5th of a series: NAPE to BSMG
GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/13 May) — MILF Panel Chairman Mohagner Iqbal’s opening and brief closing statements strongly state the MILF position as of April 2012 for all to know and for Government to consider in relation to the “Decision” while pursuing the negotiations on substantive issues. Government knows. OPAPP Secretary Teresita Quintos-Deles, in the April 26 OPAPP report, saw the ensuing negotiations to be “tough and serious”.
Three top MILF officials have spoken to media in relation to the “Decision” – MILF Chairman Al Had Murad Ebrahim, MILF Vice Chairman for Political Affairs Ghadzali Jaafar and MILF Panel Member Maulana Alonto. With Iqbal, they affirmed the MILF position: The “new autonomous political entity” must be the substate envisioned in the MOA-AD as revised in the MILF Draft Agreement 2011 – call it by whatever name.
Murad spoke to the MILF military and political leaders (Luwaran, April 26). He said of the “Decision”: “This is a breakthrough in the almost two-year drought in talks under the Aquino administration.” He also considered it a “far-sighted shift from the government’s ‘three-for-one’ formula”. However, he told the Moros not to be complacent but to pray for the success of the negotiations as “the road ahead is more rugged and tricky”.
The success of the talks, he emphasized, hinges on how the negotiations on substantive issues can institute the “transition mechanism” to empower “the Moros to exercise self-determination” as “part of the larger agenda”.
Alonto, to quote Luwaran of April 25, “said that this document (Decision) is vital to the success of the negotiation for a new political entity in the form of a Moro substate” that will replace the ARMM. He then qualified that this “new substate political entity” will be established into “the ministerial form of Bangsamoro government”.
To quote Luwaran further, “He also said that this would fulfill the MILF’s formula of transforming the totality of relationships between the Philippine state and the Bangsmoro into an asymmetrical state-substate arrangement consonant with the right to self-determination of the Bangsamoro people.” He notednoting that the arrangement precludes the MILF”s “option to secede”.
Jaafar, as reported by the Philippine Star and Philippine Daily Inquirer on April 30, 2012, together with some senior members of theMILF Central Committee held a press conference in Darapanan, Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao last April 29. As vice chairman for political affairs, his thinking about the “Decision” in relation to the peace process and the on-going negotiations is most significant.
The two leading national papers cited or quoted him as saying:
About the “Decision”: It is not the answer to the Bangsamoro problem, “…not an agreement which will address the Bangsamoro issue”. It will only serve as guide in the succeeding talks aimed at resolving the conflict in Mindanao. (Philstar)
He must be cautioning against the optimism that with the “Decision” the much-awaited peace agreement is just around the corner when he stressed “that as far as the MILF is concerned, it will only enter into a peace agreement with the government if the problem of the Bangsamoro is totally and truthfully addressed”. (Philstar)
At a glance, he sounds contradictory. Government and MILF have agreed to resolve the Bangsamoro problem through the “Decision”. Why is it not the answer to the problem? But on reflection, he must be saying that as guide, the “Decision” may or may not lead the talks to the total and truthful solution to the Bangsamoro problem.
The Solution: After MILF “has abandoned its bid for total independence, the only solution is full autonomy”. This Bangsamoro government “will exist and function under the national government”. (Philstar)
As a political solution to the Bangsamoro problem the “new autonomous political entity” must be the Bangsamoro substate; MILF has not changed the core of the political settlement it has been seeking. (Philstar)
Confusing?
This Philstar report may be confusing to the Manila media and to those in the majority that rely mostly on reports from government sources or that consider reports from Mindanao reliable only when these check with sources in Manila. Most reports about the “GPH-MILF Decision Points on Principle” in Manila media were practically the same coming from Leonen or Deles. Generally, the reports were upbeat on the prospects of having a peace agreement at last with appeals for support from the people.
The April 29 commentary of Rene O. Bas, editor-in-chief of The Manila Times, is most revealing. He said that at first he could not believe the April 24 reports of Al Jacinto and Munir Jannaral, the Times correspondents in Mindanao, on the MILF views concerning the “Decision” — that it has not abandoned its “substate” position — for being contrary to the stories of Manila reporters. He finally balanced the diverse sources; in his editorial, he profusely quoted Leonen and MILF to come out with positive and fair opinion.
In his commentary, Bas quoted extensively Luwaran stories sourced from Murad and Alonto – obviously avoiding the risk of misunderstanding or of being misunderstood. What must have finally put Bas to rest was Al Jacinto’s interview with Iqbal. Bas said:
“Subsequently, Correspondent Al Jacinto was granted an interview by MILF panel chairman Mohagher Iqbal, who confirmed the correctness of the ‘fact’ that the MILF still wants their political entity that will replace – subsume – the ARMM to be a sub-state.”
Quoting Al Jacinto’s story:
“Whatever the new Muslim entity that will be put up in the South will be called, it will still be a sub-state as far as the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) is concerned.
“MILF chief peace negotiator Mohagher Iqbal said that the MILF and the government panels have yet to decide what to call the new entity that would replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) based on the ’10 Decision Points on Principle’ signed by the two panels on Tuesday in Malaysia which is seen as a ‘breakthrough’ in the peace talks.”
Bas quoted more of Al Jacinto’s interview with Iqbal and the Luwaran report of Murad’s comments on the “Decision” and his call for “prayers” for the success of the negotiations. For more clarity, he ended his commentary with a paragraph – “Dean Leonen is right, too” citing his clarification that the “Decision” is “far from being the final agreement”.
Name It BMSG
In that same press conference last April 30, the Philippine Daily Inquirer reported Jaafar as having suggested that the new autonomous political entity (NAPE) “shall be called the Bangsamoro State Government or BMSG”. This will be composed of the present ARMM and adjacent areas subject to future negotiations.
This must be Jaafar’s “personal” choice, consonant with Iqbal’s personal choices as quoted by The Manila Times: “Moro state, Moro sub-state, Moroland,Moro country, or simply Bangsamoro.”
At this point, this much is the understanding: MILF has agreed to abandon its bid for independence and opted instead for full autonomy to be a part of the Philippine State and under the supervision of the President. The government agreed to create NAPE out of ARMM as the “full autonomy” for MILF; the NAPE, however, is not a sub-state – not a state separate from the Republic.
The term “sub-state” is very sensitive; it is nowhere to be found in the “Decision”. It appears MILF is willing to accept any name for the “full autonomy” without the specific use of “subs-state” as long as it is essentially the sub-state envisioned in MILF Draft Agreement 2011 or the Revised MILF Comprehensive Compact.
The MILF insistence that NAPE is still a “sub-state” and Jaafar’s suggestion that is shall be called BSMG will surely be sticking points in the ensuing negotiations. (“Comment” is Mr. Patricio P. Diaz’ column for MindaViews, the opinion section of MindaNews. The Titus Brandsma Media Awards honored Mr. Diaz with a “Lifetime Achievement Award” for his “commitment to education and public information to Mindanawons as Journalist, Educator and Peace Advocate.” You can reach him at patpdiazgsc@yahoo.com.)
(To be Concluded: Recap: Rough Road Ahead)