Hataman assures all ARMM execs remain loyal to gov't

COTABATO CITY, Philippines - All of the 116 mayors and five provincial governors in the Autonomous Region in Mindanao (ARMM) remains loyal to the Constitution, assured regional governor Mujiv Hataman on Saturday.

Hataman said the regional leadership structure, from the regional down to the barangay level, also remained supportive of President Aquino’s separate peace overtures with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Moro National Liberation Front.

The ARMM covers Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur, which are both in Central Mindanao, the island provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi, and the cities of Lamitan and Marawi.

Hataman said his constituent-elected leaders in the autonomous region are also solidly behind President Aquino’s effort to wind up with the tripartite review of the September 2, 1996 government-MNLF peace accord, to the mutual benefit of both sides.

“And we also look forward to a successful culmination of the GPH-MILF peace talks,” Hataman said.

The three-way effort of enhancing the peace pact and resolving all misunderstandings on the implementation of some of its sensitive provisions started in 2007 and involves the MNLF, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and combined representatives from the national government and ARMM.

“Political leaders in the autonomous region also adhere to their sworn duty to protect the Constitution at all cost, at all times and to do their best to preserve and protect national sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Hataman said.

Misuari was reported to have declared early this week the independence of “MinSuPala,” or Mindanao, Sulu and Palawan, apparently apprehensive a peace deal between the government and the MILF could marginalize his group politically.

The MILF and the government, whose peace talks started January 7, 1997, aims to establish a Bangsamoro political entity that would replace the ARMM.

The largest of three factions in the MNLF, led by former Cotabato City Vice-Mayor Muslimin Sema, has been mum on Misuari’s independence declaration.

Sema’s group, which has more than 20 “revolutionary states” scattered in the autonomous region and in Palawan, has persistently been asserting it has not turned its back from the government-MNLF peace agreement.