CBCS Information

DECLARATION OF OPPOSITION TO THE CONSTRUCTION OF PULANGI DAM V

2010-12-19T23:59:00.000-08:00

Written by Mike G. Kulat
Monday, 20 December 2010 06:29

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.

That we hereby declare this opposition to the construction of the Pulangi Mega Dam V on the following grounds, to wit:
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;

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;

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;

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.

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;

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;

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;

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;

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.

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.

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.

Signed this 30th day of August 2010 at Crossing Simuay, Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao province in the Island of Mindanao, South of the Philippines.

Signed

DATU WILMAR ‘Bobong’ AMPUAN
Chairperson,NATABUK Federation Inc.

DUMA MASCUD, AL-HAJ
Chairman CBCS – Kutawato Regional
Management Committee

STORIES OF PEACEBUILDING

2010-12-15T19:09:00.000-08:00

PEACEBUILDING: Its Contextual Application Base on Experiences

[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]

I – Background:

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.”

[First of a Series]

TEDURAY-LAMBANGIAN POSITION PAPER ON GRP-MILF PEACE TALKS

2010-12-12T22:49:00.000-08:00

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

[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]

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;

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;

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;

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.

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:

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.

1. On Ancestral Domains

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.

2. On the Political Territory

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.

3. On the Resources

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.

4. On Governance

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.

5. Independent Indigenous Peoples’ Peace Panel – ARMM (IPPA)

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.

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.

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.

CONCLUSION

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.

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.

BISDAK BIKERS TOURED VISAYAS-MINDANAO FOR PEACE

2010-12-09T18:21:00.000-08:00

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.

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.

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”.

Peace Manifesto

We All Must Contribute to Building Peace
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.
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.
Love. Respect. Understanding. Solidarity. Learn from the past. Justice. These are our individual messages to the peoples of Mindanao.
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 Front

MASS RALLY FOR JUSTICE AND PEACE CONDUCTED

2010-11-16T23:20:00.000-08:00

ritten by Mike G. Kulat
Thursday, 11 November 2010 03:37

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

28 DAYS TO GO

2010-11-16T23:17:00.000-08:00

28 DAYS TO GO
Written by admin
Saturday, 13 November 2010 06:58

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.

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."
Thus, in IMT records only 3 armed skirmishes between AFP and MILF in 2010, MindaNews reports that:

"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.

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)."

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.

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:

"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."

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.

(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….)

CBCS KEY LEADERS EMBARKED ON “DO NO HARM” TRAINING

2010-11-16T23:11:00.000-08:00

Twenty 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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

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.

GRP-MILF PEACE TALKS TRENDS UNDER THE AQUINO REGIME

2010-11-01T21:10:00.000-07:00

GRP-MILF PEACE TALKS TRENDS UNDER THE AQUINO REGIME
By: Mike G. Kulat

Resolute but Vague Start

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.

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.

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.

Blended Emotions

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.

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.

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.

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.

Waning the Heat

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.”
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.”

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."

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.

Muddled Hope

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.

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.

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.

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.

Conclusion

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.

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.

COCOY’S PUBLIC STATEMENT

2010-10-14T02:18:00.000-07:00

*“Sige ka, magiging Cocoy ka.”*

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.

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
from school.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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?

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?

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.

Why am i not in Sulu right now?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

TEMOGEN “COCOY” TULAWIE
Sulu Human Rights Defender

A CALL FOR THE REALIZATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS

2010-10-12T02:15:00.000-07:00

The 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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.”

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.

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!

Adopted and issued in Cotabato City, this 12th day of October 2010.

Reference:

Sammy Maulana
Secretary-General
Consortium of Bangsamoro Civil Society (CBCS)
Handy numbers: 09282277154; 09061893507

2010-08-28T00:33:00.000-07:00

Vatican Message to Muslims for Ramadan

"Christians Are Spiritually Close to You During These Days"

Christians and Muslims:
Together in overcoming violence among followers of different religions

Dear Muslim Friends,

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.
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!

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.

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.

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!

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.

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!

Jean-Louis Cardinal Tauran
President

Archbishop Pier Luigi Celata
Secretary

Opening statement of Al Haj Murad Ebrahim, Chairman of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, during the MILF-FOCAP Forum on the Peace Process

2010-08-11T03:02:00.000-07:00

(Darapanan, Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao on August 9. 2010)

Mr. Alastair McIndoe, President of the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines
My Colleagues in the Moro Islamic Liberation Front
Mr. Manny Mogato and other members of the FOCAP
Members of other media organizations, who are here with us this morning
Ladies and Gentlemen
GOOD MORNING!

It is good to say the GRP-MILF Peace Process has gone a long way, to be quite precise, more than 13 years since 1997, in a bid to solve the age-old Moro Question and armed conflict in Mindanao. We have already signed with the government 87 or so documents of various nature and importance. And the Parties have also initialed one landmark document, the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD), with their commitment to “reframe the consensus points with the end in view of moving towards the comprehensive compact to bring about a negotiated political settlement.”

Another good thing to tell you is that only one substantive agenda of the peace talks is remaining: the comprehensive compact. We have tried to deal with this agenda last January 27, 2010 when we exchanged drafts on the comprehensive compact but we failed, because the Parties’ respective positions were heaven-and-earth apart. In our draft, the main thrust is for the establishment of a state-and-substate arrangement of governance in the future Bangsamoro state, while the government’s repeated its offer to the MILF in 2000 and 2003 for an enhanced autonomy for the Moros, which is nothing but molded in the template of the present bogus Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

For the MILF, the only way in the peace process is forward in order to complete the peace talks where we left off last June 3, this year. But for the government, it seems they are still trying to catch up with their breath on which way to go. Hints are piling up that they want to start the talks from scratch, 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.

At present, the ground situation is still alright. No major violations of the ceasefire have been reported. Thanks to the return of the International Monitoring Team (IMT) and the other mechanisms of the peace process and ceasefire, such as the International Contact Group (ICG) and the Civilian Protection Component of the IMT. In addition, the participation of the European Union (EU) as coordinator of the Humanitarian, Relief and Development (HRD) component of the IMT and Norway’s joining the security component of the IMT contributed a lot to the legitimacy and stability of the ceasefire and the peace process. Moreover, the continuing and deepening involvement of Japan to the peace process especially their roles in the International Contact Group (ICG) and the IMT further entrenched the firmness on the ground. Also Japan through the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) provides technical and other forms of aid promoting economic and social development in the conflict affected areas (CAAs) in Mindanao.

But while this normalcy is the most desirable situation, it is expected to change dramatically once the peace talks continue to hang in the balance. And surely that threatening and provocative statement of AFP Chief of Staff General Ricardo Davide Jr. that the government will crush the New People’s Army and the MILF by 2013 is causing jittery to an already uncertain future.

What to expect of the peace process under President Noynoy Aquino is very much in the realm of speculation. Available data are still very few and loose for one to be able to draw a correct conclusion. Appointing Teresita “Deng” Deles, as secretary of the OPAPP, and Atty, Marvic Leonen, Senen Bacani, and Miriam Coronel-Ferrer, as the new government peace negotiators, is not a sure barometer on what really is in store for the peace process. These are aggravated by such misleading terminology “Situwasyon Sa Mindanaw”, and even more by pinning the hope to solve the problem when “Moro, Lumad, and Christians are talking to each other.

The greatest challenge to the peace process is whether this time the President has the political will to surmount all obstacles and oppositions including well-entrenched spoilers once the peace talks starts or when an agreement will be signed. Running parallel is whether the peace process is truly a problem-solving endeavor or just an exercise to manage the conflict, as what previous presidents, deliberately or otherwise, did.

We wish to tell you also that whether in negotiation or in the normal course of our Islamic revolutionary struggle, the political aspirations of our people remain the same and constant; i.e., we want genuine governance for our people. We want our people to decide for themselves.

Finally it is our firm hope that the Moro Question and armed conflict in Mindanao will be settled now or in our lifetime; otherwise, this struggle of our people for freedom and right to self-determination will drag on for generation after generation. To ensure this, we are preparing the young generations today to carry on the great task of liberating our people from the yoke of oppression and thralldom.

Thank you and again good morning!

STATEMENT OF THE PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR ISLAM AND DEMOCRACY ON RECENT DEVELOPMENTS ON THE PEACE PROCESS

2010-08-10T23:00:00.000-07:00

As 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

We likewise call on the government to be more cautious in referring to the controversial Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD).

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.

Despite these initial glitches, however, we remain hopeful that a peace agreement can be forged.

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."

We also commend MILF Chair Murad when he reiterated the MILF’s belief in negotiations as the path to peace in Mindanao.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Philippine Center for Islam and Democracy
Unit 307 Continental Court Bldg
#47 Annapolis St., Greenhills
San Juan City, Philippines
Telefax: (+63 2) 722-9064
www.pcid.org.ph

CBCS STATEMENT RE ZAMBO AIRPORT BOMBING

2010-08-10T22:49:00.000-07:00

A CALL FOR SOBRIETY AND PERSISTENCE IN ATTAINING A JUST AND LASTING PEACE

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Adopted and signed in Pagadian City this 7th day of August 2010.

The CBCS

SAMMY P. MAULANA [Secretary-General] 0918-3881760

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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).

GRP-MILF TALKS CLOSURE AND TRANSITION STATEMENT

2010-07-01T23:15:00.000-07:00

HON. RAFAEL E. SEGUIS
Chairman, Government Peace Negotiating Panel
In Talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front
2 June 2010, Kuala Lumpur

Datuk Othman bin Abd Razak, Chief Facilitator,
Honorable Chairman of the MILF Peace Negotiating Panel, Mohagher Iqbal
Honorable Members of the MILF Peace Negotiating Panel
Distinguished Members of the GRP Peace Negotiating Panel,
Distinguished Members of the International Contact Group,
Excellencies,

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

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 –
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.

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:

• Agreement for General Cessation of Hostilities, 18 July 1997
• Tripoli Agreement on Peace, 22 June 2001
• Implementing Guidelines for the Security Aspect, 7 August 2001
• Implementing Guidelines of the Humanitarian, Rehabilitation and Development
Aspects, 7 May 2002
• Operational Guidelines of the Ad Hoc Joint Action Group (AHJAG), 21
December 2004

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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”.
We interpret the phrase “building on prior consensus points achieved” as referring to the overall gains in the process since 1997.

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.

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.

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.

Thank you.

A Sound Lesson of the 2010 Philippine Election

2010-06-22T21:36:00.000-07:00

A Sound Lesson of the 2010 Philippine Election
Written by Mike G. Kulat
Wednesday, 23 June 2010 01:14

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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%.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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]

Police torture, burn a man with lit cigarette in General Santos City

2010-05-18T19:39:00.001-07:00

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION – URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME

Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-065-2010

14 May 2010
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PHILIPPINES: Police torture, burn a man with lit cigarette in General Santos City

ISSUES: Torture victims; torture; police assault; right to liberty and security; arbitrary arrest and detention
------------------------------------------------------

Dear Friends,

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.

CASE NARRATIVE: (According to information received from the Task Force Detainees of the Philippines (TFDP) - Mindanao)

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".

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:

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).

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.

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.

The placard reads: "God-fearing, for the people, for the country, for the environment"

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.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

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.

(1) Systematic beating, head banging, punching, kicking, striking with truncheon or rifle butt or other similar objects, and jumping on the stomach;

(4) Cigarette burning;

(12) The use of plastic bag and other materials placed over the head to the point of asphyxiation;

“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;

SUGGESTED ACTION:
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.

The AHRC has also written letters to the Special Rapporteur on the Question of Torture for his intervention.

Source: http://www.ahrchk.net/ua/mainfile.php/2010/3451/

Soldiers torture a man held incommunicado for six days

2010-05-18T19:38:00.000-07:00

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION – URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME

Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-067-2010

17 May 2010
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PHILIPPINES: Soldiers torture a man held incommunicado for six days

ISSUES: Torture; torture victims; right to life; right to liberty and security; arbitrary arrest and detention
------------------------------------------------------

Dear Friends,

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.

CASE NARRATIVE: (According to information received from the Task Force Detainees of the Philippines (TFDP) - Mindanao)

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

On March 12, 2010 his family was finally able to visit him in the provincial jail.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

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.

Under Section 4, the torture perpetrated on Guiamblang is defined as Acts of Torture in the excerpts below;

(1) Systematic beating, head banging, punching, kicking, striking with truncheon or rifle butt or other similar objects, and jumping on the stomach;

(2) Food deprivation

(6) Being tied or forced to assume fixed and stressful bodily positions

(b) “Mental/Psychological Torture”; (1) Blindfolding;

(3) Confinement in solitary cells or secret detention places;

(4) Prolonged interrogation;

(11) Deliberately prohibiting the victim from communicating with any member of his/her family

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.

SUGGESTED ACTION:
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.

The AHRC has also written letters to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Question of Torture for his intervention.

Source: http://www.ahrchk.net/ua/mainfile.php/2010/3453/

Inter-religious groups to Basilan assailants: "choose the human way"

2010-04-19T23:56:00.001-07:00

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.”

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.”

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.

“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.

“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.

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.”

“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.

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.”
“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.

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.”

“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)

A CALL FOR SOBRIETY AND UNITY ON THE ISABELA CITY CRISIS

2010-04-17T02:23:00.000-07:00

Consortium of Bangsamoro Civil Society
E-mail: secretariat@cbcsi.org

A CALL FOR SOBRIETY AND UNITY ON THE ISABELA CITY CRISIS

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.

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.

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.

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.

Signed and adopted in Zamboanga City this 15th day of April 2010.

CBCS Basilan Regional Management Committee
Chair: Nathan Insung
Members:
Damona C. Sadjail
Mistiri A. Tarami
Muhti H. Abdulla
Arthur D. Baul

CBCS Samboangan (Zamboanga) Regional Management Committee
Chair: Munib A. Kahal
Members:
Meriam G. Abba
Persing A. Dangkahan
Ailarahma A. Taupan

CBCS Lupah Sug (Sulu) Regional Management Committee
Chair: Vandrazel M. Birowa
Members:
Edmund C. Gumbahali
Jocelyn A. Basaluddin
Berkis A. Basaluddin
Nur-in M. Hapas
Farida A. Hadjulani
Hadzer M. Birowa
Zoraida Gumbahali

CBCS National Secretariat
Secretary General: Sammy P. Maulana
Project Staff: Mohammad Omar

(Human Rights Watch) Philippines: Candidates Should Propose Plans to End Killings

2010-04-15T22:28:00.000-07:00

Perpetrators of Political Violence Remain at Large
April 15, 2010

(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.

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.

"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."

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.

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.

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.

"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."

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

"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."

Source: http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2010/04/15/philippines-candidates-should-propose-plans-end-killings

The Philippines' private armies

2010-03-26T04:55:00.000-07:00

WAYWARD AND FANCIFUL: Memories of Erap's All-Out War

2010-03-24T04:18:00.000-07:00

By Gail Ilagan

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/21 March) -- It happened ten years ago.

The Battle of Matanog came about with the launching of Operation Dominance 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 In assertion of sovereignty: The peace process, 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.”

On 3 to 18 May 2000, Operation Freeway was activated to complement Operation Dominance 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.

Seventy-one government troops died in the clearing of the Narciso Ramos Highway. The AFP lists MILF body count at 424 from Operation Dominance and 216 from Operation Freeway. 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."

Body counts do not the total cost of battle make.

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 War Wounded, 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.

In The Charge of the Light Brigade, Tennyson wrote: “Into the Valley of Death rode the six hundred… Theirs not to reason why… Theirs but to do and die.”
A most appropriate material to set the mood.

Read on and weep.

…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.

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.

What happened there? Can you tell me?

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.

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.

Sarge, let me take you back to the encounter. Did you see anyone who was dying?

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…

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 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.

You were taking care of him and you were taking care of others, too.

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.

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.

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.

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.

What were you looking at before the order for withdrawal came?

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.

(Wayward and Fanciful is Gail Ilagan's column for MindaViews, the opinion section of MindaNews. Ilagan teaches Social Justice, Family Sociology, Theories of Socialization and Psychology at the Ateneo de Davao University where she is also the associate editor of Tambara. You may send comments to gail@mindanews.com. "Send at the risk of a reply," she says).

An Inconsistency to the GRP-Moro Peace Process

2010-03-24T04:15:00.000-07:00

By Ahmed Harris “Tommy” R. Pangcoga

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Furthermore, I believe this initiative has undermined several very important facts.

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).

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Fourth, it has undermined the historical antecedent of the Moro Question, to wit:

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.

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.”

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.

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.”

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

These are just a few of many other dilemmas being faced by them today.

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.

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?

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

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.

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.

----

1 Maria Ida Denise Giguiento and Jonathan Rudy. Mindanao Peacebuilding Institute. 2008

2 A Primer on Dialogue Mindanaw, Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process. 2010

3 Sammy P. Maulana, Secretary General, Consortium of Bangsamoro Civil Society.

4 Ibid.

5 Ibid.

(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.)

10 years after Erap’s “all out war,” GMA’s “all out peace” is not within reach

2010-03-18T23:10:00.000-07:00

by Carolyn O. Arguillas/MindaNews

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.

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.
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.

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.

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.”

Ten years from all-out war

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.

“There is no short cut to peace, no quick fix to our woes,” he said of the war ten years ago.

But Mercado maintains that the “all-out war” is “no solution at all.”

“It only exacerbates the problem,” he said.

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.”

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.”

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.”

For MILF peace panel chair Iqbal, the major lesson learned in the last 10 years has been that the government is “not serious.”

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.

Right things

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.

The President also declared Eid’l Fitr, the end of Ramadhan, as a national holiday.

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.

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.

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).

The Seguis panel was set up in December 2008.

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.

It was the first time the MILF was represented in an OIC meeting.

GRP-MNLF peace pact review

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.”

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!”

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.

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.

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.

Self-determination

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).

“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.

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.”

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.

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.

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.

UN Decade for a Culture of Peace

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.

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).

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.

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...

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.

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)

Decolonize the Philippines, adopt a new constitution

2010-03-18T19:27:00.000-07:00

By Rudy Buhay Rodil

ILIGAN CITY (MindaNews/18 March) -- Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. January 27, 2010: the peace negotiating panels of the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) met to exchange position papers based on seven points earlier agreed upon, namely, (1) Identity and citizenship, (2) Government and structure, (3) Security arrangements, (4) Wealth-sharing, natural resources and property rights, (5) Restorative justice and reconciliation, (6) Implementation arrangements, (7) Independent Monitoring. The MILF complied but the GRP proposed enhanced autonomy, not following the aforementioned seven points. In effect, it offered an amendment to the present Organic of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. The MILF refused to meet the following day. A similar thing had been offered twice earlier, in May 2000 and in 2003. This is the third. They saw no point in the meeting. The two positions are so far apart one is immediately led to believe that no comprehensive compact can be expected within the term of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, before June 30, 2010.

I will not add to the remarkable details and lucid insights assembled in the analysis of my mentor, Mr. Pat Diaz. What I will do is to view the problem from another angle.

In the first place I ask the question. Is it the Moro problem we are trying to solve? Or the GRP problem?

If it is the Moro problem, it has been with us since 1968, almost 42 two years to date.

A series of major Moro organizations articulated Moro aspirations. The Muslim Independence Movement (MIM) said it wanted to put up an Islamic State in predominantly Muslim areas of Mindanao-Sulu-Palawan (Minsupala). President Ferdinand Marcos responded by appointing its leader, former Cotabato Governor Datu Udtog Matalam, as presidential adviser on Muslim affairs. The organization died but the seed had been sown.

The Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) emerged immediately after and loudly proclaimed the birth of the Bangsamoro, and their intent to liberate the Bangsamoro from the clutches of Philippine colonialism and establish a Bangsamoro Republic in Mindanao-Sulu-Palawan, their ancestral homeland. The war netted more than 100,000 lives and cost the government more than seventy billion pesos in combat expenses alone. The GRP-MNLF peace negotiations that followed produced the Tripoli Agreement which established the Autonomous Region for the Muslims of Southern Philippines. It took 20 years before the two parties could agree on how to implement. Finally in 1996, they signed the Final Peace Agreement on the Implementation of the Tripoli Agreement, but 13 years have passed and the government has yet to fully implement its provisions. And the government admits it.

Perceiving that the Bangsamoro cause has been compromised, the MILF refused to accept the 1996 agreement and announced its resumption of the Bangsamoro struggle for self-determination. From January 1997 to the present, two big events were happening at the same, an active war in 13 provinces of Mindanao-Sulu Archipelago and a peace negotiation. Over the years the MILF has narrowed down its pursuit to the creation of a political entity somewhere in between the present autonomy and independence and very much an integral part of the Republic of the Philippines.

So, if I may reiterate, what is the GRP problem?

Since the time of President Marcos, from the first negotiating panel to the 18^th, yes, Chairman Rafael Seguis is the 18^th panel chair on the government side, the GRP position has been consistent: to uphold national sovereignty and the integrity of the Philippine territory; it agreed to negotiate but only within the framework of the Philippine constitution. The constitutional part became more specific in Article X of the 1987 Constitution. But the Moro problem remains unsolved.

This was why the Tripoli Agreement was acceptable to the GRP. It is new in Philippine political history, has 16 paragraphs and paragraph 16 says that the entire agreement was to be implemented in accordance with constitutional processes. It took 20 years for the two parties to agree on what that exactly means. But despite the 1996 accord, the GRP seems hesitant to fully implement it.

Thoughtful military officers who have fought in the Moro front since they were junior officers claim that the military has fought for 40 years; between 100,000 to 120,000 lives have perished, 50 percent were MNLF, 30 percent were AFP, and 20 percent were civilians; Php 73 billion have been spent in combat expenses alone. But the Moro problem is still there very much alive and kicking. It is obvious to them the war is not the answer.

In the negotiation front, the constitution is the main GRP framework for solution. The GRP is on its 18^th peace panel chair and the same framework has been used. This is perfectly understandable. Every government employee as a matter of fact must swear to uphold the constitution as soon as he or she joins government service. How much more peace panel members who represent the republic through the office of the President. Still the Moro problem remains. Can we also say the constitutional solution is faulty?

It might help clarify a number of things if we review a series of interrelated events in Mindanao history.

The first event is the Treaty of Paris. Every Bangsamoro peace panel, whether MNLF or MILF, claims that they have never been colonized by the Spaniards but the Spaniards included them in their cession of the Philippines to the United States without their plebiscitary consent.

As a Mindanao historian who has done more than my share of historical research I know this to be true. As an assertion of our Filipino point of view, I should add that at the time of the Treaty of Paris, December 1898, it is doubtful if there was any part of the Philippines that Spain owned and could cede to the United States because the Filipino revolutionary leaders had declared Philippine independence in June of the same year.

The Cordillera was one territory she never colonized; the same may be said of Lumad communities which retained their independence through avoidance of contact with the Spanish forces. So, it is not only the Bangsamoro who should complain that they were never asked whether or not they wished their territory to be part of the Philippines; the Filipinos, too, and the Cordillerans and the Lumad – colonizers do not ask colonial victims for their consent. All this, of course, becomes moot and academic because we lost in the war against the Americans. As a consequence, we all became colonial subjects of America, in a colony they now called the Philippine Islands.

The second event is the marginalization of the indigenous Lumad and Moro communities of Mindanao starting with the American institutionalization of the ownership and disposition land through the imposition of the regalian doctrine and the torrens system. This means that the United States has become the owner of the new Philippine colony and reserves the right to pass laws to dispose of the land to its inhabitants. The US colonial government started the process by passing a law declaring as null and void all land grants made by traditional leaders if made without government consent.

At that point, 1903, no such traditional land grant had government consent. The legislative mill then churned out the public land laws and implemented the government resettlement program . Vast territories were opened for resettlement from north to south of the archipelago. This was how Filipino settlers from Luzon and the Visayas inundated Mindanao. In less than sixty years from the inauguration of the agricultural colonies in Cotabato in 1913 to 1970, the process displaced the Lumad and Moro communities from their traditional territories. And this was all legal, mostly at least, executed by government with government support.

Colonial government, and subsequently the Philippine government created the very conditions that marginalized the native Lumads and Moros in their own lands. The settlers who took part in the program unwittingly also contributed to this marginalization. So, now we have the Moro problem. And the Lumad problem. Threatened with extinction and aspiring to survive with dignity , both must now assert their right to self-determination within their respective ancestral domains.

The third event is the grant of independence to the Republic of the Philippines in July 1946. Filipino political leaders were responsible for the series of events that led to the Jones law in 1916, the Tydings-McDuffie Act of 1934 and the Treaty of General Relations in 1946 which recognized the grant of independence. The 1935 Constitution defines Philippine national territory in Article I, Sec. 1, as follows:

“The Philippines comprises all the territory ceded to the United States by the Treaty of Paris concluded between the United States and Spain on the tenth day of December, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, the limits which are set forth in Article III of said treaty, together with all the islands embraced in the treaty concluded at Washington between the United States and Spain on the seventh day of November, nineteen hundred, and the treaty concluded between the United States and Great Britain on the second day of January, nineteen hundred and thirty, and all territory over which the present Government of the Philippine Islands exercises jurisdiction.”

Notice that this constitution, as does the 1987 constitution, upholds the legitimacy of the Treaty of Paris. Our sovereign republic is a direct product of colonial logic. The official line of the United States government was that there were no nations here (in the Philippine Islands), only different tribes fighting one another. But somewhere along the way, American officials made sure that the Sultan of Sulu waived his sovereign powers in favor of the United States of American. So, in the end, when it granted independence it was only to one Republic of the Philippines whose sovereign people are called Filipinos.

The Bangsamoro Struggle for self-determination

The Bangsamoro leaders’ political position challenges the very foundations of our present sovereign state. There is no question about this. And to defend national sovereignty and maintain the integrity of national territory, every government of the republic must uphold the constitution. And in any political negotiation it conducts with the MNLF or the MILF it is duty-bound to use the constitution as it guide and framework. But this is the very constitution that upholds the legitimacy of the Treaty of Paris! This is the very constitution that upholds the primacy of colonial logic in the formation of our Philippine republic. This is the very same logic that led to the marginalization of the indigenous peoples of Mindanao. And now, is the government saying that we should use the same tool and the same colonial logic to correct the historical injustice perpetrated upon the Bangsamoro and the Lumad?

If we uphold the legitimacy of the Treaty of Paris through our constitution, must we also de-legitimize the celebration of our national independence on June 12, 1898? If we do, this will in effect render meaningless President Diosdado Macapagal’s order to move celebration of independence from July 4 to June 12.

If we uphold the legitimacy of the Treaty of Paris through our constitution, are we not in fact upholding colonial principles against democratic principles?

To solve the Bangsamoro problem, it seems that we have to make a number of major decisions. One, we have to complete the decolonization of the country and declare the Treaty of Paris as a colonial legacy that must go. Two, uphold the legitimacy of the Sultanates of Sulu, Sultanates of Maguindanao as de facto states in their own right at the time of the Treaty of Paris. Three, reorganize the Philippine republic on the basis of consent of the governed. Needless to say, we have to adopt a new constitution.

(Prof. Rudy Buhay Rodil was vice chair of the government peace panel that negotiated with the MILF until the MOA-AD of 2008. Previous to that, the Mindanao historian and history professor, an expert on Moro and Lumad histories, was a member of the GRP peace panel that negotiated and forged an agreement with the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) from 1992 to 1996. Before becoming a panel member, Mr. Rodil was a member of the Regional Consultative Commission that drafted the Organic Act of Muslim Mindanao).

18 March is the 42nd year of Jabidah Massacre

2010-03-18T19:22:00.000-07:00

Jabidah massacre
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jabidah_massacre

"THE CORREGIDOR MASSACRE - 1968"
http://www.corregidor.org/Heritage_Battalion/jabidah.html

Senate bet to push for inclusion of women in gov’t peace panel

2010-03-16T20:05:00.003-07:00

by Rico Biliran/MindaNews
Tuesday, 16 March 2010 23:50

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/16 March) - Re-electionist Sen. Pia Cayetano said she will push for the inclusion of women in the government peace panel in peace talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). “We will work for the inclusion of women in the peace panel with the provision stated in the law," Cayetano, a Nacionalista Party senatorial candidate, told reporters here over the weekend.

Cayetano, who is also the president of the Coordinating Committee of Women Parliamentarians of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), said that under the Magna Carta for Women, "women's group shall also be represented in international, national, and local special decision-making bodies.'

"The peace panel is a decision-making body. If it’s not, what's that?" the senator, a co-author of the law, asked.

Cayetano’s statement came just as peace advocates called for the possible appointment of women to the government peace panel to replace businessman Tomas Cabili and former South Cotabato Rep. Adelbert Antonino, who resigned as peace panel members last month.

The current government panel is headed by Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Rafael Sequis with Agrarian Reform Secretary Nasser Pangandaman and indigenous peoples leader Ronald Adamat as members.

Last year, female protesters were credited for helping end Liberia's 14-year civil war through aggressive sit-in style demonstrations, including at the country's peace talks.

Pastor Reu Montecillo, co-chair of the peace group Mindanao Peoples Caucus (MPC), said Malacanang should consider a suggestion that the panel include women as it would bring women’s perspectives to the peace negotiations.

“Women are the primary bearers of the weight of conflicts, so it would be wise to have their voice in the panel,” said Montecillo in a statement.

"Peace panels headed by women have better chances of forging a peace agreement expeditiously rather than those headed by men," said former senator Santanina Rasul who is a former adviser of the government peace panel that forged a final peace accord with the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) in 1996.

Rasul believes women are the "missing ingredient" in the ongoing peace negotiations between the Philippine government and the MILF.

The former senator said the government should make use of women in the peace negotiations by making the head of the peace panel a woman.

Asked if she and NP presidential standard bearer Sen. Manny Villar would overhaul the peace panel if they win in the May 10 general elections, Cayetano replied "No need".

"We have a law that clearly warrants the participation of women in the peace panel. We can do it now," she said.

Cotabato Rep. Emmylou Talino-Mendoza earlier declared her support to the designation of two women as new members of the government peace panel.

In a local daily report, Speaker Prospero Nograles strongly endorsed the inclusion of two women as members of the five-person government panel negotiating peace with the MILF.

Nograles said there are many women leaders in Mindanao such as noted peace and human rights advocate and director of the Philippine Council on Islam and Democracy (PCID) Amina Rasul, and civic leader Margie Moran Floirendo, both of whom have a strong understanding of the MILF rebellion.

In a related development, a total of 397 peace advocates actively took part in the conclusion of the nationwide "Dialogue Mindanaw" at the Datu Amirbahar H. Jaafar Convention Center of the Mindanao State University in Tawi-Tawi.

The outcome of the dialogues would help government and MILF peace negotiators in finding a genuine and lasting solution to the Mindanao problem, according to the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP).

“Dialogue Mindanaw” is a series of consultations launched by the OPAPP in collaboration with civil society to provide the people, particularly the stakeholders the opportunity to air their views and opinions on the ongoing peace process. (Rico Biliran/MindaNews)

Mindanao youth want to assert voice in peace talks, governance and development

2010-03-16T20:05:00.001-07:00

by H. Marcos C. Mordeno/MindaNews
Tuesday, 16 March 2010 23:44

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/15 March) -- Politics was the main fare tackled in a gathering recently held in Davao City by some 100 youth leaders from all over Mindanao, and speaker after speaker urged the participants to get involved in it. But something was conspicuously missing – the faces of politicians who would normally exploit such event especially with the May 10 elections just around the corner. Samira Gutoc, a youth leader from Marawi City, said the Mindanao Young Leaders Parliament was being deliberate in barring the politicians from interfering in the group’s affairs because “we are sacred” and “the nation’s leaders should recognize us”.

Waxing emotional in an impromptu speech before inducting MYLP’s new members, Gutoc hit politicians who she said only use the youth during elections. “Are there politicians who carry the youth agenda?” she asked, tears streaming down her face which was half-concealed with a colorful scarf. “Damn the politicians who would say na pangbasketbol lang tayo (that we’re only good in basketball),” she added.

“Our love for the young flows until…Forgive me for these tears. The tears I shed today were the same tears I shed 15 years ago when we were just starting with the National Youth Parliament,” she said.
This and other messages of inspiration guided the delegates in the 2-day parliament especially in crafting resolutions that matter most to the inhabitants of Mindanao. The resolutions focused on the peace talks, governance and development issues facing the island, one specifically calling for the inclusion of youth representatives in all government peace panels.

Earlier, Fr. Eliseo Mercado, who gave an update on the stalled peace process in Mindanao, said that he would welcome the youth to both panels “because the world belongs to them”.

“But it’s a political action on the part of the GRP and MILF. I just act as bridge, not an official of either party,” Fr. Mercado clarified.

He said that in the remaining three months of the Arroyo government it is very unlikely for the parties to reach a comprehensive compact and unlikely for them to forge an interim agreement. The best that could happen is to arrive at an agreement on executive doables to bridge the peace efforts of the current government to that of the next administration, he added.

Gutoc, who along with Fr. Mercado presented the Mindanao Agenda 2020, also welcomed the idea of having the youth in the peace panels. “The youth, women and children are missing in the talks when they are the ones who sacrifice in times of war.,” she noted.

Two other resolutions called for the implementation of Executive Order 570 mandating schools to integrate peace education in the curriculum.

Ironically, it was an elder in the civil society movement – Lito Lorenzana – who set the tone of the assembly by urging the youth to become active in politics.

“Focus, learn well, educate yourself on the possibilities, debate, open up political conversation among yourselves. A clash of ideas is the only way. But don’t be perverted by the system by always looking forward. Create a critical mass to hit the tipping point,” Lorenzana, president of the Technical Assistance for the Development of Rural and Urban Areas (TACDRUP), said.

But Lorenzana dodged the question who he will vote as president on May 10. “None of the above. I’m a system man. All of them are good people, but this is not a beauty contest. They will be perverted without a change in the system. We should be the ones to change it,” he said.

He gave an overview of how the presidential candidates in the May 2010 elections came to land in their current state, to illustrate the irrelevance of party politics as the guidepost for choosing the country’s leaders. He contrasted this with the strong party system in the US where voters choose their leaders based not on personal traits but on beliefs in a party’s ideology. He, however, noted that “Filipinos seem no longer affected by the crass opportunism of politicians”.

Aside from Lorenzana’s misgivings over the usefulness of parties as tools for political change, the delegates got heavy doses of inputs on the country’s overall situation, a large part of which portrayed the gloomy side of the economy, environment and social landscape as well as, bleak prospects for the May 10 polls. All the speakers blamed these problems as mainly caused by defects in the political system.

Assistant Defense Secretary Michael Eric L. Castillo pointed out that the economy is beset by such problems as lack of productive investment, extremely high unemployment and underemployment rates, budget deficit and growing foreign debt. Growth in Gross Domestic Product was only 0.9 percent in 2009 compared to 3.8 percent in 2008 and 6.4 percent in 2007, he said.

In addition, he said, there has been less hiring of new overseas Filipino workers, a major source of dollar remittances. Employers abroad tend to rehire old ones, a pattern which implies the low quality of new ones.

The official also cited pressing problems in the environment front particularly the country’s inability to cope with the effects of climate change such as extreme weather conditions and degraded air quality caused by the emission of greenhouse gases. He noted the increase in the number of typhoons from 2004 to 2007 (39) compared to only 27 for the period 2003-2007 Ondoy, which brought unusually heavy rainfall, proved the country’s inability to cope with disasters, he said.

Castillo shared his thoughts on the country’s automated election system. He said his view is different from that of Commission on Elections which declared that human intervention not the technology will cause a failure. He expressed apprehensions over the existence of double registrants, lack of information drive, delays in the training of teachers and technicians and printing of ballots, clustering of precincts and the absence of backup machines.

He quoted Comelec Chair Jose Melo as having said around 100 PCOS machines could fail, which the speaker said will affect the result and might result in a no-proclamation scenario.

The assistant secretary clarified that his presentation was not an official assessment of the Department of National Defense but just a personal view based on data from various sources, including news reports and government agencies.

Reacting to the inputs, Prof. Jose Ma. Cruz said: “I teach a topic on political ethics. I gave the students the unfinished statement ‘Politics is…’ to be made into 20 sentences. The answers of some 200 students alarmed me – politics is ugly, immoral, corrupt, where I don’t want to be, unfair, complicated, place for greedy people.
“So my question is, ‘will this work’? The first automated election system is done now. The youth are the most techno-savvy, but it seems we will have another generation of cynical youth. We have to work so hard before, during and after the elections. Fr. Jun [Mercado] has been in this work for 40 years. However, this is no guarantee to reach the Promised Land. It may take three generations. But whatever the result of the election, don’t stop dreaming.”

Diane Rodriguez, who works for an NGO, shared Cruz’s optimism.

“I’m going to say what other civil society groups have to say. We have to believe in things bigger than ourselves. Mindanao has many of the poorest provinces in the country. Leadership is the key hence the election is linked to this issue of poverty. A lot of subversion is happening in the uplands because the people there have no chance to better their lot. The election is for the youth and we have to make sure to be part of the solution,” she said.

The MYLP started in 2005 as an initiative of alumni from Mindanao of the National Youth Parliament until it became a network of young leaders from all provinces in the island.

Steve Laurence Arquiza, outgoing MYLP president, stressed that the organization is now focusing its efforts in the areas of peace in Mindanao, development (human, social, political, structural and environmental), and governance.

In the election conducted during the same forum, the parliament elected Hadji Balajadia, a faculty member at the Ateneo de Davao University, as new president. (H. Marcos C. Mordeno/MindaNews)

Journalists from 14 countries write GMA for justice to victims of Ampatuan Massacre

2010-03-16T01:19:00.000-07:00

by MindaNews
Tuesday, 16 March 2010 11:01

JAKARTA, Indonesia (MindaNews/15 March) – Journalists attending a regional conference here have written President Arroyo an open letter to express their “deep concern” over the November 23 massacre in Ampatuan, Maguindanao that left at least 58 persons dead, 32 of them from the media, and to urge her administration and institutions of the state “to take the appropriate action to ensure justice is done and to create a better, safer environment for journalists in your country.”

The letter was signed by 29 journalists from 14 countries in East Asia, Australia and New Zealand.

“Their murder, and the death of countless other media workers in your country in recent years, will not be forgotten by us,” the journalists wrote.

The Ampatuan Massacre is the worst pre-election violence in Philippine history and, worldwide, is the greatest loss of life by news media in a single day.

The journalists were in a convoy from Buluan, Maguindanao, with one of the wives and relatives of Vice Mayor Esmael “Toto” Mangudadatu, and two female human rights lawyers, en route to the provincial office of the Commission on Elections in the capital town of Shariff Aguak in Maguindanao to file Mangudadatu’s certificate of candidacy for governor when stopped at the national highway in Ampatuan town by around a hundred men reportedly led by Datu Unsay mayor Datu Andal Ampatuan, Jr., who wanted to run for governor, unopposed, like his father did in 2007.

Six other occupants on board two vehicles who passed at the wrong time were taken in and herded along with the rest to Sitio Masalay, Barangay Salman, Ampatuan, some 3.5 kilometers at the foothills of Daguma Range, where they were mowed down.

Ampatuan Jr. has been charged with multiple murder while several key personalities from the clan like his father and brothers - were arrested for rebellion hours after martial law was declared over portions of Maguindanao on December 4.

In early February, a total of 197, among them the Ampatuans, were charged for conspiracy to commit the massacre.

“We are a group of journalists from around the Asia Pacific region who have gathered in Jakarta over the past few days to share our experiences of reporting in the region. Our goal is to produce better quality journalism, safely and in an unhindered manner. With this in mind, we call on you to mark this tragedy by taking concrete and positive steps to address the plight of journalists in the Philippines,” the letter-writers said.

The signatories are Carolyn Jones of Australia; Rohani hj Abd Hamid of Brunei; Colum Murphy, Hongkong, Rachna Bisht-Rawat of India; Ismira Luftia, Abu Hanifah and Warief Djajanto Basorie of Indonesia; Dong Won Kim of Korea; Faezah Ismail and Harlina Samson of Malaysia; Zaw Win Than of Myanmar; David Robie, Alan Samson, Graeme Rolf Acton, . Edward Gay and Julie Middleton of New Zealand; Rahim Ullah Yusufzai and Zahid Hussein of Pakistan; Carolyn Arguillas, Amy Pamintuan, Cynthia D. Balana, Charissa Matutina Luci, Edmund K. Usman, and Julmunir I. Jannaral of the Philippines; Tay Hwee Peng of Singapore; . Supara Janchitfah, Don Pathan and Somsack Pongkhao of Thailand and Pham Trung Bac, of Vietnam. (MindaNews)

Peace panels meet for Q and A session; 2 more NGOs in CPC

2010-03-05T03:26:00.000-08:00

by Carolyn O. Arguillas/MindaNews

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/05 March) – The government and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) peace panels met Thursday at the Sheraton Hotel in Kuala Lumpur for a “Q and A” session on the seven-page extract of the 38-page draft comprehensive compact of the MILF.

The panels agreed that the government peace panel will produce a draft in response to the MILF presentation, sources from both panels told MindaNews.

At the same time, the two panels approved the application of two groups -- the Cotabato City-based Mindanao Human Rights Action Center (MinHRAC) and the Marawi City-based Muslim Organizaon Government Officials and Professionals (MOGOP) -- for inclusion in the Civilian Protection Component (CPC).
Government peace panel chair Rafael Sequis told MindaNews by phone that “everything went very well.”

“The Q and A session ended this afternoon at Sheraton Hotel with optimistic note. The MILF panel replied to the questions raised by the GRP with clarity and candidness,” Seguis said Thursday night. But he did not elaborate on what questions the government raised and what issues the MILF answered with “clarity and candidness.”

MILF peace panel chair Mohagher Iqbal described the session as “blunt,frank, and tiring.”

“Perspectives differ: GRP constitutional, MILF negotiated formula. No document signed except the admission of two NGO members of CPC,” Iqbal told MindaNews in a text message. The Mindanao Peoples Caucus and Non-Violent Peace Force had earlier been named members of the CPC.

“It was extended to afternoon. We presented and explained our draft in Power Point. Then GRP grilled us. Then separate sessions for GRP and ICG then another for MI-ICG,” Iqbal said.

ICG is the International Contact Group (ICG) that was set up on December 3 and is initially composed of the United Kingdom, Japan and Turkey as member-countries and The Asia Foundation, the Geneva-based Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, the London-based Conciliation Resources and the Indonesia-based Muhammadiyah as INGO members.

Iqbal said the ICG members were allowed to raise questions in the session after lunch.

Iqbal, in his speech at the Q and A session, posted in the MILF website, said the last time they were in Kuala Lumpur was for the supposed two-day 17th GRP-MILF Exploratory Talks on January 27 to 28.

“We exchanged drafts on the comprehensive compact on the first day, on January 27, but on the second day the Parties (did not meet) directly for reason all of us know. The lesson learned here is that the peace negotiation between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), like all similar negotiations, has rules of engagement to follow and agreed agenda to discuss and pursue through to the end.,” he said.

Iqbal explained that since 1997, the agenda of the talks had been on how to solve the “Bangsamoro Problem.”

The problem, he said, “involves a variety of social, cultural, economic and political issues and concerns,” so the task of the negotiators is “to find a political and lasting solution to this problem … with the end in view of establishing a system of life and governance suitable and acceptable to the Bangsamoro people.”

“The Tripoli Agreement on Peace on June 22, 2001 entrenched this further by providing that the negotiation and peaceful resolution of the conflict must involve consultations with the Bangsamoro, free of any imposition in order to provide chances of success and open new formulas that permanently respond to the aspirations of the Bangsamoro people for freedom,” Iqbal dded.

He noted that there was an “almost impasse” on January 28 because government offered as its draft comprehensive compact ‘old formula’ contained in the Republic Act 6734, as amended by 9054, that established Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

But the ARMM, he said, “has never been the product of negotiation but a unilateral action of government through legislations or acts of the Philippine Congress.”

He said the so-called ‘enhanced autonomy’ offered by government is nothing new as it been offered to the MILF at least three times “and each time the offer was made the MILF rejected it outright.”

MindaNews recalls the first offer was made in May 2000 when peace talks resumed as government and rebel forces battled in Camp Bushra, Lanao del Sur. The second was in February 2003, on the eve of the aerial strike on Buliok and the third, according to Iqbal, on January 27 this year.

“The government also offered federal state to the MILF in April 2005 with the central government having exclusive powers over national defense, foreign relations, coinage and currency, and postal services, but the MILF rejected it simply because the government was not in a position to give it to us,” he said. The shift to a federal form of government requires constitutional amendment.

Iqbal added that the essence of the GRP draft presented in January is “contained in existing laws and policies or programs of government like strengthening of the Islamic banking, the Shariah justice system, madaris system, etc.”

“Why do we have to negotiate for something which is already given; and stated more seriously, why do we have to accept something that had already caused the marginalization of the MNLF (Moro National Liberation Front) and the irrelevance of its leaders --- who up to now are waiting for the GRP to comply with the spirit and letter of the GRP-MNLF Final Agreement on September 2, 1996?”

The MNLF had since divided into several factions with peace pact signatory Nur Misuari now running again for Sulu governor. Misuari ran but lost the gubernatorial race in 2007.

“If the peace talks is passing through a turbulent zone today --- and on the verge of signing nothing until President Arroyo’s exit on June 30, this year -- it is because the GRP is not very truthful to what is agreed by the Parties at the start of their engagement; i.e., for the MILF not to raise the issue of independence and the GRP the issue of constitution and territorial integrity. Up to now, the MILF has not breached this commitment, and we have declared time and again that the MILF will no longer pursue independence as solution to the Bangsamoro problem in favor of an asymmetrical arrangement of a ‘state-and-substate’ arrangement. An offer of bogus autonomy is no solution at all --- and the MILF will never accept, knowing fully well that our people and the generations yet to come will suffer forever,” Iqbal said.

Iqbal said the Philipine government “has not changed its ‘inside the box’ approach as far as its reference to its Constitution is concerned, when other states, which also have constitutions, like Sudan, Ireland, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and even Canada, have already succeeded to resolve conflicts in their borders to the satisfaction of the parties. They used their constitutions as vehicles --- and not as obstacles --- to solve their conflicts. As far as the MILF is concerned, the Philippine Constitution is a contested issue. We view this constitution as an instrument of perpetuation of the ruler-and-ruled relationship between the majority Filipinos and minoritized Moros. We have never been part of the decision-making since we were annexed as part of the Republic of the Philippines in 1946. Our part of Mindanao has continued to shrink and shrink, while our natural wealth is being carted away by outsiders without a share of the profit for our people,” Iqbal added.

Seguis was sought for comment but had not responded as of press time.

Iqbal recalled that in their joint statement on July 29, 2009, the first time the parties met again after the aborted August 5, 2008 signing of the then already initialed Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD), they agreed to “acknowledge the MOA-AD as an unsigned and yet initialed document and they also committed to reframe the consensus points with the end in view of moving towards the comprehensive compact to bring about a negotiated political settlement.”

“The MILF indeed reframed the consensus points in both its 38-page draft on comprehensive compact and the seven-page paper on the Interim Governance Arrangement, while the GRP is so scared even to mention the word MOA-AD in its draft. Why is this so, after agreeing to that MOA-AD reframing?” Iqbal asked.

In closing, Iqbal said that “if some of my statements are blunt and direct, it is not my intention to hurt the feelings of people especially my honorable counterparts from the government headed by Ambassador Rafael Seguis. It is my way of bringing my message clearly as possible.”

The two panels were supposed to have met February 18 to 19 but this was reset to March.

MindaNews asked Seguis in late January on his panel’s alleged offer of the ARMM to the MILF but Seguis told MindaNews in a text message, “no substantive talks yet. Not in that context!”

In his January 28 press statement, Seguis clarified “there is no agreement yet” with the MILF.

“Both sides are still in the early stages of discussing each other’s position papers,” he said.

Though not explaining what kind of political package it was offering the MILF, Seguis in his press statement said the government’s draft peace agreement is “compliant with the Constitution and pertinent laws” and is “also guided by the Supreme Court decision on the aborted MOA-AD”

Seguis said the government’s 2010 draft peace agreement “mostly identifies executive ‘doables’, proposed legislative actions to strengthen regional autonomy, and openness to hear MILF proposals for constitutional change.”

“The GRP draft is clear that discussions that will concern legislative and other policy actions will still be proposals which would be submitted to Congress,” he said.

“There is no mention of any ‘Bangsa Moro’ sub-state in our draft,” Seguis added.

Iqbal told MindaNews the MILF has proposed a “State – Sub-state relationship” that would require amending the 1987 Constitution’s Article 10, Section 15-21.

Sections 15 to 21 of Article 10 on Local Government, focus on the autonomous regions. In the 1987 Constitution, these sections provided for the creation of autonomous regions in Muslim Mindanao and the Cordilleras but only the autonomous region in Muslim Mindanao has been created. The Cordillera region has remained an administrative region.

The arrangement, Iqbal said, would be “similar to Sarawak” in Malaysia. Malaysia has a federal form of government. (Carolyn O. Arguillas/MindaNews)

Prosecutors can't depend on "positive identification" in Maguindanao massacre case

2010-03-01T03:28:00.000-08:00

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Prosecutors can't depend on "positive identification" in Maguindanao massacre case
3:32 PM ET

Danilo Reyes [Staff member, Asian Human Rights Commission]: "The decision of the Department of Justice (DoJ) that 197 people can be prosecuted for multiple murders in the deaths of 57 people in the November 2009 Maguindanao massacre, based largely on "positive identification" could be a concern. In order for the case to have the possibility of securing a conviction in trial, it cannot afford to depend largely on witnesses' oral testimonies and on the principle of "positive identification" alone.

In a country like the Philippines, where the public prosecutors and court judges still rely heavily on oral testimonies for deciding a "probable cause" to go for trial or to convict a person respectively, the prosecution of cases face the risk of being dismissed for lack of evidence or that the entire case could collapse once witnesses recant their testimonies or have their credibility questioned.

In order for the "positive identification" to stand in trial, it requires not only a mere facial identification of the accused by a witness, but also an adequate proof that the witness knew of or had met the accused before the crime took place. In the argument contained in the DoJ's resolution, however, this reasoning has not been fully explained. The fundamental requirements in which each witness should have knowledge to each of the accused has not been adequately mentioned. Having charges filed in court is not enough assurance that the families of the victims will obtain redress.

The Philippines has the reputation of poor conviction rates in cases of extrajudicial killings of human rights and political activists. For example, of over 900 cases of killings of activists reported since 2001, only three are known to have resulted to conviction. Most of the cases either could not be filed in court or were dismissed for lack of evidence, the failure to protect witnesses or the failure of the police to collect and preserve needed forensic evidence from the crime scene.

One example is the case of Enrico Cabanit, a land reform activist murdered in Panabo City in Mindanao on April 24, 2006. The local police failed to secure the material evidence needed from the crime scene; for example, not all the spent shells were recovered. They also failed to take photographs and sketches of the crime scene. Further, Cabanit's body was not subjected to autopsy and post-mortem examination, thereby deliberately depriving the possibility of promptly obtaining forensic evidence regarding the cause of his death.

Although police investigators were able to produce sketches of the gunmen based on witness accounts, their descriptions contradicted those of other witnesses present at the crime scene. The police also deliberately weakened the case by planting false witnesses as those who provided the gunmen descriptions were later found out to be persons who work as police informants or assets.

Cabanit's daughter, Daffodil, who is herself an eyewitness to his father's murder, was never afforded any protection. Her father's case ended up not having filed in court.

Meanwhile, in the Maguindanao massacre case, police investigators have been seen on television allowing onlookers to dig up dead bodies with bare hands at the crime scene. The process of autopsies and the collection of excavated bodies from the crime scene were also completely disorganized. On one occasion, two families of the journalist victims ended up confused and squabbling over one dead body.

Given the inability of the investigators to appreciate and employ forensic evidence as exposed in the early stage of investigation, oral testimonies should not be largely depended upon in the prosecution of this case. The government prosecutors must ensure the evidence stands in trial. In the Philippines, filing of charges in court provides no guarantee that victims would obtain redress and that perpetrators are punished.

In fact, early on in this case's investigation the DoJ lacked the urgency to even file it with the court as required by the time set by court rules. Under Rule 112 of the Revised Rules of Criminal Procedure, the public prosecutors should have completed the investigation and the determination of "probable cause" within 50 days, but it took the DoJ over two months in this instance.

Also, the DoJ's failure to conclude promptly that the Ampatuans, a powerful local clan, along with dozens of policemen, soldiers and militiamen could be prosecuted for the massacre demonstrates the reality of how difficult it is to pursue the prosecution of cases due to the government's failure."

Opinions expressed in JURIST's Hotline are the sole responsibility of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of JURIST's editors, staff, or the University of Pittsburgh.

Source: http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/hotline/2010/02/prosecutors-cant-depend-on-positive.php

International Monitoring Team begins new work Feb. 28

2010-02-28T02:05:00.000-08:00

by Carolyn O. Arguillas/MindaNews

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/27 February) – The Malaysian contingent of the International Monitoring Team (IMT) is arriving on Sunday afternoon (Feb. 28) in Cotabato City, the fifth batch of international personnel monitoring the implementation, among others, the ceasefire between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

The new team from Malaysia, led by Maj. Gen. Datuk Baharom Bin Hamzah of the Malaysian Armed Forces, the new IMT Head of Mission (HOM), will arrive at 5:45 p.m. on Sunday at the Awang airport in Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao (more popularly referred to as Cotabato airport) from Labuan in Malaysia.
Malaysia, which has been facilitating the peace talks between the Philippine government and the MILF, heads the IMT.

The IMT Head Of Mission will be accompanied by 20 Malaysian military personnel who will join the 20 others already in the Philippines – 10 military personnel from Brunei and eight from Libya, and Japan’s two development workers, Tomonori Kikuchi and Yusuke Mori – in IMT-5 or IMT Batch 5.

The team’s deployment comes 15 months after the IMT, renewed annually since 2004, left Mindanao on November 30, 2008, following the collapse of the talks after the aborted signing of the peace panels’ Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) on August 5, 2008.

It also comes barely two weeks after an eight-man Advance Team headed by Lt. Gen. Datuk Raja Mohammed Affendi bin Raja Mohamed, Chief of Staff of the Malaysian Armed Forces Headquarters, and the then incoming HOM, visited Mindanao to look into the team sites.

Shortly upon arrival in Cotabato City, the IMT will meet with the press at 6:30 p.m. at the Estosan Hotel. At 7:30, the government peace panel led by Ambassador Rafael Seguis will host a reception for the IMT at the hotel’s grand ballroom.

The reception will also be attended by members of the government’s and MILF’s Coordinating Committees on the Cessation of Hostilities (CCCH). MILF peace panel chair Mohagher Iqbal has been invited to the reception, a press statement from the government peace panel said.

Also invited to attend are officials of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

IMT-5 will not only monitor the security aspect as IMT 1 to 4 did, but also reconstruction and rehabilitation, socio-economic development, and will now include the Civilian Protection Component (CPC).

The IMT is to be composed of a total of 60 members. With the arrival of the Malaysians on Sunday, there will be 40 of them from Malaysia, Brunei, Libya and Japan. The 20 other slots will be divided among the CPC and two other countries invited to join the IMT.

The Mindanao People’s Caucus (MPC) and the Non-violent Peace Force are members of the CPC. Other organizations seeking recognition as part of IMT’s CPC are the Consortium of Bangsamoro Civil Society (CBCS), Saligan Mindanao, Initiatives for International Dialogue (IID) and two others. (Carolyn O. Arguillas/MindaNews)

Maguindanao has new OIC governor

2010-02-24T18:12:00.000-08:00

by Carolyn O. Arguillas/MindaNews

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/24 February) – Businessman Gani Biruar is the new OIC Governor of Maguindanao, vice Nariman “Ina” Ambolodto who retains her post as OIC Vice Governor, Haroun Alrashid Lucman, secretary of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao’s Department of Interior and Local Government, said. Ambolodto was appointed OIC Vice Governor and was named Acting Governor on December 15.

Lucman told MindaNews Biruar was appointed OIC governor on 23 February and will assume the post “starting today.”

“The key to his appointment is his being neutral to Maguindanao politics,” said Lucman.

Biruar’s appointment was immediately questioned as reports said his wife, an Alonto, is allegedly related to the Acting ARMM governor Ansaruddin Alonto-Adiong, the appointing officer, and that he is also related to the Ampatuans.

Lucman said he is “not aware of his (Biruar’s) relation to the Ampatuans, except that his cousin is their in-law. Speaking of blood relations, everybody is related to everybody. Let us look at the brighter side of it. Gani (Biruar) was appointed by ARG (Acting Regional Governor) because nobody among the applicants fits the requirement of neutrality more than he does and that no undue advantage in favor of any gubernatorial candidate shall arise out of the appointment. There are no perfect decisions but we feel that ARG made a better decision given the present situation in Maguindanao.”

The late Saudi Ampatuan, eldest among the sons of Datu Andal Ampatuan, Sr. and Bai Laila Uy, married Soraida Macarimbang Biruar, who is running for vice mayor of Parang town.

In Datu Saudi Ampatuan (town named after the late Saudi), incumbent mayor Saudi Biruar Ampatuan, Jr. (Ind), is seeking reelection while his wife, Jehan-jehan Lepail Ampatuan is running for councilor. Saudi Jr’s brother, Saudi Biruar Ampatuan IIlI is running for vice mayor.

In a press release posted on the Department of Interior and Local Governments (DILG) website on January 28, Local Governments Undersecretary Marius Corpus said the search committee headed by ARMM Local Governments Secretary Lucman is “carefully pouring over the qualifications of some 27 nominees” for the position of OIC Governor until the new governor takes his/her oath of office by noon of June 30.

The press release added that among the requirements of the search committee is that “he or she should not be running for any elective position in the coming May elections; has the capacity to govern and ability to effect reforms in the province.”

Biruar was not yet on the list of seven applicants that Lucman sent to MindaNews as of 10:45 a.m. February 5.
Lucman’s list for Acting Governor then consisted of the following names: Asnawi Sinsuat Limbona, Nariman Abdullah Ambolodto, Dr. Bongarsa D. Tomawis, Datu Harris D. Mastura Al haj, Bai Mompong Sumagka Mentang, Armando Lidasan and Gumid Matalam.

Civil society representatives pushed for Ambolodoto’s retention as Acting Governor, arguing there is no need for a search as she reportedly meets all the requirements: she is not running for any post in May, she has the capacity to govern and the ability to effect reforms in the province, and has in fact set up basic governance systems in the province since she has been acting governor. Ambolodto was the first female Maguindanaon governor in history.

On February 2, at least 16 Bangsamoro civil society organizations and networks passed a resolution calling on ARMM Acting Governor Adiong through ARMM Local Governments Secretary Lucman to “continue supporting the efforts of Ina Ambolodto of enabling the provincial government to respond to the various pressing needs of our people and communities; intensify and optimize ARMM regional government agency operations in cooperation with the provincial leadership of Ina Ambolodto to address the displacement of our people as a result of fighting and natural calamities, as well as our staggering poverty situation; and retain and sustain Ina as the Provincial Vice-Governor acting provincial Governor.”

The Bangsamoro CSOs, all of them serving Maguindanao – Consortium of Bangsamoro Civil Society; Bangsamoro Center for Just Peace; Muassasah Ahliya; Kadtuntaya Foundation, Inc.; United Youth of the Philippines-Women; Interfaith Cooperation Forum; Kangudan Development Center, Inc.; Alliance of Bangsamoro for Peace and Sustainable Development; Bangsamoro Youth Leaders Forum; Kadtabanga Foundation, Inc.; Al-lhsan Foundation; Mindanao Homeland Development, lnc.; 4. Moro Integrated Community Development, Inc.; Moro Women Development and Cultural Center, Inc.; Mindanao Human Rights Resource and Action Center – said Ambolodto has been “doing justice and according pride to the trust and confidence bestowed by the Honorable Regional Governor, faithful to the tradition of transparent and accountable governance.”

Guiamel Alim, CBCS Council of Elders member, was saddened by the report of a new OIC governor. “We are not yet ready for change. I am fed up how Maguindanao has been run in the past. I thought Nariman (Ambolodto) was a symbol of change. I hope the appointed OIC would be able to plant the seed of change.” (Carolyn O. Arguillas/MindaNews)

PHILIPPINES: Tribute concert, online campaign launched on Maguindanao massacre

2010-02-23T20:18:00.000-08:00

Asian Human Rights Commission

PHILIPPINES: Tribute concert, online campaign launched on Maguindanao massacre

(Hong Kong, February 23, 2010) The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has today launched an online campaign on the Maguindanao Massacre case, one of the worst acts of violence in the Philippines' recent history, aimed at documenting and monitoring the progress of the prosecution of the case in court.

The online campaign, titled: "Justice for victims of Maguindanao Massacre", was launched after the Department of Justice (DoJ) decided to prosecute the 197 individuals for charges of multiple murder on February 5, 2010 for the death of 57 people in the massacre - 32 of whom are journalists and two human rights lawyers.

Today also mark the three month anniversary of the massacre.

The AHRC is aware that one of the suspects, Datu Andal Ampatun Jr, a town mayor of Ampatuan and scion of a political clan in Maguindanao, has since been held in detention and is facing trial following his arrest in November 26, but it is only recently that the other respondents have been included in the murder charges.

"Seeking legal remedies in the Philippine's system of justice had been perpetually undermined by way of political interference, excessive court delays and failure by the prosecutors and investigators to ensure that the cases they are pursuing are effectively prosecuted", AHRC writes in its online campaign website.

In the Philippines, the filing of charges against the perpetrators of human rights violations is an initial and small part of the perpetually lengthy and tedious process of pursuing perpetrators in court to hold them accountable. Thus, the assurances are negligible, even if cases are filed in court, unless the progress in court is critically monitored and exposed to the public.

"(the online campaign) seeks to document, to conduct follow-up and to provide insights as to how the prosecution of cases involving violations of rights takes place within the Philippines' criminal justice system", its website added.

In addition to the launching of the online campaign, the AHRC also announces that a group of local publishers, the Publishers Association of General Santos City and South Cotabato (PAGES) in General Santos City, has hosted a tribute concert last night at 8pm for the victims of the Maguindanao massacre, particularly the 32 journalists who had been killed in performing their duty.

The tribute concert, dubbed: "Songs for Freedom and Justice", "aims to drum up public awareness in commemorating the three month anniversary of the November 23 Maguindanao Massacre", according to the PAGES's announcement.

One of the performers was Eric Gancio of Yano. His band is one of the alternative Filipino bands that saw the peak of its popularity in the Philippines in the 90s. Eric performed as the guest performer during the concert.

Apart from him, various local bands from Socsargen (South Cotabato-Sarangani-General Santos) have also been invited to perform. The concert was held at the Oval Plaza covered court in General Santos City.

# # #

About AHRC: The Asian Human Rights Commission is a regional non-governmental organisation monitoring and lobbying human rights issues in Asia. The Hong Kong-based group was founded in 1984.

Posted on 2010-02-23

Gov’t, MILF reset talks for March

2010-02-19T22:44:00.001-08:00

by Carolyn O. Arguillas/MindaNews

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/19 February) -- The Philippine government and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) peace panels have postponed to March their February 18 to 19 meeting in Kuala Lumpur to review the drafts on the comprehensive peace settlement that they exchanged on January 27.

The postponement was upon the request of the MILF panel and also in deference to the Mindanao visit of the reconnaissance team of the Malaysian-led International Monitoring Team (IMT) on February 18 to 20.
Datuk Othman bin Abd Razak, the Malaysian facilitator announced on January27 that the IMT will be deployed back in Mindanao before end of February. The IMT left on November 30, 2008, when its mandate lapsed following the collapse of the talks after the aborted August 5 signing of the GRP-MILF Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD).

Mohagher Iqbal, MILF peace panel said the government’s draft peace agreement “essentially offers the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).”

“This offer was done in April of 2000 (sic) and repeated in February of 2003, just before the attack on the MILF Buliok complex in North Cotabato,” Iqbal said.

The two panels were supposed to meet on January 28 but the MILF opted against it. The panels instead met separately with the International Contact Group (ICG) which was represented by Hitoshi Ozawa and Yoshihisa Ishikawa, Minister and First Secretary of the Embassy of Japan in Manila respectively (Japan); Ambassador Boyd McCleary, British High Commissioner to Malaysia and Mr. Christopher Wright, Second Secretary, British Embassy in Manila (UK); and Yasin Temizkan, Chargé d’ Affaires, Embassy of Turkey in Kuala Lumpur (Turkey).

The INGO (international non-governmental organization) members who were present were David Gorman, Mediation Adviser of the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue (HDC); Dr. Steven Rood, country director for the Philippines of The Asia Foundation (TAF); Herizal Hazri, Program Director in Malaysia; Thomas Parks, Regional Director for Governance and Conflict based in Thailand; Ms Cynthia Petrigh, Advisor on Peace Process, Conciliation Resources (CR, London); and Dr. Din Syamsuddin, President of Muhammadiyah accompanied by an adviser, Surwandono.

The MILF told the ICG that the government draft does not conform to the basic principles set forth on July 29, 2009, when the panels ended the year-long impasse in their talks.

The two panels then agreed on the following:

- Mutual effort to sustain both the Government’s Suspension of Military Offensives (SOMO) and the MILF’s Suspension of Military Actions (SOMA);

- Acknowledgment of MOA-AD as an unsigned and yet initialed document, and commitment by both parties to reframe the consensus points with the end in view of moving towards the comprehensive compact to bring about a negotiated political settlement;

- Work for a framework agreement on the establishment of a mechanism on the protection of non-combatants in armed conflict;

- Work for a framework agreement on the establishment of International Contact Group (ICG) of groups of states and non-state organizations to accompany and mobilize international support for the peace process.

Iqbal said they explained to the ICG that the government’s draft is on the ARMM which, the MILF stressed, is a “failed forumula.”

Though not explaining what kind of political package it was offering the MILF, Seguis in his January 28 press statement said the government’s draft peace agreement is “compliant with the Constitution and pertinent laws” and is “also guided by the Supreme Court decision on the aborted MOA-AD.”

Seguis said the government’s 2010 draft peace agreement “mostly identities executive ‘doables’, proposed legislative actions to strengthen regional autonomy, and openness to hear MILF proposals for constitutional change.”

“The GRP draft is clear that discussions that will concern legislative and other policy actions will still be proposals which would be submitted to Congress,” he said.

“There is no mention of any ‘Bangsa Moro’ sub-state in our draft,” Seguis added.

Iqbal told MindaNews the MILF has proposed a “State – Sub-state relationship” that would require amending the 1987 Constitution’s Article 10, Section 15-21.

Sections 15 to 21 of Article 10 on Local Government, focus on the autonomous regions. In the 1987 Constitution, these sections provided for the creation of autonomous regions in Muslim Mindanao and the Cordilleras but only the autonomous region in Muslim Mindanao has been created. The Cordillera region has remained an administrative region.

The arrangement, Iqbal said, would be “similar to Sarawak” in Malaysia. Malaysia has a federal form of government.

But lawyer and peace advocate Soliman Santos, author of “The Moro Islamic Challenge: Constitutional Rethinking for the Mindanao Peace Process,” told MindaNews , “we can amend the Constitution’s provisions on ARMM only and place in the amendments something like the Sarawak sub-state arrangement.”

Santos said the Constitution “can be changed in any way as long as the process is proper” and that there is no need to shift to a federal system of government “wholesale, across-the-board (nation).”

He said what can be amended are “provisions for a special region as was done with ARMM (& CAR) but this time of higher degree of self-determination like the Sarawak sub-state arrangement if that is agreed upon. This would already place it on the same constitutional level as the rest of the Constitution, and therefore obviates any issues of unconstitutionality.”

Santos, whose masteral law thesis at the University of Melbourne in 1999 was on the “Constitutional Accommodation of a Moro Islamic System in the Philippines,” said there are several ways of adopting a “State- Sub-state relationship” in the Philippines: by amending the autonomous region provisions of the Constitution or by “appending to or incorporating by reference in the Constitution whatever comprehensive peace agreement is reached” between the Philippine government and the MILF.

Still another option, Santos said, is to craft a “new organic act for the ARMM or whatever new name, enacted by Congress acting as a constituent assembly, and therefore that organic act will be on the same level as the Constitution.” (Carolyn O. Arguillas/MindaNews)

New IMT head of mission determined to do his job

2010-02-19T19:58:00.001-08:00

by Romy B. Elusfa/MindaNews contributor
Thursday, 18 February 2010 23:30

COTABATO CITY (MindaNews/18 February) -- The expanded task of the International Monitoring Team is “a tall order,” but Maj. Gen. Datuk Baharom bin Hamzah, the new head of mission of the IMT is determined to “do the job.” Gen. Hamzah, a member of the eight-man Reconnaissance Team sent by Malaysia’s Ministry of Defense to do a final check on the facilities of the 60-man IMT contingent that will be sent to monitor the implementation of the ceasefire agreement between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), announced his optimism on the peace process in front of around 50 representatives of various peace organizations.

The four batches of IMT contingents sent to Mindanao had managed to reduce violent incidents involving government soldiers and guerrillas of the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces, the armed group of the MILF, from more than 700 in 2004 to only about seven in 2008.

Unlike IMT-1 to IMT-4 which were tasked to monitor only the truce, Hamzah’s team, IMT-5, has three added tasks: Humanitarian, rehabilitation and development; Socio-economic Assistance; and Civilian Protection.

“It is a tall order, but we have to do the job,” he told representatives of peace organizations in an “informal welcome” dinner with the members of the Reconnaissance Team headed by LGen. Datuk Raja Mohamed Affandi bin Raja Mohamed Noor, the chief of staff of the Malaysian Armed Forces.

Noor’s short message to representatives of 18 peace organizations was filled with optimism on the success of the peace process despite an apparent deadlock in the peace negotiations with the MILF rejecting government’s offer described as “no more than the ARMM” (Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao).

“When I walked around here, I felt there is this strong spirit that everyone is looking for a long and sustainable peace,” he said while thanking the government for trusting the IMT tasks to Malaysian soldiers. “Thank you so much to the Philippine government for trusting the Malaysians to do this task.”

Noor expressed confidence they would be able to provide an “environment conducive for the talks” to continue, adding they will deploy the “best 20” Malaysian soldiers who will be joining the IMT with other delegations from Libya, Brunei Darussalam, and Japan.

“We have our best team of 20 people here, but they cannot perform their best without the support of the non-government organizations,” he said while asserting that “in any peace process, it is the NGO that serves as the backbone—it (peace process) is driven by NGOs.”

Col. Dickson Hermoso, once head of the secretariat of the Joint Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities (JCCCH) and commander of the 7th Infantry Battalion during the war in 2008, said “there are only two secrets” to a successful ceasefire monitoring: “First, you have to involve the civil society organizations (CSO) and, second, a well-placed IMT.”

Hermoso explained that an active participation of the CSOs will help push the peace process forward amid the fact that “there are powder kegs in the minds of many Army and MILF forces.”

With the active participation of the CSOs in the peace process, Hermoso told the IMT contingents that “there will no longer be lonely days for IMT—doing the job will be a lot of fun.”

Maj. Carlos Sol Jr., head of the secretariat of the government panel in the JCCCH, said “we will do everything to make Mindanao peaceful and developed” while also announcing that they already have “reactivated and strengthened the local monitoring teams” that government and the MILF organized in all conflict affected areas of Mindanao.

Atty. Mary Ann Arnado, secretary-general of the Mindanao Peoples Caucus (MPC), host of the “informal welcome” for the Malaysians, also assured her group’s support to the IMT, saying there are still other organizations willing to help the peace process and among them are those whose application for membership in the civilian protection component (CPC) are still pending approval by the peace panels.

The MPC and the Non-violent Peace Force are part of the CPC. Other organizations seeking recognition as part of IMT’s civilian protection task are the Initiatives for International Dialogue, Consortium of Bangsamoro Civil Society, Saligan Mindanao and two others. (Romy B. Elusfa/MindaNews contributor)

International Monitoring Team’s advance party arrives

2010-02-19T19:57:00.000-08:00

by MindaNews
Wednesday, 17 February 2010 06:55

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/17 February) – The Malaysian-led International Monitoring Team (IMT) is back.

Its advance party, the IMT Reconnaissance Team is arriving in Cotabato City February 17 to conduct an ocular inspection of the proposed IMT Sites in preparation for the deployment of a new batch to Mindanao, IMT-5, the fifth batch since 2004.
The IMT’s mandate, renewed yearly upon the request of both the Philippine government and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) peace panels, lapsed on November 30, 2008 and could not be renewed then because government disbanded its peace panel in early September that year and had not set up a new one by November.

The Reconnaissance Team, headed by Lt. Gen. Datuk Raja Mohammed Affandi bin Raja Mohamed, Chief of Staff of the Malaysian Armed Forces Headquarters and accompanied by Maj. Gen Datuk Baharom Bin Hamzah, the incoming Head of Mission of the IMT; and seven others from the Malaysian Armed Forces and Ministry of Defense.

The team will proceed to the cities of Iligan and Zamboanga from Cotabato and will meet with officials of local government tunits, the military and police and MILF officials until February 20.

Representatives from the GRP-MILF Joint Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities (JCCCH), the Philippine National Police, Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process and the Armed Forces of the Philippines will accompany the team throughout its Mindanao sorties.

The IMT serves as the Third party whose mandate is to monitor the implementation of the ongoing Agreement on the General Cessation of Hostilities (AGCH) of 1997 and the Agreement on the Rehabilitation and Development of the Conflict Affected Areas in Mindanao (CAAM).

The new mandate of the IMT, renewed by the GRP – MILF Peace Panels on December 8, 2009, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, now includes the Civilian Protection component of the IMT.

The IMT Reconnaissance team after the visit will decide on the actual deployment of the IMT to Mindanao.

Aside from Malaysia, the other members of the IMT are Libya, Brunei Darussalam, and Japan, which has been sending a development expert instead of armed troops. (MindaNews)

It’s still all in the family in Mindanao’s political landscape

2010-02-19T19:49:00.000-08:00

by Carolyn O. Arguillas/MindaNews
1st of a series

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/15 February) – Thousands of Mindanawons are vying for 4,944 posts across Mindanao’s 26 provinces, 56 congressional districts, 33 cities and 422 towns but as in previous elections, it’s still all in the family in the island’s political landscape, records of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) show.

Up for elections are the posts of 26 governors, 26 vice governors and 250 provincial board members; 56 congressional representatives; 33 city mayors, 33 city vice mayors and 300 city councilors; 422 town mayors, 422 town vice mayors and 3,376 town councilors.

In 2007, a total of 12,395 Mindanawons, many of them bearing the same family or middle names, vied for 4,930 posts across what were then Mindanao’s 27 provinces and 27 cities.

The 27th province, Shariff Kabunsuan, was abolished in early 2009 and returned back to Maguindanao after the Supreme Court ruled that its creation by the Regional Legislative Assembly of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao was unconstitutional.

Six new cities were created after 2007: Tandag in Surigao del Sur, Lamitan in Basilan, Bayugan in Agusan del Sur, Mati in Davao Oriental, Cabadbaran in Agusan del Norte and El Salvador in Misamis Oriental.

The pre-election period was marred by what turned out to be the worst election-related massacre in Philippine history – the Ampatuan massacre of November 23, 2009 where at least 58 persons, including 32 media workers, were killed. Except for six commuters who happened to pass the highway at the wrong time, the rest were part of a convoy from Buluan, Maguindanao to the provincial office of the Commission on Elections in Shariff Aguak town in Maguindanao to file the certificate of candidacy for governor of Buluan Vice Mayor Esmael “Toto” Mangudadatu. The convoy was stopped by armed men reportedly led by Datu Unsay mayor Andal Ampatuan, Sr., who would have wanted to run for governor of Maguindanao, unopposed.

Ampatuan’s father, Andal Ampatuan, Sr., ran for governor of Maguindanao in 2007, unopposed with his youngest brother Sajid as running mate and their slate of provincial board members, unopposed. Twenty of 22 town mayors under Maguindanao then (at that time there were 11 towns under Shariff Kabunsuan) had candidates running unopposed.

Sixty-eight Ampatuans, 50 of them carrying the surname (at least 23 of whom are directly related to the Ampatuan patriarch) are running for top posts in the province. The patriarch himself is running for vice governor as an Independent, against three others, including his daughter Shaydee Ampatuan—Abutazil.

The Ampatuans were Lakas-Kampi (LK) leaders until a day after the massacre when the LK leadership expelled them from the party.

Fifteen Mangudadatus are running for top posts, most of them under LK.
But it’s not only in Maguindanao where candidates come from the same families, the same clans.

In Agusan del Norte and del Sur, it’s still the Amantes and the Plazas with the Aquinos now making their presence felt in both provinces.

Erlpe John Malbas Amante (LK) is running for a third term as governor with Vice Governor Enrico Raymundo Corvera (LK) as running mate.

Amante’s opponent is Roger Macabali Patanao (Ind). While Corvera’s opponent is Mercedes Bacalso Atupan (Ind).

Amante’s sister, Angelica Malbas Amante, who was governor for three terms before Erlpe John became governor in 2004, is running for second district representative against Independent candidates Jovitte Cabrera Calo, Van Amelio Dolofina udalan and Jore Maceda Lomongsod.

In Butuan City, Leonides Theresa Borja Plaza (LK) is running against Ferdinand Magdamo Amante, Jr., (LP), Romeo Cuenca Buyan (Ind), Teodoro Alutaya Emboy (Ind), and Roberto Gillera Rosales (LM).

Plaza is married to incumbent mayor Democrito Galido Plaza II, brother of the Plazas dominating the political scene in Agusan del Sur.

Mayor Plaza’s son, Randolph Borja Plaza (LK) is running for councilor of Butuan City while another son, Roscoe Democrito Borja (NP), is running for mayor of Nasipit town against reelectionist mayor Roy Orlando dela Riarte Doyon (LK).

Rep. Jose Sabijon Aquino II (Lakas-Kampi) is seeking reelection as first district representative of Agusan del Norte against Angelo Azuar Jimenez (LP).

Aquino’s brother, Roberto (LP) is running for first district representative of Agusan del Sur against Maria Valentina Galido Plaza (LK), the incumbent governor.
In the second district, the governor’s sister, Evelyn Plaza-Millana(LK), is running for 2nd district representative against Bienvenido Macapal Cebuala, Ceferino Salva Paredes Jr. (LP) and Reynaldo Mordeno Quijada (PDP-Laban).

Their brother, Adolph Edward “Eddiebong” Galido Plaza, is running for governor against Dominador Cebuala Miolata and Isoceles Piencenevaes Otero.

Another brother, Rodolfo, who is ending three terms in Congress, is running for senator while another brother, Victor, is running for provincial board member in the first district.

In Basilan, Jum Jainuddin Akbar (LK), first wife of the late Basilan Gov. Wahab Akbar, is seeking reelection as governor against five others, including Anak Mindanao party-list Representative Mujiv Sabbihin Hataman (LP).

The lone seat of Basilan in Congress is being contested by 11aspirants, among them a Rajam Mujamad (Aksyon) and Hadiiman Sabbii Hataman-Salliman (LP).

In Isabela City, Akbar’s third wife, Cherrylyn Santos Akbar (LK), is seeking reelection as mayor, against Alan Ritchie Bisquera Biel (Ind), Arnulfo Gregorio Dans (LP), Sihon Anji Indanan (Ind), Edwin Alvarez Pantaleta (NP).

Biel’s brother, Luis Bisquera Biel VI (Ind), is running for vice mayor against five others. The incumbent vice mayor is another brother, Luis B. Biel IV.

In Bukidnon, three-term governor Jose Ma. Zubiri is running for vice governor (LK) against Emma Puertas Asok (LP), Joevy Madero Baldevarona (Ind) while his vice governor, Alex Padua Calingasan (LK) is running for governor against Delfina Dorman Bicatulo (Ind), Diosdado Fredluces Tabios (NP), Ernesto Nazareno Tabios (LP) and Romeo Klem Zuce (Ind).

Former Rep. Socorro Olaivar Acosta (LP), is running for 1st district representative against Daniel Jambalon Onahon (PMP), Candido Pios Pancrudo, Jr. (LK), and Jesus Emmanuel Magbag Paras (NPC).

Acosta’s son, Neric, is running for senator under the Liberal Party.

In the second district, three-term Malaybalay City mayor, Dr. Florencio Flores (LK), is running for reprsesentative against Wienfiredo Eduave Agripo, Fernando Ma. Tiongson Carrascoso III, Joan Mae Tarnate Dichosa and Erwin Abales Marte.

In the third district, Rep. Jose Ma. Fernandez Zubiri III, is seeking reelection against Delia Saloay-ay and Salvador Garcia Galon.

In Malaybalay City, Vice Mayor Inigo “Inaki” Wuthrich Zubiri is running for mayor against Provo Balicao Antipasado, Jr. (Ind) and Glorio Dagacdac Sajulga (LP).

In Valencia City, Mayor Leandro Jose Hallazgo Catarata (LK) is running for relelection as mayor against former mayor Jose Magallanes Galario, Jr. (NPC) and Susan Calva Bangis (Ind).

In Camiguin, the Romualdos’ division in 2007 remains but the family continues to lord it over. The patriarch, former Rep. and former Governor Pedro Palarca Romualdo (LK) is running for representative of the lone district against Forencio Aranas Narido, Jr. (LP) while his son, Governor Jurdin Jesus Modina Romualdo (NPC) is seeking reelection for governor against Rogelio Adaniel Gallardo (LP).

Another Romualdo is running for vice governor: Nicolas Vicente Romualdo Elio (Ind) who is running against LK’s Leo Gales asacar and Juan Margarito Edon Neri.

In Mambajao, Noodin Efigenio Modina Romualdo is running for mayor against his sister-in-law, the incumbent mayor, Ma. Luisa dela Fuente Romualdo, wife of Jurdin Jesus. [Tomorrow: All in the family, too, in Davao, Lanao] (Carolyn O. Arguillas/MindaNews)

It’s still all in the family in Mindanao (2): the ties that bind in ComVal, Davao
by Carolyn O. Arguillas/MindaNews

2nd in a series

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/16 February) – Compostela Valley Governor Arturo “Chongkee” Tao Uy (LK) and Davao del Norte Governor Rodolfo del Rosario (LP) need not campaign for reelection. They are running unopposed.

Compostela Valley Vice Governor Ramil Lao Gentugaya, is assured of victory, too. Like his governor, he is running unopposed.

Compostela Valley 1st district representative Manuel “Way Kurat” Zamora (LK) who became famous for biking his way to Congress and for carrying the ballot boxes during the canvassing of votes in Congress, is ending his three terms. His only daughter, Maria Carmen Zamora-Apsay (LK), two-term provincial board member and President of the Lady Local Legislators of the Philippines (Four-L) and the National Vice-President for Mindanao of the National Movement of Young Legislators (NMYL) is running for the post he is vacating, against Cezar Ochoco Mancao II (Aksyon) and Jaime Monforte Lopoz (LP).

Mancao is a former police officer who fled to the United States in 2001 allegedly on the advice of his former boss at the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force, Senator Panfilo Lacson. Mancao last year, turned his back on Lacson and former President Joseph Estrada by implicating them in the November 2000 kidnapping and murder of Salvardor “Bubby” Dacer and his driver, Emmanuel Corbito. Mancao was among those charged for murder.

Lacson and Estrada have denied involvement in the crime.

Monforte’s brother, Rex Jasper Monforte Lopoz (Ind) is running for 2nd district representative against three-term ComVal governor Jose Rufo Caballero (LP) and reelectionist Rep. Rommel Canos Amatong (LK), son of former Davao del Norte Governor, OIC Compostela Valley governor and ComVal representative to Congress Prospero Amatong.

Caballero ran for the same seat in 2007 but lost to the young Amatong.

In the capital town of Nabunturan town, a Caballero relative, Councilor Raul Benoya Caballero (Aksyon) is running for mayor against Romeo Calamba Clarin (LK) while in Pantukan town, Juan Rufo Caballero, Jr., (LP), brother of the former governor, is running for councilor.

The former governor’s daughter, Kristina Mae Taytayan Caballero, a former provincial board member who ran for governor in 2007, is running for provincial board member in the second district.

Another Lopoz brother is running for provincial board member in the first district, Arvin Dexter Monforte Lopoz.

In Davao del Norte, Governor Rodolfo Pagua del Rosario (LP) and his nephew, Rep. Antonio Floirendo Lagdameo, Jr. (LK) of the second district are running unopposed.
Vice Governor Victorio Suaybaguio, Jr. (LP) is running against Rogelio Esguerra Israel (LK).

Del Rosario’s son, Antonio Rafael Garcia del Rosario (LP), a former vice governor, is running for 1st district representative against Emelita Apostol Alvarez (NP), wife of former Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez.

In Tagum City, Mayor Rey Tao Uy or Chiong Uy (LP) brother of Compostela Governor Uy is seeking reelection against former governor Gelacio Gementiza (Ind), three-term district representative Arrel Reyes Olano (Ind), Cesar Bangayan Cuntapay (Ind) and Charlieto Piencenavez Amespero, Jr.. (Ind).

In the Island Garden City of Samal, Mayor Aniano Paraiso Antalan (LK), brother of former three-term mayor Rogelio Antalan, is seeking reelection against Austerio Flores Obenza (Ind), Orly Adarmeo Amit (LP), and Armando Balintong Sanano (PDSP).
Running under LK for councilor in Babak is Gemma Sahitarios Antalan, wife of the incumbent mayor; for councilor in Samal is Teresita Buchan Antalan, wife of the former mayor.

In Davao del Sur’s political landscape, it’s still Cagas, Bautista, Llanos, Almendras, Latasa.

Governor Douglas Ralota Cagas (NP) is seeking reelection against Claude Peralta Bautista (NPC) , Dominador Fiel Carrillo (Ind), Rosemarie Chavez Villamor (Ind) and Alex Bangoyan Wangkay.(PMP).

Governor Cagas’ wife, Mercedes Chan (NP) is running for provincial board member in the 1st district.

The couple’s son Marc Doug Chan Cagas IV (NP) is seeking reelection as 1st district representative to Congress against Wilhelmina King Almendras (LMWPP) and provincial board member Erwin Soriano Llanos (NPC). Another Llanos, Nonito Avila Llanos III (Ind) is running for 1st district board member.

Two Latasa brothers are slugging it out for the vice governorship: Vice Governor Simplicio Agonia Latasa (PMP) who is seeking reelection, and three-term Digos City mayor Arsenio Agonio Latasa (NPC).

The brothers are running against Lorna Bautista Bandigan (LK), Merlin Beltran Bello (NP), an dablo Cambarejan Villaber (Ind).

In the second congressional district, Rep. Franklin Peralta Bautista (LK) is running for reelection against Alberto Uy Baliota(NP) and Jimmy Yatco Renovilla (PMP).

In Malita, Davao del Sur, Mayor Benjamin Peralta Bautista (LK), brother of Claude and Franklin, is running for reelection against Alberto Uy Baliota II (NP), brother of the congressional candidate. Another Bautista, Bradly Llido Bautista (LK) is running for vice mayor against Aberto Salang Mante (NP).

In Digos City, Governor Cagas’ cousins, Alejandro Cabahug Almendras, Jr., (LP) and Josef Fortich Cagas (NP) are running for mayor against Joseph Roble Penas (NPC), and Romeo Leyson Vicariato (Ind).

Alejandro Almendras’ brother, Sta. Cruz vice mayor Alexis Almendras, is running for reelection. Alexis used to be a Davao City councilor. The Almendras brothers are sons of the late Senator Alejandro "Landring" Almendras.

Wilhelmina King Almendras’ sibling, Alejandro King Almendras (LMWPP) is running for board member of the 1st district against 11 others, among them Aileen Condevillamar Almendras whose brother, Alvin Rey is running for councilor of Sta. Cruz town.
Michael Latasa, private secretary of last-termer mayor Arsenio Latasa, is running for councilor.

In Hagonoy, Davao del Sur, Presidential Adviser for Mindanao Jesus Dureza’s son, Jesus “Jay” Salutillo Dureza, Jr (PDSP) is running for mayor against reelectionist Franco Calida (NP), Davao City’s police chief in the late 1980s who claimed to be the “godfather of the Alsa Masa;” Leonilo Palmero Junsay (Ind); Jose Manoza Superales, Jr. (NPC).

Jay Dureza’s uncle, Jimmy is running for councilor of the 2nd district in Davao City. Jay’s father was a former congressional representative of Davao City’s first district.

In Davao Oriental, Vice Governor Joel Mayo Zosa Almario and Rep. Nelson Lechoncito Dayanghirang (NP) are assured of reelection. They are running unopposed.

The vice governor’s mother, Thelma Zosa Almario is running for reelection as representative of the second district.

Governor Corazon Nunez Malanyaon (NP) is seeking reelection against Ruben Orinza Feliciano (PMP).

Mario Jose Toroba Palma Gil, son of former Governor Marlene Pama Gil, is running for provincial board member.

In Manay town, Jon Marco Mendoza Dayanghiran (NP), president of the Association of Barangay Captains in the area and son of Mayor Antero Dayanghirang, is running for mayor against Jurgen delos Reyes Ompang (LP).

Mayor Dayanghirang, Jr.(NP), brother of Rep. Dayanghirang, is running for councilor. A Samuel Castillo Dayanghirang is also running for councilor.

Mati City mayor Michelle Marie Denise Nakpil Rabat, daughter of former Governor Francisco Rabat and Edith Nakpil, is running for reelection against former Mati mayor Edgardo Endriga Lopez (Ind) .

Vice Mayor Cesar Del Rosario De Erio (LK) is running for reelection against Carlo Luis Peralta Rabat of LDP. (Carolyn O. Arguillas/MindaNews) [Tomorrow:In Davao City, It’s Duterte vs Nograles; councilors’ kin are candidates, too]

It’s still all in the family in Mindanao’s political landscape (3):Davao City, Dinagat and Lanaos
by Carolyn O. Arguillas/MindaNews

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/17 February) – In Davao City, it’s Duterte versus Nograles and in the City Council, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, wives and husbands are running for the post their loved ones are vacating.

Post-EDSA six-termer mayor Rodrigo Roa Duterte (1988 to 1998; 2001 to 2010) is not running for congressman of the first district as he did in 1998 when he “graduated” from his first three terms as mayor. Duterte (LP) is running for vice mayor, the post currently held by his daughter, Sara Zimmerman Duterte (PDP Laban) who is running for mayor against House Speaker Prospero Castillo Nograles (LK) and three others.

Nograles’ son, Karlo Alexei Bendigo Nograles (LK), his chief of staff, is running for the post he served for three terms.

The elder Duterte is facing two opponents in the vice mayoralty race: his former city administrator and later vice mayor, Benjamin de Guzman (LK) who was the mayor from 1998 to 2001 and Roberto Viloria Macaraeg (Ind).

The younger Nograles is facing six opponents, including the estranged sister of Duterte, Jocelyn Roa Duterte (Ind), three-term councilor Maria Belen Sunga-Acosta (LP), Bernard Sabino Custodio (Ind), Anacleto Belleza Millendez (Ind), Robert Elnar Olanolan (Ind) and Juan Resemilla Zamora (Ind).

In the second congressional district, three-term Rep. Vincent Garcia’s sister Mylene De Joya Castillo (Ind) is running against Dexter Antonio Alcebar (Ind), Joji Ilagan Bian (LK), and councilors Danilo Castillo Dayanghirang (LP), and Diosdado Angelo Abello Mahipus (PDP Laban).

In the third district, Rep. Isidro Ungab (LP), is facing five other candidates: Wilberto Echavez Al-ag (PDP Laban), Gerardo Caalaman Braganza (Ind), Gregorio Chavez Canada (NP), and former Rep. Ruy Elias Lopez (NPC).

A total of 100 candidates are running for the city’s 24 council seats in three districts -- the biggest number in Mindanao: 41 in the 1st district, 29 in the 2nd and 30 in the 3rd.

In all three districts, the sons, daughters, sisters, brothers, wives, husbands are running for the posts their relatives are vacating.

Among those running in the first district are: Nilo Abellera’s son, Nilo, Jr. (LP); Leo Avila’s son, Lester Lawrence (Ind); Bonguyan’s daughter Joanne Mendoza (LK); Peter Lavina’s wife, Evelyn Gonzales (LP); Angela Librado’s sister, Leah; Bonifacio Militar’s son, Napoleon Tac-an.

In the second didstrict, two Alterados are running: Ernie Ilagan (PDP Laban) and Senforiano Ilagan Jr (Ind); two Aportaderas: Angelo Arancel (LK) and Michael Protacio (LP); two Orcullos: Nenita Roldan and her brother-in-law Beethoven; former councilor and former vice mayor’s son Louie John Jose (LP); In the third district, two Dalodos are running: Myrna Gerolin Dalodo-Ortiz (PDP Laban) and her brother Doming Gerolin Dalodo (Ind).

Karlo Santos Bello, grandson of former Davao City mayor Luis Santos and son of former Justice Secretary Silvestre Bello, a senatorial candidate, is running for reelection as councilor; Rene Elias Lopez is also seeking reelection while his brother Ruy Elias, former representative to Congress, is running for the same seat in Congress.

Ecleo Islands

Dinagat Islands province is still the Ecleos’. Glenda Buray Ecleo (LK) is running for governor against Harry Echin Meso (LP); her daughter Geraldine Ecleo Villaroman (Ind) is running for vice governor against Elvis Arrocena dela Merced (LK) and Sangkil Ham Park (LP); and her son Ruben Ecleo, Jr. (LK) is running for the lone representative to Congress against Francisco Gorres Rojas, Sr.

One Ecleo is running for first district provincial board membership: Romeo Palapo Ecleo (LK); while three Ecleos are running for the second district: Joslyn Itable Ecleo (LK), Jurry Echin Ecleo (Ind) and Lordes Gersalino Ecleo (Ind).

Three Ecleo children need not campaign. They are running unopposed: Alan Buray Ecleo I (LK) for mayor of Basilisa town; Gwendolyn Buray Ecleo (LK) for mayor of Dinagat town; Alan Buray Ecleo II (LK) for mayor of San Jose.

In Dinagat, it is not just the mayoral candidate who is running unopposed but her running mate, Lilibeth Diegas Edradan (LK) and her entire slate of eight candidates for the eight-seat municipal board.

In Cagdianao, Ruben Alborja Ecleo (LK) is running for vice mayor against Orlando Lazaro Oyales (Ind).

In San Jose, three other Ecleos are running for councilor: Elvin Palapo (LK), Jessie Dagairag (LK) and Michael Angelo Madron.

In Lanao del Norte, the Dimaporos are still the family to beat.

Governor Mohammad K. Quibranza Dimaporo is running for reelection. His mother, Imelda Quibranza Dimaporo is running for 1st district representative against Independent bets Rangiit Gedren Llorente Amisola and Macarupung Butong Dibaratun and Romulo Cailing Rizalda (LP) while his sister, Fatima Aliah Quibranza Dimaporo is running for 2nd district representative against Tingagon Ampaso Umpa (LP).

The incumbent 2nd district Rep is her father, Abdullah who also once served as governor of the province.

In Lanao del Sur, Governor Mamintal Alonto Adiong, Jr., (LK) is running for reelection against six other candidates: former three-term Marawi City mayor Omar Macabalang Ali (NP), Ahmadjam Marogong Abdulcarim (Ind), Abohamadmahmod Tuan Abdullah (Ind), Jiamil Maruhom Dianalan (LM), Muhammadomar Sarip Malawad (Ind) and Bashier Dimaalaang Manalao (PMP).

In the first congressional district, Rep. Faysah Dumarpa is ending her three terms in office with her husband Salic Biston Dumarpa (NP) running for her post against Abul Khayr Abul Alonto (Ind), Salic Ayo Mundir (PMP), Mohammed Hussein Pacasum Pangandaman (LK) and Princess Johayra D. Pacasum Pangarungan (Ind).

Pangandaman is son of Agrarian Reform Secretary Nasser Pagandaman and grandson of former ARMM governor Liningding Pangandaman while Diamond is wife of former OIC Lanao del Sur Governor Saidamen Pangarungan. [Tomorrow: Same faces, same family names in Maguindanao, Misamis, North Cotabato] (Carolyn O. Arguillas/MindaNews)

It’s still all in the family in Mindanao’s political landscape (4)
by Carolyn O. Arguillas/MindaNews

4th of a series

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/19 February) – Iligan City’s mayoralty race is a contest among nine – the incumbent Lawrence Lluch Cruz (LP) against former mayor Franklin Quijano (PMP), former Rep. Alipio Badelles (NP), Samuel Yacomba Acut (Ind), Voltaire Bugnay Lluch (Ind), Ismael Aragon Naga, Jr., (PDSP), Alberto Loquez Ong, Jr. (PGRP) and Yuri Monsanto Taongan (Ind).

Rep. Vicente Florendo Belmonte, Jr. (LP, 1st district, Lanao del Norte) is running for the lone seat of Iligan in Congress, against Samson Nisperos Dajao (Ind) and Jose Cagalawan Pantoja (PMP).

Maguindanao

In Maguindanao, Datu Unsay mayor Datu Andal Ampatuan, Jr., may have dug his own political grave in Ampatuan town with the November 23, 2009 massacre of at least 58 persons, 32 of them from the media, but it may not be the end as yet for the rest of his clan.

Ampatuan, Jr., wanted to be governor of Maguindanao, like his father, three-term governor Datu Andal Ampatuan, Sr. And like his father, he wanted to run unopposed.

Ampatuan, Sr., his running mate Sajid (his youngest son with first wife, Bai Laila) and their provincial board slate, ran unopposed in 2007. And so did candidates in 20 out of then 22 towns in Maguindanao (before Shariff Kabunsuan was declared unconstitutional and its 11 towns transferred back to Maguindanao).

This is also why Lakas-Kampi partymates were trying to dissuade Buluan Vice Mayor Esmael “Toto” Gaguil Mangudadatu, from running for governor. The “Ampatuan formula” of fielding unopposed bets had been tried and tested. It promised “peaceful” elections, as did the other “Ampatuan formula” of creating new towns to give rival politicians their own territories to govern.

The “Ampatuan formula” also guaranteed a “command vote” for national candidates.

In a survey on Muslim Mindanao Attitude Towards Democracy and Elections done on February 1-7, 2008 by the Social Weather Stations and The Asia Foundation, 62% said “it is good to have an unopposed candidate in an election since it reduces campaign violence and insecurity,” while 38% said “it is important to have at least two candidates for every position so that everyone has a choice.”

The ARMM areas voted 65% favoring unopposed candidates against 35% while the non-ARMM areas of Zamboanga City, Cotabato, Isabela, North Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat and Lanao del Norte voted 49% against 51%.

In the ARMM areas, Maguindanao posted the highest approval on having unopposed candidates at 86%. Only 14% said there must be at least two candidates per position.
With Ampatuan, Jr., out of the electoral race (the massacre came on the fourth day of the filing of certificates of candidacy; he was “arrested” on 26 November), and the Ampatuans expelled by the Lakas-Kami, the family and supporters gathered to discuss their next moves.

Sixty-eight Ampatuans are running for elective posts, at least 23 of whom are directly related to the patriarch, Datu Andal Salibo Ampatuan, Sr. (see previous story).

Ampatuan Sr., is running for vice governor against his daughter Shaydee Ampatuan-Abutazil and two others.

Like his junior, Ampatuan Sr. has been charged with multiple murder for the Nov. 23 massacre.

In the first congressional district, Rep. Didagen Piang Dilangalen is running for reelection against Bai Sandra Ampatuan Sema, wife of Cotabato City three-term mayor, Muslimin Sema.

In the second congressional district, Simeon Ampatuan Datumanong is assured of another term: he is running unopposed.

Misamis Occidental and Oriental clans

In Misamis Occidental, it's still all in the family for the Parojinogs, Ocampos, Tans, Claretes and Almontes.

Governor Loreto Leo Solis Ocampos (LP) is running for 2nd district representative against Ozamiz Mayor Reynaldo Ozamiz Parojinog (LK), Tangub City mayor Jennifer Wee Tan (NPC) and Alfredo Agad Paglinawan (Ind).

Ocampos’ wife, Geogina (LP) is running for Tangub City mayor; Parojinog’s daughter ova is running for mayor and his brother, Ricardo, is running for provincial board member while Tan’s husband, a former mayor, is running for the post she will be vacating.

Rep. Herminia de Mesa Ramiro (LK,2nd district) is ending her three terms and is running for governor against Carlos Patricio Cruz Bernad (LP), Francisco Tac-an Paylaga, Jr. (NP) and Carlo Dalogdog Zafra (PMP).

In the first district, Oroquieta Mayor Jorge Taghap Almonte is running against Ernie Dulalas Clarete, former governor and husband of Rep. Marina Clarete.

In Oroquieta City, Almonte’s son, Councilor Jason Paredes Almonte (LK) is running for mayor against Leuel Meyrick Mananggit Acosta (NP).

In Ozamiz City, Councilor Nova P. Engracia Parojinog-Echavez (LK), daughter of outgoing mayor Parojinog, is running for mayor against Ma. Constanceia Corominas Lim (LP).

In Tangub City, Philip Tiu Tan, husband of incumbent mayor Jennifer Wee Tan, is running again for mayor. Mrs. Tan is now running for 2nd district representative.

In Misamis Oriental, Governor Oscar Serina Moreno (LK) is seeking a third term against Michael Angelo Guibone Paderanga (PMP) and Manuel Azcuna Go (Ind).

Moreno’s brother, Genaro Jose Serina Moreno, Jr. (LK) is running for 1st district representative against Jennifer Artadi Lagbas (LP), Wevino Agcopra Palamine (Ind), Peter Mamawag Unabia (PMP) and Romeo Salvana Zagado (KBL).

Lagbas is the daughter of Rep. Danilo Lagas, who passed away in June 2008.

In the second district, Rep. Yevgeny Vincente Beja Emano (NP) is seeking reelection against former Rep. Augusto Hojas Baculio (LP) and Julio Tadoy Uy (LK).

Baculio’s brother, Pedrito (LP) is running for mayor of El Salvador City against Felipe Candones Cabaron (Ind), Alfredo Quilab Tan (LK) while the incumbent mayor, Emelita Baculio-Almirante (LP) is running for vice mayor against Nilo Tan Pates (LK).

Vice Governor Norris Babiera Casino Sr. (LK) is seeking reelection against Victorico Vicente Valderrama Chaves, Jr., (PMP), son of former three-term Rep. Victorico L. Chavez.

In Cagayan de Oro City, Vice Mayor Vicente Emano (PMP) who had earlier served as three-term Governor of Misamis Oriental and three-term city mayor, is running for mayor against 1st district Rep. RolandoAdlao Uy (LK), Berchmans Daing Abejuela (LP), Felix Frias Borres, Jr. (Ind), Sulpicio Bete Illana (Ind), Romerico Nunez LLoren (Ind) and Jasper Fernandez Uy (Ind).

Rep. Uy’s son, Raineir Joaquin Velez Uy (LK) is running for the post he is vacating, against Jose Banjamin Abrio Benaldo (PMP), Lourdes Candy dela Rosa Darimbang (Ind), Tito Pontino Dichosa (Ind), and Dulcisimo Balandra Ytem, Sr., (Ind).

2nd district Rep. Rufus Rodriguez (PMP) is seeking reelection against Samuel Aloysius Magdadaro Jardin (LP) and Alrhoy Velasco Naliponguit (Ind) [Tomorrow: The Pinols, Chiongbians, (Carolyn O. Arguillas/MindaNews)

It’s still all in the family in Mindanao’s political landscape (5): 7 of 11 Pinol brothers running
by Carolyn O. Arguillas/MindaNews

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/20 February) -- North Cotabato Vice Governor Emmanuel Fantin Pinol (NPC) wants to reclaim the post of governor which he held from 1998 to 2007. His younger brother Bernardo Jr., (LP) also wants to retain his seat as representative of the second district.

But they are not the only Pinols running. Seven out of 11 Pinol brothers are running for top posts in May 2010: one for governor, one for representative, three for town mayor, one for city vice mayor and one for municipal councilor.

Patricio Fantin Pinol (LP), the executive secretary of the Vice Governor, is running for vice mayor of Kidapawan City against Joseph Arellano Evangelista (LK). Evangelista was elected number one councilor in 2007 but assumed the post of vice mayor in late November 2008 when Vice Mayor Luis Malaluan passed away.

Magpet Mayor Efren Pinol (NPC) is seeking reelection against Reuben Camanao Lebrillo, Sr., (LK) while another brother, Ferdinand Sr. (NPC), chief of staff of Rep. Pinol, is running for mayor of Matalam against reelectionist Oscar Moreno Vadevieso (LK).

In M’lang, hometown of the Pinols, another brother, Joselito (LP) is seeking reelection as mayor against Tadeo Paluay Andres (LK), while another brother, Gerardo (LP) is running for councilor of M’lang.

The Pinols’ late father, Bernardo, Sr. was a provincial board member.

Vice Governor Pinol is running against outgoing 1st district Rep. Emmylou Talino-Mendoza (LK), Kier Guiaman Labog (PGRP) and Sucre Parael Romancar (Ind). Rep. Bernardo Pinol is running against Nancy Alaan Catamco (LK).

The youngest Piñol brother, Socrates, is serving as ex-officio member of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan representing the Association of Barangay Chairman in North Cotabato.

Vice Governor Pinol, however, has dismissed criticisms about the Pinols building a dynasty.

No dynasty

In the elections of 2007, he said his brothers’ fate at the polls depends on the people.
“We are 11 in the family. I think it is not bad to field my brothers in politics. People will decide on my brother’s fate in politics, not me,” he said.

Pinol challenged his critics to field their candidates instead of accusing him of building a political dynasty.

“If my political critics believe that they have better candidates then why don’t they field them and let the people choose the best leader?” Piñol asked.

Pinol’s running mate is Romeo Daruca Arana (NPC) who will run against former Makilala mayor and former 1st district Rep. Gregorio Tocmo Ipong (LK), and Baculudan Pandi Talib (Ind).

Still in North Cotabato, Governor Jesus Sacdalan is running for 1st district represntative against former Rep. Anthony Pabiona Dequina (NPAC), Dan Omawas Ebo (Ind), Ronaldo Bertumen Pader (LP) and former three-term Kabacan mayor Luzviminda Jumuad Tan (GAD).

In Carmen town, Rogelio Talino (LK), who had earlier served as three-term mayor of Carmen town, is running again for mayor, against Hector Monsale Salvador (LP).
In Kidapawan City, Mayor Rodolfo Yamyamin Gantuangco (LK) is seeking reelection against Ponciano Umpan Bangcas, Sr., (Ind) and Francis Ela Palmones (NP).

In Kabacan town, Mayor George Tan is seeking reelection (Ind) against Wilfredo Villa Bataga, Sr. (LP), Ludencio Amerila dela Cruz (NP), and Tanny Masukat Sultan (Ind). Tan’s wife Luz is running for 1st district representative.

In Matalam, it’s a Valdevieso – Valdevieso team-up for mayor and vice mayor, under Lakas Kampi: Oscar Moreno Valdevieso for reelection as mayor and Cheryl Valdevieso Catamco for vice mayor. Catamco is running against Tranquilino Fusilero Pulanco, Jr. (NPC).

The Chiongbians

In Sarangani, Governor Miguel Rene Alcantara Dominguez (LK) is running for his third term against Juan Domingo Domino of PCM (People’s Champ Movement).

Emmanuel Dapidran Pacquiao aka the boxing champ, Manny Pacquiao (PCM), is running for congressman against Roy Lopong Chiongbian (Sarro), younger brother of outgoing Rep. Erwin Chiongbian.

The Chiongbian’s nephew, Steve Chiongbian Solon (LK), is seeking reelection as Vice Governor, against Fredo Pandian Basino (PCM).

In South Cotabato, three-term Rep. Arthur Yusay Pingoy, Jr. (LK) is running for governor against three-term Koronadal City mayor Fernando Quirao Miguel (PMP) and Ferdinand Ledesma Hernandez (NPC).

Miguel’s son, Peter Bascon-Miguel (PMP), a doctor, is running for the post his father is vacating. The younger Miguel is running against Efren Hiponia Biclar (Ind), Vicente Reyes De Jesus (LK), Vicente Reyes De Jesus (LK) and Abdullah Jess Mangudadatu.

Two former governors who also served as former representatives are running for the 2nd district seat Pingoy is vacating: Hilario Lutero de Pedro III (LK) and outgoing governor Daisy Avance-Fuentes (NPC).

The Acharons

In the first district of South Cotabato, six candidates are running: outgoing mayor Pedro Busgano Acharon, Jr. (NPC), Aldwin Bernae ANgangan (Ind), Franklin Mabini Gacal, Jr. (Ind), Rogelio Valmores Garcia (PDP Laban),. Ramon Razo Melliza (Ind) and Abelardo Serrano Plaza (Ind)

Acharon’s brother, Loreto (LK), is running for mayor against Vice Mayor Florentina Lopez-Congson, former Mayor Rosalita Nunez (PDP Laban), and outgoing1st district Rep. Darlene M. Ricasa Antonino-Custodio (NPC).

Custodio is the daughter of former General Santos City mayor Adelbert Antonino and former Rep. Luwalhati Antonino.

Another Acharon brother, Honesto, is running for councilor while Jose Orlando Remolana Acharon (AIM). is running for vice mayor against Shirlyn Legario Banas (PCM), and Benjur Salazar Mongao of PDP—Laban.

The Mangudadatus

In Sultan Kudarat province, Governor Suharto Tan Mangudadatu (LK) is seeking reelection against Ephraim Baldomero Defino (Ind), Rodolfo Villaceran Estorque (Ind) and Carlos de Leon Valez, Jr. (NPC).

Mangudadatu was former congressman of the 1st district. His father, former three-term governor Pax Pakung Sandigan Mangudadatu (LK) is running for a second term as representative. He is running against Raden Camlian Sakaluran (Ind), former Lutayan his son-in-law who was former mayor. Sakaluran’s wife, Ruth, the incumbent mayor of Lutayan, is Mangudadatu’s daughter.

In the second district, Rep. Arnulfo Fegarido Go (LK) is running for reelection against Reynaldo Forro Arguelles (Ind), Roberto Esteta Examen (Ind), former governor and former Rep. Nesthur Raymundo Gumana (Ind) and Jaquelien P. Villagracia Talmadge (LP).

In the race for vice governor, Ernesto Fontanilla Matias, elected number one provincial board member in 2007, is assured of victory. He is running unopposed.

In Lutayan town, however, the entire slate does not need to campaign. They are all running unopposed: Ruth Mangudadatu Sakaluran (LK), sister of the governor and daughter of the 1st district representative for yet another term as mayor; Felix Lechonsito Lavilles (LK) for vice mayor and all eight LK candidates for councilor. [Tomorrow: The clans of Sulu and Surigao] (Carolyn O. Arguillas/MindaNews)

Buliok 7 years after the war: Painful imprints still linger

2010-02-12T22:35:00.000-08:00

by Keith Bacongco/MindaNews
Saturday, 13 February 2010 09:51

BARANGAY BULIOK, Pagalungan, Maguindanao (MindaNews / February 12) - The rubble, the bullet-riddled walls, the bomb craters have remained. And though not visible, the wounds of war have yet to heal for thousands of residnents who were forced to leave their homes when government forces bombarded this village during the Eid’l Adha congregational prayer on February 11, 2003. A village official narrates their hardships at the evacuation center in nearby Pikit town in North Cotabato, some 15 kilometers from here.

Villagers recall the incident as “treacherous attack against the Moro people,” happening as it did on Eid’l Adha, the Islamic feast of the holy sacrifice.

The barangay official took a deep breath before describing the first bomb dropped beside the mosque where they were holding the congregational prayer.

“The Imam never finished the prayer; they ran for their lives from the rain of bombs and mortar shells,” he recalled as he took another deep breath and bowed his head. The explosions reportedly left three persons dead.

Seven years ago, government forces attacked Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) positions here as well as in nearby villages of Pikit. The government earlier said that they were hunting down members of the dreaded Pentagon kidnap-for-ransom gang who were reportedly hiding in Liguasan Marsh. Later, government forces went out to flush the MILF in the area.

The fighting displaced thousands of people from several barangays of Pagalungan and Pikit. About a hundred evacuees, mostly children, died in the evacuation centers due to diseases.

For 60-year old Tuwaw Abdulrhakman, the war in 2003 left nothing but hardship as they lost farm animals and their houses were destroyed due to relentless aerial and artillery bombing.

“We have not fully recovered from the war even if it was seven years ago. Look at our house, this was not like this before the war. We have not availed of the rehabilitation program,” Abdulrhakman told MindaNews as she points to the dilapidated walls of their shanty.

She recalls that two days before the attack, they were advised by the village chief to evacuate because the military was already in nearby Barangay Rajahmuda and would launch ground assault anytime. “Hindi na namin kayang magpaiwan kasi wala na ring pumapasok na supply ng pagkain kasi hinaharang ng mga sundalo sa Rajahmuda,” (We couldn’t stay behind because food supply was getting scarce as this was barred by soldiers in Rajahmuda), she recounted. “Ayaw na namin ng gulo para makabawi na talaga kami.Nakakapagod mag-bakwit” (We don’t like war so we can move on. We’re tired of evacuating).

Abdulrhakman stayed at the evacuation center for four months. She had to sell their farm animals when the food supply at the evacuation center dwindled.

Traces of War

How can one forget the war in 2003 when the war’s rubble is a daily reminder?
The village official points to what was once a Marine detachment just about a hundred meters from the Islamic Center. Several knee-deep foxholes and bunkers are still in place but now covered with grasses and dried banana leaves.

He also pointed to a former prison cell of the MILF. The cell’s floor area is 12 square feet, its walls made of about six inches of concrete and the ceiling, also concrete, about 15 feet high. The cell has two windows of 1 by 4 feet.

“This is where the MILF used to lock-up those who violated the laws of the MILF here, such as drug addicts, thieves and murderers,” he explained.

Now it’s riddled with bullets from .50 caliber machine guns of government troops . A hole one foot in diameter, is a reminder of what an RPG (rocket-propelled grenade) is capable of doing.

When the Marines occupied the area, the prison cell was reportedly converted into a makeshift disco house. A hut was also built on top, where they occasionally partied, villagers said.

The barangay official disclosed there was an attempt by the MILF to recapture the area.

Across this village is Barangay Buliok, Pikit (North Cotabato) side, which was the object of aerial bombings and artillery shelling in 2003.

Bomb craters are still visible in some areas near the riverbanks of Pulangi River.

What used to be a warehouse constructed through the Special Zone of Peace and Development program, is now a rubble. The warehouse has been left unrepaired despite the government’s rehabilitation program in the area and residents have left the 6-foot deep bomb crater beside the rubble, uncovered.

Remembering 2/11

Earlier in the morning of February 11, 2010, a peace forum was held at the Mahad (Arabic school) in Pikit poblacion, where at least 100 people gathered to commemorate the Buliok attack.

Ustadz Abdul Nasser Musa said the future generation must never forget this day. “Marami nang nagawang kasalanan ang gobyerno sa Bangsamoro. At ang pangyayaring ito noong 2003 ay isa sa pinakamasakit para sa atin na mga Bangsamoro. Hindi nila kinilala ang ating karapatan sa pananampalataya” (Government has committed so many sins against the Bangsamoro. What happened in 2003 was so painful for us Bangsamoro), he told the crowd.

In a separate statement, Nasser Ali, lead convenor of the 2/11 Movement, asked local and national government officials to “refrain from using the GRP-MILF peace process to bolster their political and economic interests. “

Ali also appealed to any group or individual to wait for the results of the peace process before pursuing their interests in the Liguasan Marsh, which is touted to be rich in natural gas.

“The Bangsamoro people, being the rightful owner, must be included and always be part of the every effort to develop the Liguasan Marsh,” he stressed.
The 2/11 Movement is composed of 14 Moro peoples organization binding themselves to lead the move in seeking justice “not just for those who were killed in the Buliok attack but (also for) other victims of injustices at the height of the 2003 war.” ( Keith Bacongco / MindaNews)

With pictures: http://mindanews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=7620&Itemid=50

Civilian protection in peacekeeping

2010-02-12T22:34:00.000-08:00

By Jun Mercado, OMI
Friday, February 12. 2010

On the 27th of October 2009, the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) signed an Agreement on Civilian Protection.

The agreement reconfirms the parties’ commitment to observe the Human Rights Law and the International Humanitarian Law.

By signing this important agreement, both the GRP and the MILF assume all the obligations under the Convention on Human Rights and the International Humanitarian Law.

This, in a special way, has elevated the peace talks between the GRP and the MILF into a higher plane.

What is Civilian protection, especially in areas of conflict?

By definition, Civilian protection refers to all activities aimed at obtaining full respect for the rights of the individuals and communities in accordance with the letter and spirit of the relevant bodies of law, international humanitarian law, and refugee law.

The objective of civilian protection agreement is to reduce the risk and extent of harm to civilians and non-combatants during the actual conflict or during military operations.

The protection of civilians and non combatants is a foremost duty of government and the liberation front.

Both the Human Rights Law and the International Humanitarian Law impose duties on all the parties to the conflict. They also set limits on the methods and means of warfare, particularly as they impact the vulnerable groups.

Worldwide, there is a growing concern over the impact of internal conflict on the non combatants, especially women and children.

Today, the international community requires combatants, government and rebels alike, to respect the dignity and right to life of non-combatants, the wounded and sick, and the prisoners of war.

The principle of civilian protection is anchored on human rights as enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the four Geneva Conventions, the additional Protocol II covering non-international armed conflict, and the Philippine Constitution.

In short, the agreement on civilian protection takes the protection of the civilian population as the cornerstone.

With this agreement the question now centers on the so-called ‘collateral damage’ to non-combatants.

Concretely, the debate revolves around the issue of whether or not a degree of ‘collateral damage’ is acceptable.

In the past, the legitimacy of ‘collateral damage’ was premised on the ‘greater’ good and proportional damage.

The theory was debunked following the lost of the Americans in the Vietnam War.

The slogan, “In order to save the village, we had to destroy it,” was the epitome of the abandoned principle of collateral damage.

In view of the on-going discussion on the terms of reference (TOR) for the combatants on the civilian protection, there are basic questions that need to be answered.

1. Should combatants avoid military encounters in civilian communities?

2. In times of population displacement, do the protagonists provide safe passage to fleeing non-combatants?

3. Do the protagonists allow the non-combatants and the internally displaced unhampered access to relief and rehabilitation assistance?

4. Do the protagonists allow or assist in the return of the displaced to their areas of origin?

Notwithstanding the outcome of the present talks, the Civilian Protection (CP) is a good development and should become more robust as more people participate in the process, particularly of the Local Government Units and Civil Society, including the Private Sector (Business).

The Agreement on Civilian Protection, no doubt, provides challenges to both the protagonists and the stakeholders.

The protagonists and stakeholders must think through and beyond the conflict with a view to a common vision of individual rights and responsibilities.

From peace and development perspective, the more the process is coherent and has integrity, the better it becomes in terms of protecting lives and respecting rights.

http://blogs.gmanews.tv/jun-mercado/archives/2010/02.html

Peace and development prospects for Southern Philippines

2010-02-12T22:33:00.000-08:00

By Jun Mercado, OMI
Friday, February 5. 2010

We are at a crossroads to decide whether to move forward or to ‘freeze’, albeit temporarily, the peace talks with both the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

The Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the MNLF’s ‘official’ review of the implementation of the 1996 Final Peace Accord has remained uncertain and directionless despite three sessions held in Jeddah, in Turkey, and in Manila.

The end remains as nebulous as when they started the review of the implementation of the Final Peace Accord.

The two remain poles apart and that any possible convergence of views and reading of the realities on the ground is almost an impossible dream.

The disagreements between the GRP and the MNLF remind me of the challenge posed by the then Indonesian Foreign Minister, Hon. Ali Alatas, who said that “the real hard work begins after the signing of the agreement. For a peace agreement, or any other agreement for that matter, does not implement itself.”

The same can be said with the GRP and the MILF Peace Talks.

Since 1997, the talks have seen the changes and vagaries of three administrations with no real progress on the ground.

In reality, any peace agreement assumes concrete reality only on the accretions of activities completed on the ground.

The challenge for many, particularly on the leaders, lies on the solid ‘implementary’ achievements, contributions, cooperation and often inevitable sacrifices by all those who are supposed to make the peace agreement work.

In the Southern Philippines, we all have traveled far through long and at times circuitous path to peace.

The 1976 Tripoli Agreement and the 1996 Final Peace Accord are products of patient and insistent peacekeeping and peacemaking.

This is the issue we need to grapple with as we ask the question how to make peace truly sustainable in our homeland.

No doubt, the past and present paradigms, including the controversial Memorandum of Agreement on the Ancestral Domain (MOA AD), need re-drawing to be able to build a new culture, a new way of seeing, and a new way of relating to each other.

The efforts and attempts at peacebuilding, peacemaking, and peacekeeping seem NOT to lead to an acceptable formula that would engender a culture of peace.

It is the culture of peace that will, ultimately, transform and replace the prevalent culture of war.

Peacebuilding is often a more difficult task.

It concerns itself not only on a task of reconciliation but more so on finding and developing positive alternatives to the root causes of war.

This makes peacebuilding a vast project.

It is linked to: (1) building a New Paradigm or politics of living together; (2) a wholesale re-construction [development] of areas affected by conflict; (3) a new understanding of ‘security’ and safety; and (3) a new culture – a culture of peace.

In the past, our community has resembled an armed camp.

Today, there is a movement to reduce reliance on military power and to take steps towards re-construction and disarmament.

The conversion from military to civilian production and trade can make available the resources for programs of human development needed to provide economic and political security.

For peace to be sustainable, it is linked to development which is endogenous, equitable, and sustainable.

Human security and democracy can be provided by institutions and behaviors which ensure that the conflicts inherent in all human societies do not destroy the integrity and effective functioning of the society.

Within the human security framework, disagreement and conflict are managed through a process of participation, dialogue, mediation, and compromise, and political solutions are sought from which all can benefit.

For the next 5 months, the Arroyo administration faces a formidable challenge to pursue with ‘boldness’ peace and development alternatives or simply leave the existing ‘no peace and no war’ policy in the Southern Philippines.

To pursue peace and development with boldness would require not only a coherent national policy on Southern Philippines but also a shared vision of peace.

Sad to say, that these two have been lacking in our pursuit of peace in the land.

With the National elections in May 2010, the temptation is to simply dribble the ball and leave the peace process to the next administration.

It is tragic to simply ‘dribble the ball.’

Perhaps, what the GRP, the MNLF and the MILF can do is to focus and agree on the possible ‘doables’ to create the good climate and prepare a fertile ground for the peace talks under the new administration.

This may be the wiser option given the conflicting policies and views on Mindanao.

The challenge for the peace stakeholders is to engage the two leading political parties, Liberal Party and the Nacionalista Party.

Noynoy Aquino and Manny Villar need to define their vision of peace and development for the Southern Philippines.

No need to engage the former President Estrada since he believes that the solution in Southern Philippines is to imply go back to the ‘all out war policy’.

God forbid that he wins again the presidency!

http://blogs.gmanews.tv/jun-mercado/archives/66-Peace-and-development-prospects-for-Southern-Philippines.html

The prospects of ARMM for 2010

2010-02-12T22:31:00.000-08:00

By Jun Mercado, OMI
Tuesday, January 5. 2010

There are several questions people ask about the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao or ARMM. They wonder why the whole experiment on self-governance seemingly does not work.

The five component provinces (Basilan, Lanao Sur, Maguindanao, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi) remain the poorest in the country.

The region is a place where good local governance is, in fact, almost an ‘oxymoron.’ It would be worse if the region is measured by the standards of ‘autonomy.’ In fact, the provinces within the ARMM feel and believe that they are less autonomous as compared to the provinces outside of the ARMM.

It is high time for all — the government and the Bangsamoro — to call the experiment a ‘failure’ in self-governance and development.

No doubt, there are one thousand and one reasons for the failure. And there will be no end to finger pointing to who was responsible for the failed governance within the ARMM.

The 2010 elections of new sets of national leaders may pave the way towards the ‘abolition’ of the ARMM.

The year 2010 may, in fact, be a golden opportunity to go back to the drawing board and‘re-invent’ our paradigm of autonomy and governance in Southern Mindanao.

With the 1996 Final Peace Agreement between the GRP and the MNLF and the seeming substantial consensus points between the GRP and the MILF negotiations, we have good elements to shape a transitional structure that is all inclusive of all stakeholders in the area regardless of minority or majority status of inhabitants.

The ARMM as it stands is exclusive, by design and operations, of the Muslims. This is, perhaps, one of the major reasons why the Christian majority provinces or territory averred even the thought of ‘integration’ into the said political geography.

The history of ‘partition’ of the empire province of Cotabato in the 50s was premised on a separate province/territory for Muslims and Christians.

In many ways this was a concept that is at work in the political ideology behind the concept of apartheid (separate development and governance).

The same reason was at work when the powers that be ‘gerrymandered’ the then North Cotabato Province in 1971.

The re-drawing of the map of the then North Cotabato was based on the principle of putting together, with few exceptions, all Muslim dominated towns into one province that gave birth to Maguindanao.

Pikit was the exception, because the political elite then in Pikit Municipality was dominated by Christians hence the opposition to a possibility of inclusion to Maguindanao.

Thus Maguindanao became a Muslim Province, by design and operation!

Following the principle behind the said partition, the Muslims could do whatever they want in their area so long as they do NOT interfere in the Christian dominated provinces of the present North Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat.

Following the partition, Marcos appointed Col. Carlos Cajelo as the governor of North Cotabato, Col. Songco (later Gen. Benjamin Duque) as ‘governor-general’ of Sultan Kudarat and Simeon Datumanong as the governor of Maguindanao.

The Muslims, the Christians, and indigenous peoples began coming together, again, in an experimental government structures following the 1976 Tripoli Agreement between the GRP and the MNLF.

Marcos came out with a ‘transitional structure’ of self-governance akin to a ‘work in progress’ until the 1987 Constitution that mandates the establishment of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao or ARMM.

The first structure was the creation of two autonomous and coordinative ‘Commissions’ one for Region XII and another for Region IX.

Simeon Datumanong was appointed “Commissioner” for Region XII and Admiral Romulo Espaldon for Region IX.

The commission-type self-governance and development was supplanted by the creation of two autonomous regions with complete trappings of executive (Lupong Taga Pagpaganap or LTP) and legislature (Regional Legislative Assembly or RLA).

The two autonomous Regions (IX and XII) included eleven provinces and all cities therein out of the 14 provinces enumerated in the Tripoli Agreement (less Davao del Sur, South Cotabato, Palawan).

In 1989, of the 14 provinces subjected to a referendum, only four provinces (Lanao Sur, Maguindanao, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi) favored inclusion to the autonomous region under Republic Act 6734.

The ARMM has seen two Maguindanao Governors (Candao and Ampatuan), two Taosug Governors (Misuari and Husin), and two Maranao (Pangandaman and now acting Governor Adiong).

The ARMM has gone full circle in terms of “ethnic governance” by the dominant Muslim groups.

The experiments do NOT work! Regardless of reasons, the time has come to come up with a major revision both of the blueprint design and operations.

2010 is a new beginning not only for new sets of officials but also for the medium term development goals.

I thought, for a while, that the crisis in the ARMM and the province of Maguindanao would have given that “impetus” and courage to put an end to the ‘failed structure’ that would have paved the way for a new transitional mechanism that is inclusive of all stakeholders and truly accountable to all constituents of the region.

http://blogs.gmanews.tv/jun-mercado/archives/64-The-prospects-of-ARMM-for-2010.html

Document - Philippines: Candidates need to divulge their positions on human rights

2010-02-11T19:30:00.000-08:00

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

PUBLIC STATEMENT

AI Index: ASA 35/001/2010

9 February 2010

Philippines: Candidates need to divulge their positions on human rights

The worst pre-election violence in Philippine history – the Maguindanao massacre – has focused global attention on the human rights situation in the country. Now more than ever, candidates in the 10 May presidential elections need to clarify how they will address key human rights issues facing the country.

Today as the presidential campaign period officially begins, Amnesty International calls on all of the presidential candidates to make clear, public commitments on the actions they will take in the first 100 days of office to address serious human rights violations. In a public letter to the candidates, Amnesty International called on them to affirm their commitment to:

1) Revoke Executive Order 546, and ensure full accountability over all state-sponsored militias and paramilitary groups.

Despite the mass killing of 63 civilians on 23 November in Maguindanao, members of state-armed local groups and private armies are still free to operate in other parts of the country The Philippine government’s continued failure to establish accountability for members of these armed groups undermines the rule of law and denies human rights protection for civilians.

Within 100 days, the new Philippine president should revoke Executive Order 546, which allows for militia and paramilitary groups to provide active support in counterinsurgency operations. In practice, these groups have been ill-trained, unaccountable, poorly integrated into the military chain of command, and responsible for serious human rights violations. In some provinces, Civilian Volunteer Organizations (CVOs) effectively function as private armies for local politicians, heightening the risk of pre-election violence.

2) Establish a presidential commission aimed at preventing and prosecuting enforced disappearances and extrajudicial executions.

In the last decade, at least 200 Filipinos have been subjected to enforced disappearance, and as many as 1,100 have been executed in political killings. The incoming president needs to establish an impartial and independent commission to review these cases, with the aim of enabling timely and effective investigations and, where warranted, prosecutions.

The new president should initiate legislation that specifically criminalizes enforced disappearances and extrajudicial executions. He or she should sign the UN Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances.

3)Order the administration to fully implement the UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement in order to ensure the safety and well-being of the displaced.

Despite the ceasefire in Mindanao, more than 125,000 people remain displaced by the 2008 armed conflict alone. To address this grave humanitarian situation, the incoming president should publicly instruct the administration to ensure that policies comply with the UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement.

Under the Guiding Principles, the government must ensure that the displaced are provided with adequate food, water, shelter, and clothing, as well as essential healthcare and sanitation. It must also guarantee unimpeded humanitarian access to areas under its control. In addition, the government must implement a sustainable plan of action so that the displaced can return to their villages, safely and voluntarily.

As commander-in-chief, the new president will be directly responsible for ensuring that the armed forces comply with international humanitarian law. As a core principle, this law explicitly prohibits direct or indiscriminate attacks against civilians, and this includes displaced persons and all other non-combatants.

/END

Public Document

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For more information please call Amnesty International's press office in London, UK, on +44 20 7413 5566 or email: press@amnesty.org

International Secretariat, Amnesty International, 1 Easton St., London WC1X 0DW, UK www.amnesty.org

http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/ASA35/001/2010/en/4913b8e4-12d4-4baa-9477-9f7274d32fd8/asa350012010en.html

Philippines: Keeping the peace

2010-02-11T18:26:00.000-08:00

The Philippines has the highest rate of gun-related homicides in Asia. In this edition of 101 East, we ask if the Philippines National Police has taken on the role of judge, jury and executioner, all in the name of keeping the peace.

Bangsamoro CSOs: “retain and sustain” Acting Gov Ina Ambolodto

2010-02-02T20:51:00.000-08:00

by Carolyn O. Arguillas/MindaNews
Wednesday, 03 February 2010 11:05

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/03 February) – At least 16 Bangsamoro civil society organizations and networks passed a resolution Tuesday calling on ARMM Acting Governor Ansaruddin Alonto Adiong to “retain and sustain” Bai Nariman “Ina” Abdullah Ambolodto “as vice governor concurrent acting governor of the province of Maguindanao.”

In a two-page resolution, leaders of the Bangsamoro CSOs who convened a caucus on February 2, said they “very humbly respectfully request” Adiong through Haroun Al-Rashid A Lucman, ARMM Secretary of Local Governments and head of the Search Committee that would select the person who will serve as Acting Maguindanao Governor until June 30, to “continue supporting the efforts of Ina Ambolodto of enabling the provincial government to respond to the various pressing needs of our people and communities; intensify and optimize ARMM regional government agency operations in cooperation with the provincial leadership of Ina Ambolodto to address the displacement of our people as a result of fighting and natural calamities, as well as our staggering poverty situation; and retain and sustain Ina as the Provincial Vice-Governor acting provincial Governor.”

The Bangsamoro CSOs, all of them serving Maguindanao – Consortium of Bangsamoro Civil Society; Bangsamoro Center for Just Peace; Muassasah Ahliya; Kadtuntaya Foundation, Inc.; United Youth of the Philippines-Women; Interfaith Cooperation Forum; Kangudan Development Center, Inc.; Alliance of Bangsamoro for Peace and Sustainable Development; Bangsamoro Youth Leaders Forum; Kadtabanga Foundation, Inc.; Al-lhsan Foundation; Mindanao Homeland Development, lnc.; 4. Moro Integrated Community Development, Inc.; Moro Women Development and Cultural Center, Inc.; Mindanao Human Rights Resource and Action Center – said Ambolodto has been “doing justice and according pride to the trust and confidence bestowed by the Honorable Regional Governor, faithful to the tradition of transparent and accountable governance.”

Ambolodto was sworn in as OIC Vice Governor on December 15. But Local Governments Secretary Ronaldo Puno also named her concurrent Acting Governor. December 15 was exactly ten days since then OIC Maguindanao Governor Datu Andal Ampatuan, Sr., was arrested.

Many applicants… but where’s the list?

Reports about a search committee started coming out just as Ambolodto was earning praises for having steered the province and putting in place basic governance systems in post-Ampatuan Maguindanao. (The Ampatuans were implicated in the November 23 massacre of at least 58 persons, 32 of them media workers. Datu Unsay mayor Datu Andal Ampatuan, Jr., principal suspect in the massacre, is facing charges of multiple murder while the patriarch former OIC Maguindanao governor Datu Andal Ampatuan, Sr. and his son, ARMM Governor Datu Zaldy, were among those charged for rebellion).

A January 28 press statement posted on the website of the Department of Interior and Local Government quoted Local Governments Undersecretary Marius Corpus as saying the ARMM leadership has created a search committee for 27 nominees for Acting Maguindanao governor.

ARMM Executive Secretary Naguib Sinarimbo told MindaNews in a telephone interview Monday morning that most of the 27 “nominees” had actually applied for the post, that Ambolodto was not among the nominees “but she can apply or be nominated.”

Asked who nominated the 27, the Cotabato City-based Sinarimbo said “most of them applied” for the post. “There are many applicants for governor,” he said.

MindaNews has been asking for a copy of the list of 27 nominees and applicants since Monday but the ARMM has yet to release the list.

“Vacant” seat

On Tuesday afternoon, ARMM Bureau of Public Information chief Ali Macabalang, sent a news release quoting ARM M officials as saying “the issue at hand is not a matter of replacing Ambolodto but to fill up a vacancy in the office of the Maguindanao governor, which is still vacant.”

Macabalang said he met with local officials and was told that after the national government installed him as Acting ARMM Governor on December 14, Adiong had appointed Engr. Nasser Sinarimbo (elder brother of the ARMM Executive Secretary who now heads the ARMM Social Fund project) and Amboldto, an incumbent board member, as OIC- governor and OIC-vice governor, respectively to fill the top Maguindanao leadership vacancies.

Macabalang said Sinarimbo “refused to assume office to pursue his career service in the ARMM bureaucracy, prompting Local Governments Secretary Ronaldo Puno to install Ambolodto as OIC-vice governor on concurrent capacity as acting OIC-governor on Dec. 15.”

Macabalang wrote that “civil society groups including women’s sector and Church-backed NGOs have since shown satisfaction with the Ambolodto transitional governance” but “some interested resident leaders of Maguindanao have invoked to higher authorities and legal luminaries that the position of OIC-governor in Maguindanao is still vacant, hence, at least 27 of them have aspired for the slot, prompting acting ARMM Governor Adiong to create the search committee chaired by regional DILG Secretary Haroun Al-Rashid Lucman Jr. to screen them.”

Macabalang’s report quoted Adiong as saying everyone “is encouraged to apply or submit application (for the position).” Adiong according to the BPI chief, “anchors his administration on the operating principles of transparent, consultative and moral governance.”

The January 28 DILG press release did not name the 27 nominees but it added that among the requirements of the search committee is that “he or she should not be running for any elective position in the coming May elections; has the capacity to govern and ability to effect reforms in the province,” requirements that civil society groups said Ambolodto meets.

Ambolodto did not file her candidacy for any elective post “for personal reasons.”

“Most aptly chosen”

The Bangsamoro CSOs said Ambolodto “has proceeded to establish the basic foundations for the normal operations of the Maguindanao provincial government” and that she has immediately sat with the heads of provincial offices and convened anew the Sangguniang Panlalawigan. Ambolodto has also convened the Provincial Peace and Order Council and Provincial Development Council and has seen through the enactment of the 2010 Performance Budget.

The groups said Acting ARMM Governor Adiong has “most apply chosen who wi1l steward the province in these very trying times.”

They also added that the Ambolodto’s efforts “have also merited immediate response from national offices and international organizations.”

The groups said The Asia Foundation “has already sent an expert to provide Organizational Diagnostics for the Provincial Government of Maguindanao” and “will soon send another expert to assist us conduct a Fiscal Systems Review.”
The Commission on Audit, the groups said, “ has already commenced conducting a comprehensive audit of the fiscal administration of the provincial government” while the Civil Service Commission “will also conduct a personnel review coupled with personnel capacity enhancement initiatives.”

The resolution said Acting ARMM Governor Adiong “has chosen the most appropriate leader of our province” and that they appreciate Ambolodto’s three-fold mission.

“Transition governor”

Ambolodto, who considers herself as a “transition governor” set to do the following: normalize provincial government operations and services; support the conduct of a free and credible election; and facilitate the smooth transition and assumption of newly elected provincial officials.”

“The civil society anticipates intense partnership on all three arenas of engagement. We believe she will mobilize provincial government resources for the promotion of the public welfare,” the groups said in their resolution.

The groups said they were “appalled and gravely disturbed by the news account of a search committee to determine who would serve the remainder of the term until 30 June 2010.”

“We, individually and collectively, know for a fact that (Ambolodto) is not running for any public office We also have faith not only in her capacity to govern but as well as on her ability to effect reforms in the province. We need not look elsewhere but simply appreciate how she has conducted governance which slowly yet very consistently effecting reforms.”

Copies of the resolution were also sent to Secretary Puno, Undersecretary Marius Corpus, and Sinarimbo.

Earlier, Irene Santiago, executive director of the Mindanao Commission on Women, said changing Ambolodto would be “a cruel joke on the people!”

"At this time when people’s faith in government has been badly shaken, we need officials like Ina who have foremost in their minds the people’s welfare and not their own. That is precisely why the Mindanao Commission on Women is forming a task force called ‘Ina’s Circle’ to support Ina in her efforts to bring about effective governance in Maguindanao.”

Ambolodto is the keynote speaker in the Mindanao Women’s Congress dubbed Kamindanawan 2010 tomorrow (February 4) in Davao City.

Fatmawati Salapuddin, public relations coordinator of the Lupah Sug Bangsamoro Women said those who want to replace Ambolodto “do not want us to see an example of good governance in any part of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). That’s the only reason they want to replace (her) in Maguindanao because she is doing a good job serving the people there.”

Fr. Eliseo Mercado, Jr., executive director of the Institute for Autonomy and Governance in Cotabato City and former Notre Dame University president said it would be “a sad day when a traditional politician becomes an acting governor.”

"Ina is doing well and it will be great if she is allowed to normalize the province until a new one is elected,” he said. (Carolyn O. Arguillas/MindaNews)

Lawyer says there are several ways of adopting “State –Sub-state” relations

2010-02-01T22:45:00.000-08:00

by Carolyn O. Arguillas / MindaNews
Sunday, 31 January 2010 14:21

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/30 January) – There are several ways of adopting a “State- Sub-state relationship” in the Philippines: by amending the autonomous region provisions of the Constitution or by “appending to or incorporating by reference in the Constitution whatever comprehensive peace agreement is reached” between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), lawyer Soliman Santos, whose masteral law thesis at the University of Melbourne in 1999 was on the “Constitutional Accommodation of a Moro Islamic System in the Philippines,” said.

The government and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) had exchanged their draft peace agreements on January 27 in Kuala Lumpur with the former reportedly offering again the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and the latter proposing a “State –Sub-state relationship” that MILF peace panel chair Mohagher Iqbal described as “similar to the Sarawak arrangement.”

Iqbal told MindaNews this would mean amending Sections 15 to 21 of Article 10 (Local Government) or the sections on autonomous regions.

Malaysia has a federal form of government. But Santos, author of the book, “The Moro Islamic Challenge: Constitutional Rethinking for the Mindanao Peace Process,” told MindaNews that the “Sarawak arrangement” can be done even if there is no shift to a federal system of government.

“We can amend the Constitution’s provisions on ARMM only and place in the amendments something like the Sarawak sub-state arrangement,” he said, adding the Constitution “can be changed in any way as long as the process is proper” and that there is no need to shift to a federal system of government “wholesale, across-the-board (nation).”

He said what can be amended are “provisions for a special region as was done with ARMM (and the Cordillera Administrative Region) but this time of higher degree of self-determination like the Sarawak sub-state arrangement if that is agreed upon. This would already place it on the same constitutional level as the rest of the Constitution, and therefore obviates any issues of unconstitutionality.”

“I don't know if amending the Constitutional provisions on ARMM is necessarily the ‘neatest’ way to do this,” he said, citing other options such as: deleting the whole set (Secs. 15-21) on ARMM (but what about CAR?) and introducing a new article on, for instance, Bangsamoro Region; and “without touching Secs. 15-21, append to the Constitution as an ordinance (like what was done with the Parity Amendment) the Comprehensive Compact or its key constitutional provisions.

In previous essays, Santos had written that on “appending to or incorporating by reference in the Constitution whatever comprehensive peace agreement which partakes of a constitutional nature, arising out of the GRP-MILF peace negotiation,” there are actually precedents in Philippine constitutional history: “the first (1939) and second (1947) ordinances appended to the 1935 Philippine Constitution which arose out of treaty negotiations between the Philippine authorities and the U.S. government.”

Still another option, Santos said, is to craft a “new organic act for the ARMM or whatever new name, enacted by Congress acting as a constituent assembly, and therefore that organic act will be on the same level as the Constitution.”

Another way, he said, is to add this “flexibility clause” to the Constitution: “Notwithstanding the provisions of this Constitution and national laws, there shall be accommodated and implemented the comprehensive peace agreements between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines and the recognized representatives of the Bangsamoro people, which peace agreements shall have constitutional status as defining, among others, the relations of constitutional association between the Republic and the Filipino people, on one hand, and the Bangsamoro people, on the other."

Santos cited Patricio P. Diaz’ column in MindaNews on October 3, 2006, titled “Breaking the Impasse.” Diaz, he said, “called attention to the U.S. Constitution, Art. VI, second paragraph: ‘This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.’”

“Adding a provision like this or in the immediately preceding paragraph will currently require going through a plebiscite. But according to Diaz, once it is there, a comprehensive peace treaty or agreement made under the authority of the Philippine government need no longer be subject to a plebiscite,” he wrote.

In his January 28 press statement, Seguis clarified “there is no agreement yet” with the MILF.

“Both sides are still in the early stages of discussing each other’s position papers,” he said.

Though not explaining what kind of political package it was offering the MILF, Seguis in his press statement said the government’s draft peace agreement is “compliant with the Constitution and pertinent laws” and is “also guided by the Supreme Court decision on the aborted Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD).”

The government and MILF peace panels had initialed the MOA-AD in late July 2008 and were already back in Kuala Lumpur by August 4 for the August 5 formal signing when the Philippine Supreme Court issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) late afternoon of August 4, preventing the government peace panel chair from signing the agreement.

Seguis said the government’s 2010 draft peace agreement “mostly identities executive ‘doables’, proposed legislative actions to strengthen regional autonomy, and openness to hear MILF proposals for constitutional change.”

“The GRP draft is clear that discussions that will concern legislative and other policy actions will still be proposals which would be submitted to Congress,” he said.

“There is no mention of any ‘Bangsa Moro’ sub-state in our draft,” Seguis added.

The two panels are meeting again on February 18 and 19 in Kuala Lumpur to discuss the drafts. (Carolyn O. Arguillas/MindaNews)

http://mindanews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=7568&Itemid=50

Gov’t, MILF exchange draft peace pacts; IMT returns before end of February

2010-01-29T05:15:00.001-08:00

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/28 January) – The Philippine government and Moro Islamic Libreation Front (MILF) peace panels will meet again on February 18 to 19 in Kuala Lumpur after exchanging “very divergent drafts” on the proposed Comprehensive Compact or the negotiated settlement on January 27.

But while discussion on the drafts was postponed to three weeks later, the panels lauded the announcement of Datuk Othman bin Abd Razak, the Malaysian facilitator, that the International Monitoring Team (IMT) will be deployed back in Mindanao before end of February. The IMT left on November 30, 2008 and is returning after an absence of 14 months.

For the first time in the history of the GRP-MILF peace negotiations, government peace panel chair Rafael Seguis in a press statement dated January 28, cited government’s “openness to hear MILF proposals for constitutional change.”

The two panels agreed to meet again on February 18 to 19 “to discuss the draft texts and identify the next steps towards achieving a comprehensive compact and a negotiated solution,” a press statement from Datuk Othman bin Abd Razak dated January 28 said.

The facilitator said the parties also agreed “to preserve previous gains made in the peace process; to review each other’s draft texts with their respective principals; and to consult concerned stakeholders on options of moving forward.”

“Both parties look forward to the deployment of the International Monitoring Team (IMT) including a Civilian Protection Component (CPC) in the coming weeks,” he said.

But Mohagher Iqbal, MILF peace panel said the government’s draft peace agreement “essentially offers the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).”

“This offer was done in April of 2000 (sic) and repeated in February of 2003, just before the attack on the MILF Buliok complex in North Cotabato,” Iqbal said.

Iqbal must have meant late May 2000 when the government peace panel, then under retired general Eduardo Batenga, offered as a political package to the MILF, a “meaningful autonomy” through then House Bill 7883, an autonomy the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) had earlier rejected.

Asked about government’s offer of the ARMM to the MILF, Seguis told MindaNews in a text message, “no substantive talks yet. Not in that context!”

The government peace panel submitted a 17-page document, font 14, double space, while the MILF submitted a 37-page document, font 12 and 1.5 space.

In his January 28 press statement, Seguis clarified “there is no agreement yet.”

“Both sides are still in the early stages of discussing each other’s position papers,” he said.

Seguis explained the government’s draft peace agreement is “compliant with the Constitution and pertinent laws” and is “also guided by the Supreme Court decision on the aborted Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD).”

“It mostly identities executive ‘doables’, proposed legislative actions to strengthen regional autonomy, and openness to hear MILF proposals for constitutional change,” he said.

“The GRP draft is clear that discussions that will concern legislative and other policy actions will still be proposals which would be submitted to Congress,” he said.

“ There is no mention of any ‘Bangsa Moro’ sub-state in our draft,” Seguis added.

The MILF peace panel, Iqbal told MindaNews, has proposed a “State – Sub-state relationship” that would require amending the 1987 Constitution’s Article 10, Section 15-21.

Sections 15 to 21 of Article 10 on Local Government, are the sections on the autonomous regions. In the 1987 Constitution, these sections provided for the creation of autonomous regions in Muslim Mindanao and the Cordilleras but only the autonomous region in Muslim Mindanao has been created. The Cordillera region has remained an administrative region.

The arrangement, Iqbal said, would be “similar to Sarawak” in Malaysia. Malaysia has a federal form of government.

But lawyer and peace advocate Soliman Santos, author of “The Moro Islamic Challenge: Constitutional Rethinking for the Mindanao Peace Process,” a UP Press publication in 2001 which had its second edition last year, told MindaNews , “we can amend the Constitution’s provisions on ARMM only and place in the amendments something like the Sarawak sub-state arrangement.”

Santos said the Constitution “can be changed in any way as long as the process is proper” and that there is no need to shift to a federal system of government “wholesale, across-the-board (nation).”

He said the country just needs “provisions for a special region as was done with ARMM (& CAR) but this time of higher degree of self-determination like the Sarawak sub-state arrangement if that is agreed. This would already place it on the same constitutional level as the rest of the Constitution, and therefore obviates any issues of unconstitutionality.” (see other story)

Iqbal did not elaborate on the government’s ARMM offer.

The term of office of incumbent ARMM officials is until September 30, 2011 although Acting Defense Secretary Norberto Gonzales wants the ARMM to hold elections in time with the national and local polls on May 10.

He said an early election for ARMM is needed to firm up the peace and order that martial law had started to establish not only in Maguindanao but also in the entire ARMM.

Iqbal said the government’s draft “deviates from what was agreed during the Agenda Setting Session in the previous GRP-MILF Special Meeting last December 8 and 9, 2009.”

In that Special Meeting, the panels agreed on seven items which government peace panel adviser Camilo Montesa summed up as: identity and citizenship; governance structure; security arrangements; wealth-sharing, natural resources and property rights; restorative justice and reconciliation; implementation arrangements; and independent monitoring.

MILF senior peace panel member Datu Michael Mastura said that the MILF stresses more on “transitional justice and reconciliation.”

Wednesday’s meeting opened with the statements from the Malaysian facilitator, Seguis, Iqbal, and some members of the International Contact Group (ICG), after which the drafts were exchanged.

The MILF peace panel was represented by Iqbal, Mastura, Maulana Bobby Alonto, Atty. Abdul Dataya, and Datu Antonio Kinoc, a B’laan. Jun Mantawil and Mike Pasigan composed the MILF Peace Panel Secretariat.

The government peace panel was represented by Seguis, Agrarian Reform Secretary Nasser Pangandamen, Dr. Ronald Adamat, a Teduray, laywers Antonio Laviña, and Mariano Sarmiento, Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process executive director Ryan Mark Sullivan and Zoilo Velasco.

The ICG members represented were Hitoshi Ozawa and Yoshihisa Ishikawa, Minister and First Secretary of the Embassy of Japan in Manila respectively (Japan); Ambassador Boyd McCleary, British High Commissioner to Malaysia and Mr. Christopher Wright, Second Secretary, British Embassy in Manila (UK); and Yasin Temizkan, Chargé d’ Affaires, Embassy of Turkey in Kuala Lumpur (Turkey).

The INGO (international non-governmental organization) members who were present were David Gorman, Mediation Adviser of the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue (HDC); Dr. Steven Rood, country director for the Philippines of The Asia Foundation’s(TAF); Herizal Hazri, Program Director in Malaysia; Thomas Parks, Regional Director for Governance and Conflict based in Thailand; Ms Cynthia Petrigh, Advisor on Peace Process, Conciliation Resources (CR, London); and Dr. Din Syamsuddin, President of Muhammadiyah accompanied by an adviser, Surwandono.(Carolyn O. Arguillas/MindaNews)

IMT deployment in Mindanao comes with progress in talks

2010-01-22T00:39:00.000-08:00

January 22, 2010 - While the redeployment of the Malaysian-led International Monitoring Team (IMT) has been discussed and agreed during the resumption of the GRP-MILF Peace Talks in Kuala Lumpur on December 8-9, their actual coming and exact date of touching base still depends on the contributing states and the progress of the peace talks now on the final stretch.

This was the clarification made by a member of the MILF Peace Panel, who requested anonymity, in an interview with www.luwaran.com last night.

He explained that agreement by the Parties to give mandate to the IMT partakes the nature of a recommendation but carries a very strong moral appeal in the spirit of peace-making that the international community now endorses or is fully engaged, but the decision is still in the hands of the contributing country.

“The hard thing is that there is a link between ensuring a peaceful atmosphere on the ground by the IMT and the progress of the peace talks on the negotiating table,” he further clarified, adding that the two are inseparable.

However, he is very optimistic that the IMT will be fielded in Mindanao immediately once a real progress in the peace talks happens during the forthcoming meeting in Kuala Lumpur between the Parties. Both the MILF and government have submitted their respective draft proposals on the comprehensive compact last January 20, which will be exchanged during the next round of talks in the presence of the members of the International Contact Group (ICG).

ICG member states are United Kingdom, Japan, and Turkey, all former world empires, while the international non-government organizations (INGOs) ICG members are Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue (European-based), The Asia Foundation (Washington-based), Conciliation Resources (London-based), and Muhammadiyah (Jakarta-based).

The MILF 51-page draft proposal (not 21 as earlier published) has 18 articles and covers every aspect of the proposed interim Bangsamoro governance. It is premised on a state-and-substate relationship.

However, luwaran has no idea of the government draft, although it is expected to contain at least seven articles, which Undersecretary Camilo Montessa presented and proposed during the agenda-setting session of the Parties last December 9.

http://www.luwaran.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1169:imt-deployment-in-mindanao-comes-with-progress-in-talks&catid=81:moro-news&Itemid=372

Media victims’ widows file complaint vs Cayton, Geslani at Ombudsman’s office

2010-01-19T21:33:00.000-08:00

by Froilan Gallardo/MindaNews
Wednesday, 20 January 2010 09:58

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/20 January) -- The widows of media victims in the Ampatuan Massacre of November 23 trooped to the Office of the Ombudsman Mindanao Tuesday to file charges against two top officers of the Philippine Army. They were accompanied by lawyer, Harry Roque, who told reporters that the two officers “could have prevented” the massacre had they sent soldiers to escort the convoys led by the wife of Buluan town Vice Mayor Esmael “Toto" Mangudadatu.

Mangudadatu sent his wife, sisters and lawyers, accompanied by 32 media workers, to go tot he provincial office of the Commission on Elections in Shariff Aguak, Maguindanao, to file his certificate of candidacy for governor of Maguindanao.

The convoy was stopped along the highway in Ampatuan town by about a hundred men reportedly led by Datu Unsay mayor Datu Andal “Unsay” Ampatuan, Jr.

Named as respondents in the complaints are Maj. Gen. Alfredo Cayton Jr., former commanding general of the Cotabato-based 6th Infantry Division, and Col. Menardo Geslani, former commanding general of the Army 601st Infantry Brigade.

Both officers have been relieved following the massacre in Sitio Masalay, Barangay Salman in Ampatuan town, Maguindanao last Nov. 23 but an investigation conducted by the Philippine Army cleared both of the officers.

Cayton and Geslani reasoned that there was a lack of available soldiers since an Army battalion had been sent home to Samar a day prior to the incident.

But the widows, in their affidavits, did not believe both officers.

“Both Cayton’s and Geslani’s declaration that there were no direct threats from the ground prompted the journalists to proceed with the coverage of the Magundadatu women’s filing of COC,” they said

Joseph Jubelag of the Manila Standard who at the last moment decided not to go with the convoy on November 23, told reporters that several journalists called up Cayton asking for security update but Cayton assured them that it was safe to go to Shariff Aguak town.

“How can they be not guilty? Cayton and Geslani had information that the highway was filled with militiamen loyal to the Ampatuans,” Roque said.

Those who filed cases before the Ombudsman were widows and relatives of 13 of the 32 slain media workers are Reynafe Momay-Castillo for Reynaldo "Bebot" Momay, photographer of Midland Review in Tacurong whose remains have yet to be accounted for; Zenaida Duhay for Jhoy of GoldStar Daily in Tacurong; Juliet Evardo for Jolito Evardo of UNTV General Santos; Ma. Cipriana Gatchalian for Gatchalian Santos of DXGO in Davao City; Glenna Legarta for Bienvenido Legarta Jr., of Prontiera News in Koronadal City; Arlyn Lupogan for Lindo Lupogan of Mindanao Daily Gazette in Davao City; Mary Jean Merisco for Rey Merisco of Periodico Ini in Koronadal City; Catherine Nunez for Victor Nunez of UNTV in General Santos City; Noemi Parcon for Joel Parcon, Prontiera News in Korondal City; Myrna Reblando for Alejandro "Bong" Rebland, Manila Bulletin reporter based in General Santos City; Ramonita Salaysay for Napoleon Salaysay of Mindanao Gazette, Cotabato City; Editha Tiamzon for Daniel Tiamzon of UNTV in General Santos CIty; and Erlyn Umpad, partner of McDelbert Arriola of UNTV. Umpad and Arriola have a baby and were supposed to have gotten married in December.

Complaints against the military are usually filed before the Office of the Deputy Ombudsman for the Military and other Law Enforcement Offices which has no office in Mindanao but in Quezon City. (Froilan Gallardo/MindaNews)

http://mindanews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=7521&Itemid=50

Creation of Mindanao Development Authority approved during bicam meet

2010-01-19T20:43:00.000-08:00

by MindaNews
Tuesday, 19 January 2010 21:53

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/19 January) -- Finally, after a long wait of 50 years, the Senate and the House of Representatives approved during a bicameral meeting today the creation of the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) that will “focus on the economic development of Mindanao, as well as on the social, political and cultural aspects of development in the island.” A press statement from the Mindanao Economic Development Council (MEDCo) said both houses of Congress harmonized two versions of the bill – Senate Bill 3496 or MEDA Bill approved on December 15 and House Bill 6958 approved on November 16.

House Bill 6958 seeks to strengthen the existing MEDCo into a more permanent institution “to ensure the continuity and consistency of interregional and Mindanao-wide programs as well as ensure a permanent mechanism that provides a coordinated and rationalized platform for program implementation and monitoring, investment promotion, as well as policy advocacy for Mindanao.”

Mindanao stakeholders have long been lobbying for a permanent mechanism that would ensure a strong voice for Mindanao in the national agenda. Previous advocacies for the creation of the first Mindanao Development Authority (MDA) dates back to 1960, the statement from MEDCo said.

The declaration of policy states that the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) will be established “to address the need for a coordinative and integrative approach for the formulation and implementation of various inter-regional and/or Mindanao-wide development plans, programs and projects.”

The bicameral meeting was chaired by Senator Edgardo Angara and Rep. Felix Alfelor of Bicol, Chairman of the House Committee on Government enterprises. The meeting was also attended by Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri and Representatives Rufus Rodriguez of Cagayan de Oro, Pedro Romualdo of Camiguin, and Simeon Datumanong of Maguindanao.

As adopted by both houses, MinDA will focus on the economic development of Mindanao, as well as on the social, political and cultural aspects of development in the island. It shall also act as an “implementing agency for Mindanao-specific interregional and Mindanao-wide programs and projects” and shall cover Mindanao’s six regions, including the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

The MinDA shall also serve to promote the active participation of Mindanao and Palawan in the Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA).

It shall also establish “a stronger BIMP-EAGA Advisory Board with the inclusion of Senate and House representatives.” The advisory board shall recommend policies and programs to ensure the widest participation of Mindanao and Palawan in BIMP-EAGA.

Undersecretary Virgilio Leyretana, MEDCo chair, said the enactment of the bill “is seen to enhance the potential role of Mindanao as the bridge to all cultures in this country and in BIMP-EAGA, as well as the lynchpin of our country's security and national interest.”

The first time a Mindanao Development Authority, then referred to as MDA, was proposed was in 1960, the MEDCo press statement said.

In the post-Marcos era, under the Aquino administration, a bill to set up a MEDA was proposed and approved by Congress, but President Aquino vetoed it due to objections by the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA). In its stead, she issued EO 512, creating the MEDCo which was operationalized by Ramos, her successor-president.

Ramos created the Office of the Presidential Adviser for Mindanao (Opamin) and named Paul Dominguez as the first PA for Mindanao. He also named Dominguez as chair of MEDCo.

Opamin and MEDCo were both under the Office of the President.

“If there was measurable and palpable success in Mindanao programs for peace and development during the Ramos Administration,” Ramos said in his Nov. 30, 2008 column in Manila Bulletin, “it was mainly because just one official -- and only one -- Paul Dominguez was clothed with sufficient authority to make on-the-spot decisions over Mindanao matters already covered by national or Presidential policy. This efficient set-up quickly disintegrated during the succeeding Estrada administration with the appointment of three PAREs (Presidential Assistants for Regions) in Mindanao -- which resulted in inevitable rivalry for Presidential attention and "goodies" by his three "com-pares." (MindaNews)

http://www.mindanews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=7520&Itemid=50

MILF to Civilian Protection Component: come up with ‘internal terms of reference

2010-01-18T21:30:00.004-08:00

by Romy B. Elusfa/Contributor
Tuesday, 19 January 2010 10:48

SULTAN KUDARAT, Maguindanao (MindaNews/18 January) — The Civilian Protection Component (CPC) of the International Monitoring Team should meet to agree on an “internal terms of reference” which will be presented to the peace panels of the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, MILF chief negotiator Mohagher Iqbal told the Mindanao Peoples Caucus (MPC) in a meeting with the group at Camp Darapanan here over the weekend.

Iqbal’s statement came amid preparations done by both panels for the arrival of the IMT contingents.

Meanwhile, government chief negotiator Ambassador Rafael Seguis briefed other officials of the MPC and Non-Violent Peace Force in Manila about the IMT’s Terms of Reference which he and Iqbal signed in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia last December 9.

The applications for membership with the IMT’s CPC by five other non-government organizations have yet to be approved by the peace negotiators of both camps.

Among the five applications that were referred to the Advocacy Committees of the government and the MILF are those of the Davao City-based Initiatives for International Dialogue and the Cotabato City-based Consortium of Bangasamoro Civil Society.

Along with the MPC, the International Committee on the Red Cross was also invited by both panels to join the CPC of the IMT. But while MPC has accepted the invitation, the ICRC, which strictly adheres to the principles of neutrality and independence, has yet to respond.

While the IMT's term and mandate is only good for a year, the peace negotiators agreed that the CPC "shall remain and continue to perform its function should the IMT cease to operate."

The IMT, which had been monitoring the implementation of the ceasefire agreement forged by government and the MILF, had to suspend sending its contingents at the height of the controversy on the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain which the Supreme Court declared as unconstitutional.

With the resumption of the peace talks, the government and the MILF agreed that the IMT's role would not only be limited to ceasefire. Its new functions include: 1) security, 2) humanitarian, rehabilitation and development, 3) socio-economic assistance, and, 4) civilian protection.

Major Carlos Sol Jr., chief of the secretariat of the Cotabato City-based Joint Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities (JCCCH), said they were already preparing for the coming of a 60-man contingent of the IMT in February.

"A survey team will come earlier to look at our preparations," he said, adding the provinces of Zamboanga del Norte, Sibugay and del Sur, Maguindanao, North and South Cotabato, Bukidnon, Lanao del Norte and Sur, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani, Davao del Norte, Compostela Valley, Davao del Sur and Oriental, Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi and Palawan are the IMT's area of coverage.

Sol said the 60-man contingent will be divided into five Mobile Teams to be stationed in the cities of Cotabato (Mobile Team 1), Iligan (Mobile Team 2), Zamboanga (Mobile Team 3), General Santos (Mobile Team 4), and Davao (Mobile Team 5).

Part of the JCCCH's task is to scout headquarters for each of the Mobile Teams and equip them with logistics for their operation.

MPC secretary-general Mary Ann Arnado pointed out however that while the IMT's TOR specifies that the government should finance its operation, the document was silent on the funding for the CPC.

Iqbal said Arnado's concern was overlooked by the peace negotiators and he suggested that a joint meeting will all parties involved must be called in Malaysia "to answer and settle all questions that are being raised now."

Meanwhile, Ernesto Anarias, executive director of the Manila-based Balay Rehabilitation Center and one of those who represented the MPC in the meeting Sequis called last Thursday, said that "there are a number of things that we have to discuss at MPC regarding this matter. The IMT's TOR needs operational guidelines and framework which are necessary for the CPC to be effective."

Canarias specifically referred to the criteria and process of selecting CPC contingents, its structure, mandate and operational protocols, area of assignments, security guarantees and accountability, and trainings required for the contingents.

Among his suggestions is the "need to look into how the overall CPC mechanism will work and how it will relate with local and national institutions." (Romy Elusfa is a freelance journalist, Bantay Ceasefire volunteer and ComStrat secretary).

http://www.mindanews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=7513&Itemid=50

Media in Ampatuan Massacre: 32 of 58

2010-01-18T21:30:00.003-08:00

by MindaNews
Tuesday, 19 January 2010 12:00

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/19 January) -- The number of media workers killed in Ampatuan, Maguindanao on November 23, is 32 with the addition of Jepon Cadagdagon, who was not included in the media list before. Rowena Carranza-Paraan, director of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) said Cadagdagon’s mother, Jepon, informed her her son worked with Saksi News in General Santos City.

Jepon’s mother brought to Isla Parilla in Alabel Sarangani, venue of the two-day Psychosocial First Aid for the Media Families, a copy of the weekly newspaper, showing the staffbox with Cadagdagon’s name as photographer.

The NUJP organized the year-long series of psychosocial program for the families which started with the First Aid session on January 16 and 17.

Jepon, 28, was unmarried.

At least 58 persons were killed in the Nov. 23 massacre but only 57 bodies were recovered. Reynaldo “Bebot” Momay, photographer of Midland Review in Tacurong City, has remained unaccounted for but for his set of dentures found at the gravesite.

Momay, the 58th victim, would have turned 62 yesterday, January 18.

A total of 57 bodies were retrieved from the massacre site in Sitio Masalay, Barangay Salman, Ampatuan, Maguindanao, 35 of them buried in three gravesites.

Cadagdagon’s name was not included in the earlier list of 31 media victims. Momay’s name was the 31st because his remains have yet to be accounted for.

The Freedom Fund for Filipino Journalists (FFFJ), organized by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ), Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR), Center for Community Journalism and Development (CCJD), Philippine Press Institute (PPI), Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP) and Philippine News, listed 31 media workers during its fact-finding mission from November 24 to 30.

The mission was in partnership with the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP), MindaNews, and the Free Legal Assistance Group and its affiliate, the Union of People’s Lawyers for Mindanao.

Below is the mission’s list of media victims. Cadagdagon’s name has been inserted here:

1. Adolfo, Benjie, Gold Star Daily, Koronadal City

2. Araneta, Henry, dzRH, General Santos City

3. Arriola, Mc Delbert “Mac-Mac,” UNTV, General Santos City

4. Bataluna, Rubello, Gold Star Daily, Koronadal City

5. Betia, Arturo, Periodico Ini, General Santos City

6. Cabillo, Romeo Jimmy, Midland Review, Tacurong City

7. Cablitas, Marites, News Focus / dxDX, General Santos City

8. Cachuela, Hannibal, Punto News, Koronadal City

9. Cadagdagon, Jepon. Saksi News. General Santos City.

10. Caniban, John, Periodico Ini, General Santos City

11. Dalmacio, Lea, Socsargen News, General Santos City

12. Decina, Noel, Periodico Ini, General Santos City

13. Dela Cruz, Gina, Saksi News, General Santos City

14. Duhay, Jhoy, Gold Star Daily, Tacurong City

15. Evardo, Jolito, UNTV General Santos City

16. Gatchalian, Santos, DXGO, Davao City

17. Legarte, Bienvenido, Jr., Prontiera News, Koronadal City

18. Lupogan, Lindo, Mindanao Daily Gazette, Davao City

19. Maravilla, Ernesto “Bart,” Bombo Radyo, Koronadal City

20. Merisco, Rey, Periodico Ini, Koronadal City

21. Montaño, Marife “Neneng,” Saksi News, General Santos City

22. Morales, Rosell, News Focus, General Santos City

23. Nuñez, Victor, UNTV, General Santos City

24. Perante, Ronnie, Gold Star Daily correspondent, Koronadal City

25. Parcon, Joel, Prontiera News, Koronadal City

26. Razon, Fernando “Ranny,” Periodico Ini, General Santos City

27. Reblando, Alejandro “Bong,” Manila Bulletin, General Santos City

28. Salaysay, Napoleon, Mindanao Gazette, Cotabato City

29. Subang, Francisco “Ian”, Socsargen Today, General Santos City

30. Teodoro, Andres “Andy,” Central Mindanao Inquirer, Tacurong Cit

31. Tiamson, Daniel, UNTV, General Santos City

32. Reynaldo “Bebot” Momay. Midland Review. Tacurong City (remains unaccounted for)

The 32 victims joined a convoy of the wife, relatives and lawyers of Vice Mayor Esmael Mangudadatu of Buluan, Maguindanao, to the provincial office of the Commission on Elections in Shariff Aguak, Maguindanao, on November 23, to file his certificate of candidacy for governor.

The convoy of six vehicles was stopped by at least a hundred men along the highway of Ampatuan town, the municipality before Shariff Aguak, and brought to Sitio Masalay in Barangay Salman, where they were mowed down, some of them buried, along with three vehicles.

A backhoe was used for the burial and to crush the vehicles.

Also stopped were five passengers of a red Toyota Vios and the lone occupant of a Tamaraw FX who were not with the convoy but happened to pass by at the wrong time.

Witnesses pointed to Datu Andal “Unsay” Ampatuan, Jr., mayor of Datu Unsay town (the municipality after Shariff Aguak), as the leader of the armed men.

Witnesses also said Ampatuan, Jr., phoned his father, Datu Andal Ampatuan, Sr., acting Maguindanao governor, for guidance.

Ampatuan Jr., blamed the Moro Islamic Liberation Front for the massacre. (MindaNews)

http://mindanews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=7515&Itemid=50

Media victims’ kin to file admin complaint vs MGen Cayton

2010-01-18T21:30:00.001-08:00

by MindaNews
Tuesday, 19 January 2010 11:57

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/18 January) -- Relatives of the media victims in the November 23 Ampatuan Massacre will troop to the Office of the Deputy Ombdusman for Mindanao at 1 p.m. Tuesday to file an administrative complaint against Major General Alfredo Cayton, the 6th Infantry Division commander who was relieved from his post days later and recently promoted to Army vice commander. The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) Davao City chapter in an advisory said the relatives, with the assistance of the Center for International Law (Centerlaw) will file the complaint against Cayton for “dereliction of duties, gross negligence and acts of oppression.”

Complaints against the military are actually filed before the Office of the Deputy Ombudsman for the Military and other Law Enforcement Offices which has no office in this city. The Ombudsman for Military’s office is in Quezon City.

Col. Medardo Geslani, who was also relieved as 601st brigade commander, will reportedly be promoted to Brigadier General, as Deputy J7, a position requiring a star rank.

Earlier, ten widows of the slain journalists led by Myrna, widow of Manila Bulletin reporter Alejandro “Bong” Reblando, manifested their objection to his promotion before the Commission on Appointments (CA).

The widows said Cayton should not be promoted because he failed to act on a request for security for the journalists last Nov. 23.

The NUJP urged media colleagues to wear black “as an expression of our solidarity for the continuing fight for justice.” (MindaNews)

http://mindanews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=7514&Itemid=50

RP Muslims condemn attacks on churches in Malaysia

2010-01-14T19:10:00.000-08:00

By EDD K. USMAN
January 14, 2010 / Manila Bulletin

The 1.5-billion strong Islamic world called Ummah, through the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), Thursday condemned the attacks and burning of churches in Malaysia, as it called for dialogue to resolve the conflict on the use of the Arabic word for God, “Allah.”

Muslim Filipinos also raised their voices to condemn the aggression on Christian houses of worship in Malaysia, as the Philippine Center for Halal Awareness (PCHA) chaired by Ustadhz Abdulhadie Daguit, said the attacks were against the teachings of Islam.

Abdulhadie said that in Islam, churches, synagogues, temples and other houses of worship are deemed protected.

“Islam prohibits attacks against houses of worship of any religion,” said the PCHA official.

In an e-mail to the Manila Bulletin, the OIC, composed of 57 Muslim and some non-Muslim states, quoted OIC Secretary General Prof. Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu who called for self-restraint and to use dialogue in resolving the Malaysians' conflict.

“OIC Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu condemns the aggression on and burning of Christian Churches in Malaysia, insisting on the importance of the prevalence of peaceful co-existence among the members of the Malaysian people,” the e-mail said.

Ihsanoglu lauded the Malaysian government's “judicious treatment of the events,” referring to the Malay Muslims' vehement opposition to Christians' use of the word “Allah” to refer to God.

The dispute emerged after the Malaysian High Court lifted on December 31 a government ban on Catholics' use of Allah as translation for God in their Bible.

Some Malaysian Muslims oppose this, wanting exclusive use of the word Allah.

But Malaysian Christian communities claim they have been using Allah for over 300 years.

Majority of the Muslim world does not support the stand of their Malaysian fellow Islam adherents as the OIC, the PCHA, and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) showed.

CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad urged American Muslims to help in repairing the damaged churches in Malaysia.

He said Arabic-speaking Christians universally refer to God as Allah.

“Muslims in America, Malaysia and worldwide must help protect all houses of worship, and thereby show the true spirit of Islam," Awad said in an e-mail.

“American Muslims, as a symbol of their commitment to interfaith understanding and peaceful coexistence, will take the lead in helping restore the damaged churches. Muslims cannot remain silent in the face of attacks on any houses of worship. Our community needs to take serious and prompt measures to reclaim the moral high ground established by Islamic principles,” said Awad.

He said CAIR has done the same action in defense of the American Muslim community against the same hate crimes, including vandalism committed on mosques.

Awad cited the story of Caliph Umar Bin Al-Khattab who was offered the keys to Jerusalem by the Christian patriarch Sophronius in the 7th century.

“When the Caliph was asked to pray in a Jerusalem church, he declined saying he did not want to provide a pretext for Muslims to appropriate a Christian holy site,” said Awad.

He also cited the Christian ruler of Abyssinia who provided refuge to early Muslims who escaped persecution and death in Makkah.

REPUBLIC ACT NO. 9745 - AN ACT PENALIZING TORTURE AND OTHER CRUEL, INHUMAN AND DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT AND PRESCRIBING PENALTIES THEREFOR

2010-01-12T22:32:00.000-08:00

REPUBLIC ACT NO. 9745

AN ACT PENALIZING TORTURE AND OTHER CRUEL, INHUMAN AND DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT AND PRESCRIBING PENALTIES THEREFOR

SECTION 1. Short Title. - This Ad shall be known as the “Anti-Torture Act of 2009″.

SEC. 2. Statement of Policy. - It is hereby declared the policy of the State:

(a) To value the dignity of every human person and guarantee full respect for human rights;

(b) To ensure that the human rights of all persons, including suspects, detainees and prisoners are respected at all times; and that no person placed under investigation or held in custody of any person in authority or, agent of a person authority shall be subjected to physical, psychological or mental harm, force, violence, threat or intimidation or any act that impairs his/her free will or in any manner demeans or degrades human dignity;

(c) To ensure that secret detention places, solitary, incommunicado or other similar forms of detention, where torture may be carried out with impunity, are prohibited; and

(d) To fully adhere to the principles and standards on the absolute condemnation and prohibition of torture as provided for in the 1987 Philippine Constitution; various international instruments to which the Philippines is a State party such as, but not limited to, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDA W) and the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT); and all other relevant international human rights instruments to which the Philippines is a signatory.

SEC. 3. Definitions. - For purposes of this Act, the following terms shall mean:

(a) “Torture” refers to an act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him/her or a third person information or a confession; punishing him/her for an act he/she or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed; or intimidating or coercing him/her or a third person; or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a person in authority or agent of a person in authority. It does not include pain or Buffering arising only from, inherent in or incidental to lawful sanctions.

(b) “Other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment” refers to a deliberate and aggravated treatment or punishment not enumerated under Section 4 of his Act, inflicted by a person in authority or agent of a person in authority against a person under his/her custody, which attains a level of severity causing suffering, gross humiliation or debasement to the latter.

(c) “Victim’ refers to the person subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment as defined above and any individual who has suffered harm as a result of any act(s) of torture, or other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment.

(d) “Order of Battle” refers to any document or determination made by the military, police or any law enforcement agency of the government, listing the names of persons and organizations that it perceives to be enemies of the State and that it considers as legitimate targets as combatants that it could deal with, through the use of means allowed by domestic and international law.

SEC. 4. Acts of Torture. - For purposes of this Act, torture shall include, but not be limited to, the following:

(a) Physical torture is a form of treatment or punishment inflicted by a person in authority or agent of a person in authority upon another in his/her custody that causes severe pain, exhaustion, disability or dysfunction of one or more parts of the body, such as:

(1) Systematic beating, head banging, punching, kicking, striking with truncheon or rifle butt or other similar objects, and jumping on the stomach;

(2) Food deprivation or forcible feeding with spoiled food, animal or human excreta and other stuff or substances not normally eaten;

(3) Electric shock;

(4) Cigarette burning; burning by electrically heated rods, hot oil, acid; by the rubbing of pepper or other chemical substances on mucous membranes, or acids or spices directly on the wound(s);

(5) The submersion of the head in water or water polluted with excrement, urine, vomit, and/or blood until the brink of suffocation;

(6) Being tied or forced to assume fixed and stressful bodily position;

(7) Rape and sexual abuse, including the insertion of foreign objects into the sex organ or rectum, or electrical torture of the genitals;

(8) Mutilation or amputation of the essential parts of the body such as the genitalia, ear, tongue, etc.;

(9) Dental torture or the forced extraction of the teeth;

(10) Pulling out of fingernails;

(11) Harmful exposure to the elements such as sunlight and extreme cold;

(12) The use of plastic bag and other materials placed over the head to the point of asphyxiation;

(13) The use of psychoactive drugs to change the perception, memory. alertness or will of a person, such as:

(i) The administration of drugs to induce confession and/or reduce mental competency; or

(ii) The use of drugs to induce extreme pain or certain symptoms of a disease; and

(14) Other analogous acts of physical torture; and

(b) “Mental/Psychological Torture” refers to acts committed by a person in authority or agent of a person in authority which are calculated to affect or confuse the mind and/or undermine a person’s dignity and morale, such as:

(1) Blindfolding;

(2) Threatening a person(s) or his/her relative(s) with bodily harm, execution or other wrongful acts;

(3) Confinement in solitary cells or secret detention places;

(4) Prolonged interrogation;

(5) Preparing a prisoner for a “show trial”, public display or public humiliation of a detainee or prisoner;

(6) Causing unscheduled transfer of a person deprived of liberty from one place to another, creating the belief that he/she shall be summarily executed;

(7) Maltreating a member/s of a person’s family;

(8) Causing the torture sessions to be witnessed by the person’s family, relatives or any third party;

(9) Denial of sleep/rest;

(10) Shame infliction such as stripping the person naked, parading him/her in public places, shaving the victim’s head or putting marks on his/her body against his/her will;

(11) Deliberately prohibiting the victim to communicate with any member of his/her family; and

(12) Other analogous acts of mental/psychological torture.

SEC. 5. Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment. - Other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment refers to a deliberate and aggravated treatment or punishment not enumerated under Section 4 of this Act, inflicted by a person in authority or agent of a person in authority against another person in custody, which attains a level of severity sufficient to cause suffering, gross humiliation or debasement to the latter. The assessment of the level of severity shall depend on all the circumstances of the case, including the duration of the treatment or punishment, its physical and mental effects and, in some cases, the sex, religion, age and state of health of the victim.

SEC. 6. Freedom from Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment, An Absolute Right. - Torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment as criminal acts shall apply to all circumstances. A state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability, or any other public emergency, or a document or any determination comprising an order of battle shall not and can never be invoked as a justification for torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment.

SEC. 7. 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. In which case, the Philippine National Police (PNP), the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and other law enforcement agencies concerned shall make an updated list of all detention centers and facilities under their respective jurisdictions with the corresponding data on the prisoners or detainees incarcerated or detained therein such as, among others, names, date of arrest and incarceration, and the crime or offense committed.

This list shall be made available to the public at all times, with a copy of the complete list available at the respective national headquarters of the PNP and AFP. A copy of the complete list shall likewise be submitted by the PNP, AFP and all other law enforcement agencies to the Commission on Human Rights (CHR), such list to be periodically updated, by the same agencies, within the first five (5) days of every month at the minimum. Every regional office of the PNP, AFP and other law enforcement agencies shall also maintain a similar list far all detainees and detention facilities within their respective areas, and shall make the same available to the public at all times at their respective regional headquarters, and submit a copy, updated in the same manner provided above, to the respective regional offices of the CHR.

SEC. 8. Applicability of the Exclusionary Rule; Exception. - Any confession, admission or statement obtained as a result of torture shall be inadmissible in evidence in any proceedings, except if the same is used as evidence against a person or persons accused of committing torture.

SEC. 9. Institutional Protection of Torture Victims and Other Persons Involved. - A victim of torture shall have the following rights in the institution of a criminal complaint for torture:

(a) To have a prompt and an impartial investigation by the CHR and by agencies of government concerned such as the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO), the PNP, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the AFP. A prompt investigation shall mean a maximum period of sixty (60) working days from the time a complaint for torture is filed within which an investigation report and/or resolution shall be completed and made available. An appeal whenever available shall be resolved within the same period prescribed herein;

(b) To have sufficient government protection against all forms of harassment; threat and/or intimidation as a consequence of the filing of said complaint or the presentation of evidence therefor. In which case, the State through its appropriate agencies shall afford security in order to ensure his/her safety and all other persons involved in the investigation and prosecution such as, but not limited to, hislher lawyer, witnesses and relatives; and

(c) to be accorded sufficient protection in the manner by which he/she testifies and presents evidence in any fora in order to avoid further trauma.

SEC. 10. Disposition of Writs of Habeas Corpus, Amparo and Habeas Data Proceedings and Compliance with a Judicial 0rder. - A writ of habeas corpus or writ of amparo or writ of habeas data proceeding, if any, filed on behalf of the victim of torture or other cruel, degrading and inhuman treatment or punishment shall be disposed of expeditiously and any order of release by virtue thereof, or other appropriate order of a court relative thereto, shall be executed or complied with immediately.

SEC. 11. Assistance in Filing a Complaint. - The CRR and the PAO shall render legal assistance in the investigation and monitoring and/or filing of the complaint for a person who suffers torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment, or for any interested party thereto.

The victim or interested party may also seek legal assistance from the Barangay Human Rights Action Center (BHRAC) nearest him/her as well as from human rights non-government organizations (NGOs).

SEC. 12. Right to Physical, Medical and Psychological Examination. - Before and after interrogation, every person arrested, detained or under custodial investigation shall have the right to he informed of his/her right to demand physical examination by an independent and competent doctor of his/her own choice. If such person cannot afford the services of his/her own doctor, he/she shall be provided by the State with a competent and independent doctor to conduct physical examination. The State shall endeavor to provide the victim with psychological evaluation if available under the circumstances. If the person arrested is a female, she shall be attended to preferably by a female doctor. Furthermore, any person arrested, detained or under custodial investigation, including his/her immediate family, shall have the right to immediate access to proper and adequate medical treatment.

The physical examination and/or psychological evaluation of the victim shall be contained in a medical report, duly signed by the attending physician, which shall include in detail his/her medical history and findings, and which shall he attached to the custodial investigation report. Such report shall be considered a public document. Following applicable protocol agreed upon by agencies tasked to conduct physical, psychological and mental examinations, the medical reports shall, among others, include:

(a) The name, age and address of the patient or victim;

(b) The name and address of the nearest kin of the patient or victim;

(c) The name and address of the person who brought the patient or victim for physical, psychological and mental examination, and/or medical treatment;

(d) The nature and probable cause of the patient or victim’s injury, pain and disease and/or trauma;

(e) The approximate time and date when the injury, pain, disease and/or trauma was/were sustained;

(f) The place where the injury, pain, disease and/or trauma was/were sustained;

(g) The time, date and nature of treatment necessary; and

(h) The diagnosis, the prognosis and/or disposition of the patient.

Any person who does not wish to avail of the rights under this provision may knowingly and voluntarily waive such rights in writing, executed in the presence and assistance of his/her counsel.

SEC. 13. Who are Criminally Liable. - Any person who actually participated or induced another in the commission of torture or other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment or who cooperated in the execution of the act of torture or other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment by previous or simultaneous acts shall be liable as principal. Any superior military, police or law enforcement officer or senior government official who issued an order to any lower ranking personnel to commit torture for whatever purpose shall be held equally liable as principals.

The immediate commanding officer of the unit concerned .of the AFP or the immediate senior public official of the PNP and other law enforcement agencies shall be held liable as a principal to the crime of torture or other cruel or inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment for any act or omission, or negligence committed by him/her that shall have led, assisted, abetted or allowed, whether directly or indirectly, the commission thereof by his/her subordinates. If he/she has knowledge of or, owing to the circumstances at the time, should have known that acts of torture or other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment shall be committed, is being committed, or has been committed by his/her subordinates or by others within his/her area of responsibility and, despite such knowledge, did not take preventive or corrective action either before, during or immediately after its commission, when he/she has the authority to prevent or investigate allegations of torture or other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment but failed to prevent or investigate allegations of such act, whether deliberately or due to negligence shall also be liable as principals.

Any public officer or employee shall be liable as an accessory if he/she has knowledge that torture or other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment is being committed and without having participated therein, either as principal or accomplice, takes part subsequent to its commission in any of the following manner:

(a) By themselves profiting from or assisting the offender to profit from the effects of the act of torture or other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment;

(b) By concealing the act of torture or other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment and/or destroying the effects or instruments thereof in order to prevent its discovery; or

(c) By harboring, concealing or assisting m the escape of the principal/s in the act of torture or other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment: Provided, That the accessory acts are done with the abuse of the official’s public functions.

SEC. 14. Penalties. –

(a) The penalty of reclusion perpetua shall be imposed upon the perpetrators of the following acts:

(1) Torture resulting in the death of any person;

(2) Torture resulting in mutilation;

(3) Torture with rape;

(4) Torture with other forms of sexual abuse and, in consequence of tortuxe, the victim shall have become insane, imbecile, impotent, blind or maimed for life; and

(5) Torture committed against children.

(b) The penalty of reclusion temporal shall be imposed on those who commit any act of mental/psychological torture resulting in insanity, complete or partial amnesia, fear of becoming insane or suicidal tendencies of the victim due to guilt, worthlessness or shame.

(c) The penalty of prision correccional shall be imposed on those who commit any act of torture resulting in psychological, mental and emotional harm other than those described in paragraph (b) of this section.

(d) The penalty of prision mayor in its medium and maximum periods shall be imposed if, in consequence of torture, the victim shall have lost the power of speech or the power to hear or to smell; or shall have lost an eye, a hand, a foot, an arm or a leg; or shall have lost the use of any such member; Or shall have become permanently incapacitated for labor.

(e) The penalty of prision mayor in its minimum and medium periods shall be imposed if, in consequence of torture, the victim shall have become deformed or shall have lost any part of his/her body other than those aforecited, or shall have lost the use thereof, or shall have been ill or incapacitated for labor for a period of more than ninety (90) days.

(f) The penalty of prision correccional in its maximum period to prision mayor in its minimum period shall be imposed if, in consequence of torture, the victim shall have been ill or incapacitated for labor for more than thirty (30) days but not more than ninety (90) days.

(g) The penalty of prision correccional in its minimum and medium period shall be imposed if, in consequence of torture, the victim shall have been ill or incapacitated for labor for thirty (30) days or less.

(h) The penalty of arresto mayor shall be imposed for acts constituting cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment as defined in Section 5 of this Act.

(i) The penalty of prision correccional shall be imposed upon those who establish, operate and maintain secret detention places and/or effect or cause to effect solitary confinement, incommunicado or other similar forms of prohibited detention as provided in Section 7 of this Act where torture may be carried out with impunity.

(k) The penalty of arresto mayor shall be imposed upon the responsible officers or personnel of the AFP, the PNP and other law enforcement agencies for failure to perform his/her duty to maintain, submit or make available to the public an updated list of detention centers and facilities with the corresponding data on the prisoners or detainees incarcerated or detained therein, pursuant to Section 7 of this Act.

SEC. 15. Torture as a Separate and Independent Crime. - Torture as a crime shall not absorb or shall not be absorbed by any other crime or felony committed as a consequence, or as a means in the conduct or commission thereof. In which case, torture shall be treated as a separate and independent criminal act whose penalties shall be imposable without prejudice to any other criminal liability provided for by domestic and international laws.

SEC. 16. Exclusion from the Coverage of Special Amnesty Law. - In order not to depreciate the crime of torture, persons who have committed any act of torture shall not benefit from any special amnesty law or similar measures that will have the effect of exempting them from any criminal proceedings and sanctions.

SEC. 17. Applicability of Refouler. - No person shall be expelled, returned or extradited to another State where there are substantial grounds to believe that such person shall be in danger of being subjected to torture. For the purposes of determining whether such grounds exist, the Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and the Secretary of the DOJ, in coordination with the Chairperson of the CHR, shall take into account all relevant considerations including, where applicable and not limited to, the existence in the requesting State of a consistent pattern of gross, flagrant or mass violations of human rights.

SEC. 18. Compensation to Victims of Torture. – Any person who has suffered torture shall have the right to claim for compensation as provided for under Republic Act No. 7309; Provided, That in no case shall compensation be any lower than Ten thousand pesos (P10,000.00). Victims of torture shall also have the right to claim for compensation from such other financial relief programs that may be made available to him/her under existing law and rules and regulations.

SEC. 19. Formulation of a Rehabilitation Program. Within one (1) year from the effectivity of this Act, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), the DOJ and the Department of Health (DOH) and such other concerned government agencies, and human rights organizations shall formulate a comprehensive rehabilitation program for victims of torture and their families. The DSWD, the DOJ and the DOH shall also call on human rights nongovernment organizations duly recognized by the government to actively participate in the formulation of such program that shall provide for the physical, mental, social, psychological healing and development of victims of torture and their families. Toward the attainment of restorative justice, a parallel rehabilitation program for persons who have committed torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment shall likewise be formulated by the same agencies.

SIlC. 20. Monitoring of Compliance with this Act. – An Oversight Committee is hereby created to periodically oversee the implementation of this Act. The Committee shall be headed by a Commissioner of the CRR, with the following as members: the Chairperson of the Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights, the respective Chairpersons of the House of Representatives Committees on Justice and Human Rights, and the Minority Leaders of both houses or their respective representatives in the minority.

SEC. 21. Education and Information Campaign. – The CHR, the DOJ, the Department of National Defense (DND), the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) and such other concerned parties in both the public and private sectors shall ensure that education and information regarding prohibition against torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment shall be fully included in the training of law enforcement personnel, civil or military, medical personnel, public officials and other persons who may be involved in the custody, interrogation or treatment of any individual subjected to any form of arrest, detention or imprisonment. The Department of Education (DepED) and the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) shall also ensure the integration of human rights education courses in all primary, secondary and tertiary level academic institutions nationwide.

SEC. 22. Applicability of the Revised Penal Code. – The provisions of the Revised Penal Code insofar as they are applicable shall be suppletory to this Act. Moreover, if the commission of any crime punishable under Title Eight (Crimes Against Persons) and Title Nine (Crimes Against Personal Liberty and Security) of the Revised Penal Code is attended by any of the acts constituting torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment as defined herein, the penalty to be imposed shall be in its maximum period.

SEC. 23. Appropriations. - The amount of Five million pesos (P5,000,000.00) is hereby appropriated to the CHR for the initial implementation of tills Act. Thereafter, such sums as may be necessary for the continued implementation of this Act shall be included in the annual General Appropriations Act.

SEC. 24. Implementing Rules and Regulations. – The DOJ and the CHR, with the active participation of human rights nongovernmental organizations, shall promulgate the rules and regulations for the effective implementation of tills Act. They shall also ensure the full dissemination of such rules and regulations to all officers and members of various law enforcement agencies.

SEC. 25. Separability Clause. - If any provision of this Act is declared invalid or unconstitutional, the other provisions not affected thereby shall continue to be in full force and effect.

SEC. 26. Repealing Clause. - All laws, decrees, executive orders or rules and regulations contrary to or inconsistent with the provisions of this Act are hereby repealed or modified accordingly.

SEC. 27. Effectivity. - This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its publication in the Official Gazette or in at least two (2) newspapers of general circulation.

Approved,

(Sgd.) JUAN PONCE ENRILE
President of the Senate

(Sgd.)PROSPERO C. NOGRALES
Speaker of the House
of Representatives

This Act which is a consolidation of House Bill No. 5709 and
Senate Bill No. 1978 was finally passed by the House of
Representatives and the Senate on September 2,2009.

(Sgd.) EMMA LIRIO REYES
Secretary of the Senate

(Sgd.) MARILYN B. BARUA-YAP
Secretary General
House of Representatives

Approved: NOV 10, 2009

(Sgd.) GLOIA MACAPAGAL~ARROYO
President of the Philippines