GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/February 3, 2012) – As  a postscript to our last Comment: “Pacquiao the Boxer in Congress” may we offer this unsolicited advice free of charge? Anything for the long lasting good of the giver and the beneficiaries is never late. Does Manny Pacquiao really want to help the poor? If I remember [...]

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/30 January) – Pacquaio is facing his acid test in Congress: First, how well on the way is he in rounding the square peg that he is to fit into the round hole that is Congress? How is he living up to the great expectation cast around him.

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/29 January) — As a boxer and Filipino, has Emmanuel Pacquiao done much good for his country? Certainly! He made the sports world, American especially, take notice of the Philippines. He has given boxing in the Philippines the needed boost – inspiring promising Filipino boxers. For these, he deserves honors.

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindadNews/28 January) — Riches breed ambition for power fanned by the fame riches naturally brings. Yielding to this ambition, Pacquiao emerges in a new person with a new story.

(First of Four Parts) GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews / 27 January) – Manny Pacquiao, the multi-titled world boxing champion, and Emmanuel D. Pacquiao, the representative of the lone congressional district of Sarangani, are two persons in one man. As boxing champion Manny Pacquiao is super; as congressional representative, Emmanuel D. Pacquiao has still to prove [...]

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/10 January) – Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo, who visited Arakan right after the killing (MindaNews, October 26, 2011), said that a task force had been assigned to look into the Tentorio murder case and three angles were being considered as the possible motives. However, he cautioned: “It might be good for us to consider all angles and motives because … there are inconsistencies if you take a closer look at the incidents and initial motive as claimed.”

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/9 January) – The arrest of Jimmy Ato, alleged killer of Fr. Fausto Tentorio, PIME in early morning of December 29, 2011 generated positive reactions. However, after the arrest followed big posers in the wake of conflicting and downplayed implicating and complicating circumstances and incidents.

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/12 Nov) — In a situation-saving balancing act, President Aquino III countered his “no to all-out war” option with “all-out justice” for the 19 SF troopers. In so doing under conflicting circumstances, he equivocated to reassure the majority of the soundness of his leadership – appeasing the angry among them – and [...]

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/10 November) — The call to stop Government and MILF negotiation unless MILF surrender their “rogue commanders” who with “criminals” they coddle “slaughtered” the 19 SF troopers and to review — better disregard or scrap — the ceasefire agreement is ridiculous.   MILF top officials admitted their forces battled the government troops. [...]

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/9 Nov) – President Benigno S. Aquino III thumbed down the all-out-war calls. He incurred severe criticism for that. But he held fast with the peace advocates even if outnumbered by the all-out-war radicals – Senate leaders among them. In an ambush interview at the MacArthur Memorial Park in Leyte last October [...]

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/8 Nov) – With exception of few references to reports from Luwaran, the MILF official website, and to statements of top MILF officials, reports in national media had the military, Malacañang, Senate leaders, and Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process for their sources. This explains the slant of reports [...]

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/7 Nov) – Provoking, shooting, blaming each other – that’s playing a dangerous, costly game. The government and Moro rebel armed forces never learn. They had done it many times before. They have just done it again. And many in the country ­– particularly Manila – cried for blood. Foul! Murder! All-out-war!

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews / 20 October) – Two weeks after MILF had spurned the “GPH ‘3 for 1’ Proposal” in Kuala Lumpur on August 23, the Government Peace Panel Chair Marvic Leonen and his team held press conferences and forums in Cotabato City and Davao City virtually challenging MILF: Let’s save the peace process. [...]

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/11 October) – In reiterating their objections to “GPH ‘1 for 3’ Solution” and their imperatives, MILF wants to steer the peace negotiation back to the course they had set with the Ramos, Estrada and Arroyo administrations. The negotiations stopped at the point where Government had agreed to the sub-state as the [...]

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/04 October) – Right in the morning after the historic meeting in Tokyo of President Aquino and Chairman Murad, Government and MILF issued official statements that showed in principle their understanding. The optimism for a peace agreement to be signed soon that the statements had generated turned out to be a misunderstanding of the understanding in principle.

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/28 Sept) – As the North Star was to ancient sailors, so “Continuity” is to MILF in their negotiation with the Philippine Government. “Follow the North Star or you get lost” was the first commandment of ancient sailors. Following the Declaration of Continuity is the only way to go forward is MILF’s unbending position.

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/22 September) — The “GPH ‘3 for 1’ Solution” is the alternative to the Comprehensive Compact. It has three components: massive economic development, political settlement, and cultural-historical acknowledgment [through retelling of history]. It, however, is more an alternative to the GRP-MILF Tripoli Agreement of Peace of 2001 – a 3-aspect solution to the Bangsamoro Problem.

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/20 September) – In their official and press statements, the three top figures in the Aquino III Government’s peace team – OPAPP Secretary Teresita Quintos-Deles, Panel Chair Marvic Leonen and Panel Member Miriam Coronel-Ferrer — have repeatedly emphasized that the proposed “GPH ‘3 for 1’ Solution” is “principled, realistic and practical”. While these features must not be belittled we have to candidly take note of their veracity.

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/15 Sept) – Ferrer premised her commentary on the following to corroborate Leonen’s presentation of the Government’s “3 for 1” Solution: First: The initial reactions to the proposal: To the “3 for 1” Solution, she sees two reactions — “relief” on the part of those who fear the “unknown entity” called “sub-state” [...]

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/04 September) – For all the Government’s declarations to be transparent, it is still guarded in its official statements concerning peace negotiation with the MILF. At the 22nd exploratory talk in Kuala Lumpur last August 22, negotiating panel chair Marvic Leonen would not release copies of their 20-page peace proposal since it is still “work in progress” – suggesting “more” will be submitted later as the panel continues to conduct consultations and that the present document can be changed.

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/1 September) – To fast-track the negotiation toward a meaningful and lasting agreement, Leonen said the Government and MILF negotiators must do the following: (1) “…clearly articulate the differences of our principals and constituencies;” (2) “…proceed to examine the reality as well as the viability of logical inferences that we make from our versions of reality;” (3) “… discover how things really are and work to find implementable agreements.”

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/31 August) – Like a flare shot into the night sky, the historic meeting of President Benigno Aquino III and MILF Chairman Al Haj Murad Ebrahim in Tokyo last August 4 brightened hope for the Mindanao peace process only to dim on the 18th day to leave the Government and Moro Islamic Liberation Front negotiators groping in the dark under the shroud of Government’s “honestly different ‘3 for 1’ proposal”.

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/26 August) – Patronage is a bane – a curse – of Muslim autonomy. It has divided Muslim leaders since Manuel L. Quezon launched Filipinization in the second decade of 1900. With one hand the Philippine Government offers autonomy to the Muslims; with the other, kills it with patronage.

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/25 August) – Despite skepticism based on hard realities that RA No. 10153 would deliver ARMM from bad governance, corruption and anomalous elections through the OICs within 21 months, let all help that the President’s optimism and faith will prevail. In his speech freely translated earlier, he said:

GENERAL SANTOS CITY – A report in Philippine Daily Inquirer sporadically quoting from the President’s speech and an interview after the signing of RA No. 10153 on June 30 (Acting ARMM chief must have a plan – President Aquino. July 1, 2011) with other sources corroborating, clarifies the “Corollary Question” in the last issue: “What is in the master plan for the OICs to go about instituting reforms in ARMM?”

GENERAL SANTOS CITY(MindaNews/03 April) — Malaysia has reset for this month the 21st Exploratory Talks of the Philippine Government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front which had been scheduled last March 29 and 30. That will only be the second meeting between the Government and the MILF peace panels in the first ten months of [...]

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/06 February)  –The Jabidah Massacre on March 18, 1968 was one of the major catalysts of the Moro militant youth reform movements bordering on secession that led to the organization of the Moro National Liberation Front. The MNLF foundation day is celebrated on March 18, 1968 in commemoration of that historically ignominious [...]

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/21 Jan) – “Change” was President Benigno Aquino III’s battle-cry when he ran for election last year. Indeed, he has already made some notable changes. In fact, his attempt to change some protocols and the Malaysian third-person facilitator in the peace talks between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines and [...]

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/31 Dec) — “Unsaon ni pagtubag? (Literally: How do we reply to this?) So many sweeping assumptions. A simple basic research on his part will go a long way … but how to tell him that… I’m not sure I should do it.” This, Prof. Rudy B. Rodil said in his e-mail [...]

(8th and last of a series) GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/28 November) —  What really is in the mind of the Aquino government? On where to start the talks: (Government peace panel chair Marvic) Leonen concurred with the MILF: “We are eager to start talks on the one substantive agenda: the comprehensive compact,” observing: “We are [...]

Feedback from Malaysia is clear: The facilitation issue hurts. Yet, as a good neighbor, Malaysia is determined to keep its facilitation role which has obviously become a self-imposed commitment – in the “we are more concerned than thou” tone — for the sake of peace in Mindanao. Expect some anti-Malaysia critics to react: “Really!… for the sake of peace in Mindanao or of its national interest?”

Prof. Kamarulzaman Askandar of Universitii Sains Malaysia, writing in MindaNews of November 21 [Transforming the Facilitation in the Mindanao Peace Process], has an “uncomfortable” revelation. Engaged in research and conflict studies in Southeast Asia, his report — evidently of unquestionable reliability — should be taken seriously; he has visited Mindanao several times and has written extensively on the GRP-MILF peace process.

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/November 25) — What really could be the truth behind the perceived biased facilitation of Othman, ergo: Malaysia, in favor of the MILF? While the best light should come from the GRP peace teams, some sources deemed reliable can shed light to see the two sides of the issue. GRP on the [...]

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (November 24) — That from the start Malaysian officials, from the prime minister down to the designated facilitator, exhorted the MILF not to negotiate for independence was a pitch for the Philippines, not the MILF. Since Santos’ paper covered only the period until 2003 — the year Datok Othman became director-general of [...]

[Author's Note': The discussion of "Aquino Peace Policy", set in the last series for discussion in the present series will be done later.] GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/19 Nov) — As told by the key persons of the Aquino GRP peace team, the pending status of their concern regarding the facilitation process and the current Malaysian [...]

While all elements necessary for the peace negotiation to re-start are in place, The Aquino peace team questions the facilitation processes and wants the current facilitator changed. This and GRP Panel Chair Marvic Leonen’s justification of the GRP team’s position were discussed in the first part of this Comment.

1st of a series GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/14 November) — The Aquino Government has six years from July 1, 2010 to June 30, 2016 to continue the negotiation with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and end it up with the resolution of the Mindanao or Bangsamoro Problem. The race is in its fifth month; there [...]

6 Nov 2010 (Acceptance speech delivered at the 1st Agong Awards of the Mindanao Media Forum on 6 November 2010). Thank you for the honor and of course, the dinner. My wife, who has to accompany me wherever I go, and I will long remember and cherish the memory of this occasion. Now, may I [...]

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/21 Oct) – Two speeches at the ARMM Peace Summit – those of Ambassador Dato Seri Dr. Ibrahim Saad of Malaysia and Ambassador Reslan I Jenie of Indonesia – were keynote addresses. Yet, neither one keynoted the Summit according to its theme. Neither did Secretary Teresita Quintos-Deles, presidential adviser on the peace [...]

To restate, in the ARMM Peace Summit, eleven issues were identified as problems ailing the autonomy in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. While they could be good arguments for the negotiation of the GRP-MILF Comprehensive Compact within the framework of a “reframed” MOA-AD, they were really a call for the implementation of the 1996 FPA “in letter and spirit”.

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (October – Issues on: (6) Land conflict, (7) Poor delivery and access to basic services and facilities, (8) Non-adherence to EO 125 and other existing laws over Official Development Assistance (ODA) management, (9) Unstable peace and order, and (10) Inadequate representation of ARMM in the National Government are complaints so often raised. [...]

- The last two issues – “Poor access to and control in the exploitation and utilization of strategic resources” and “Weak fiscal autonomy” – were intended to show why ARMM has no economic autonomy. So is the next issue, No. 5: “Low Agricultural and Industrial Productivity”.

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (October 5) – As a postscript to the comments concerning the issue “Electoral System [is] not suitable to ARMM situation”, the Summit participants were disturbingly silent on matters pertaining to harsh election realities – the notoriously perennial anomalies and irregularities. Automated voting in Election 2010 might have eliminated midnight voting and clandestine [...]

3rd of a series GENERAL SANTOS CITY (October 4) – Discussed in the last Comment was Issue No. 1, on “Leadership Crisis”, and its four causes. Issue No. 2, on “Electoral System” is discussed below. ARMM Election “Electoral System is not suitable to ARMM situation” is too vague an issue to address a defective feature [...]

(Second of Series) GENERAL  SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/01 October) –  The eleven issues discussed during the ARMM Summit last September 20- 21 indicate what ails the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. While some of these have ailed the autonomy since Year One of its existence, 1990, this Summit was the first organized occasion they were discussed [...]

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (29 September) – The recent Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Peace Summit revealed signs that can lead the Moros either to or away from the realization of a political settlement as a solution to their problems in fulfillment of their right to self-determination.  How they read the signs and act accordingly is [...]

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/26 August) — In the aftermath of the bloody August 24 hostage crisis that splattered worldwide, President Bengino S. Aquino III rationalized, ordered the Secretary of Justice to conduct a “thorough” investigation; so did the Philippine National Police Director who, while admitting mistakes, yet justifying the “rescue?” operation. Has President Aquino realized [...]

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/15 August) – If, in 1872, the great Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy wrote a story of the same title, “God sees the truth, but waits,” now it can be told: Present-day god may see the truth, but ignores; prayers are of not avail. I don’t mean God in Heaven. Just the other [...]

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/4 Aug) — As discussed in the first part, “Situwasyon sa Mindanao” as the core of President Aquino’s peace policy in Mindanao is vague. This could be seen from his pronouncements in his SONA. A review of the peace negotiation from Ramos to Arroyo shows the Aquino policy appears to muddle the [...]

GENERAL SANTOS CITY – What now is the problem in Mindanao? This is the critical question as the Arroyo administration turned off the road and the Aquino government assumed the burden of continuing the peace process. How will President Aquino do it? He has two options: Continue from where President Arroyo’s government and the Moro [...]