 1996 peace pact with the MNLF that were not implemented. Wealth-sharing provisions in the MILF draft are an improvement over the MNLF’s peace pact.<br /><br />The MILF draft also guarantees no disturbance in existing offices by providing a proposed pre-interim period of six months and an interim period of six years that would also serve as the transition period.<br /><br />At present, the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, a product of the 1987 Constitutional provision that both the MNLF and MILF objected to, has elected officials serving until September 30, 2011.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">UN Decade for a Culture of Peace</span><br /><br />The Arroyo years (2001 to 2010) coincided with the United Nations’ International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World.<br /><br />But in the Philippines, the Decade for Peace saw two wars against the Moro by the Arroyo administration -- in 2003 and 2008, the first displacing a little over 400,000 persons; the second displacing at least half a million (600,0000).<br /><br />The 2008 displacement was “the biggest new displacement in the world” out of 4.2 million newly displaced that year, the Geneva-based Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre said in its April 2009 report.<br /><br />The Phlippine government may not have achieved the goals of the UN Decade for Peace but the Decade saw the expansion of civil society actively engaging in peacebuilding efforts – people’s organizations, Bishops-Ulama, media, youth, the academe, etc...<br /><br />The latter half of the decade also saw military generals, junior officers and rank and file soldiers participating in peacebuilding sessions that include understanding Mindanao ‘s history, and practising what they learned in the session halls at the field level.<br /><br />The decade also saw the most number of books – at least 229 from 2000 to 2009 – on Mindanao or written by Mindanawons, mostly on peacebuilding and history. (Carolyn O. Arguillas/MindaNews)webmasterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02365741235290615567noreply@blogger.com0