Attempting in Mindanao a Lebanon partitioning

Of “Bangsamoro preceded Spaniards only 20 years (Gotcha, 24 Sept. 2008), reader Senen Domingo of Tarlac City says:

Historical reports credibly trace the roots of the Bangsamoro people to Johore in the Malay Peninsula. It’s our neighbor Malaysia, the peace talks broker between GRP and MILF, who should grant them ancestral domain.

Ha-ha-ha, politically naughty, if incorrect.

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And from Sara Zapanta of Daet City:

The National Commission on Indigenous Peoples identifies over a hundred IPs. “Bangsamoro” is not one of them. Neither are majority Christian Tagalogs, Ilocanos and Pampangos, or majority Muslim Maguindanao, Maranao and Tausog. True minorities like Yakan, Ifugao and of course Aeta are listed.

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Over the past three weeks, I tackled intertwined issues: the Memo of Agreement-Ancestral Domain, Memo of Understanding-ZTE Inc., mining in Diwalwal and North Davao, forest reserves versus ancestral land, Picop’s timber license, and mercury pollution in and around the gold rush, and the 1997 Indigenous People’s Rights Act (IPRA). Some reactions merit publication — and clarification.

From Michael C.U. de Guzman of Makati City, one-time associate of Joe Almonte as national security adviser, on the MILF possibly exploiting the IPRA (Gotcha, 5 Sept. 2008):

I’d like to pick up where you left off and share an analysis of Lebanon geopolitics, in order to understand Mindanao. You ended your article with “RP can qualify as the next failed state after Somalia.” Consider a scenario: Mindanao is locked into a 10-year plan as a major component of a “Middle East Peace Process” framed by the US, Israel and Saudi Arabia. With a grand plan of having Mindanao as an “independent state” under the MOA-AD or IPRA, (1) billions of dollars pour in for economic development, while oil and gold reserves are extracted, to make Mindanao progressive and rich; (2) stateless Palestinians (housed by Israel in the Occupied Territory and various refugee camps in Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, etc.) are transposed with money and jobs to resettle in Mindanao; and (3) Mindanao statehood is recognized by the US, Israel, Saudi Arabia and all Arab countries, with the West following suit, and Palestinians becoming citizens. Peace is achieved in the Middle East, allowing uninterrupted oil supply to the US and the West, with Mindanao becoming also a major oil supplier. The US then gets strategic “permanent” naval and air bases in Mindanao. Israel solves its Palestinian problem. The Philippines is left with only Luzon and the Visayas, or is even divided further with Luzon as one state and the Visayas another — with Filipinos ending up the biggest suckers in the world.

The US, Israel and Saudi Arabia tried to implement a similar plan of dividing Lebanon for the Palestinians. They underestimated the resolve of the Christian Lebanese. A 20-year civil war ensued, with France supporting the Christian militias. Lebanon, at least for now, has regained its “managed independence.”

Peace in Mindanao or all-out war? Or sell-out?

Filipinos cling to a false hope that the archipelago will remain as one forever. But with more and more of them emigrating, and those left behind no longer caring how their leaders misrule, disintegration is just around the corner. RP can easily fail because it never had a chance to bloom as a state.

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From 777dvo, on the ZTE mining deal violating the Constitution:

Let’s pray the Supreme Court exercises its awesome power of judicial review to check the President’s equally awesome power over natural resources. Too, let’s pray the authorities put an end to the Big 3 syndicates’ exploitation of Diwalwal’s small miners. As for Picop’s forest concession, it already covers Davao, Agusan and Surigao provinces. It should give up some land for the greater good of country and people, especially the Lumad whom timber licensees made squatters in their own ancestral lands. Picop’s owners apparently want to control not only the 300,000-hectare forest concession granted by past Presidents, but also mining rights within the 1.9 million-hectare forest reserve.

As long as things are done constitutionally, so be it. Which reminds me: in a recent chat retired Chief Justice Art Panganiban wished someone would again bring to the SC the constitutionality of the IPRA. When the SC tackled it in 2001 the vote was 7-7, so the law stayed — along with such eerie provisos as ancestral lands being titled “in perpetuity”, and soldiers or cops barred entry.

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From Datu Ahmad M. Bayam, former MNLF spokesman, ARMM assemblyman, and Malacañang assistant secretary:

(MILF) chairman Hashim Salamat’s letter to President Bush, citing the Sulu Sultanate’s treaties with Spain and the US, is worth discerning. The Bangsamoro struggle for self-government antedates the Philippine Republic and Constitution. The MILF exists as a legitimate revolutionary armed group against the Constitution.

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