Lanao sultans assure new ARMM officials of their full support

The Arroyo government is not alone in committing full support for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), particularly for Gov. Parouk Hussin of the Moro National Liberation Front’s Council of 15 and Vice Gov. Mahid Mutilan, standard bearers of the Lakas-NUCD in the recent regional elections.

"The 15 Royal Houses of Lanao are pledging their unquestionable support for Gov. Hussin’s administration," said Sultan Sabdulah Ali Pacasum of the Royal House of Balo-I in a statement.

Pacasum is the chairman of the 15 Royal Houses of Lanao and president and chairman of Pacasum College in Marawi City.

Pacasum said the days following Hussin’s installation as ARMM governor tomorrow will be "very trying" for Muslim Filipinos both in and outside the region.

The rehabilitation of communities ravaged by the full-scale war which former President Joseph Estrada had launched against the MILF "is not even half-way done," he said.

The Abu Sayyaf, he added, is also causing untold difficulties while the failed uprising of former MNLF chairman Nur Misuari has compounded the miseries of Muslim Filipinos.

"To these relatively new problems must be added the catch-up task Muslims have not been up to in the last century. It is incumbent upon every Muslim Filipino in the ARMM and outside of it to support Gov. Hussin and Vice Gov. Mutilan. Finally, there is the increase in drug trafficking in Muslim communities. If they survived the trial of the past century, they might not survive this," said Pacasum.

On the regional level, Pacasum said this will formalize the consultations between the traditional leaders and the government, just as when former President Corazon Aquino held a dialogue with the 15 Royal Houses of Lanao at Malacañang.

The late former Speaker Ramon Mitra, he recalled, had a similar consultation with them at the Batasang Pambansa, followed by discussions with some Cabinet secretaries on priority projects and problems in the Lanao provinces.

"Moreover, President Aquino also made it possible for the sultans to hold a dialogue with the ambassadors of Islamic countries at the Manila Hotel," Pacasum recalled.

The 15 Royal Houses of Lanao and their counterparts in the other sultanates and principalities, he said, may hold dialogues with Datu Ibrahim Paglas, who lost to Hussin in the ARMM polls, "to (get) his cooperation and renew his quest to be of service to our people in the (region)."

President Arroyo and Interior and Local Government Secretary Jose Lina, he said, will not be off the mark "if they enlist the support of the traditional leaders in nation-building."

"Look at Malaysia. Traditional leaders have their special role. In the case of Thailand, the King provides that bond that has kept that country intact, giving it stability. President Manuel Quezon’s policy of minimizing, even eliminating the influence and role of the traditional leaders, did not at all contribute to the national weal," he said.

He added: "It must be remembered that one reason the MNLF failed in its separatist aim was that the traditional leaders did not lend their full support. President Arroyo can begin rectifying Quezon’s flawed perception of the Muslim Filipino policy."