MILF panel to insist on MOA-AD provisos

I have a new e-mail address: [email protected].

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Moro rebels will insist on provisos of the discredited MOA-AD for a settlement of their 35-year secession. Meaning, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) will demand sovereign powers, like coast guard and border patrol, the use of land and natural resources, and local taxes. This is contained in a “Final Working Draft for a Comprehensive Compact” that the MILF has presented to the Philippine government (GPH).

Circulated in Mindanao, the draft stoked new fears of Moro and Islamic dominance over other residents and religions. That is why an organization of Christians and Lumad (ethnic tribesmen) in Mindanao urges caution when the GPH resumes peace talks with the MILF. Or else, the negotiations might end up with another version of the MOA-AD.

The Arroyo administration nearly signed in 2008 a Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain. It would have placed 747 barangays, many predominantly Christian, under a Bangsamoro (Moro nation), without benefit of plebiscite. The Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao automatically would have expended, under a Bangsamoro Juridical Entity. Handed over to the MILF, the BJE would have held police-military powers, and control over all land, forests, mines, minerals and waterways. The Supreme Court, however, struck down the MOA-AD as unconstitutional. And the GPH had to promise never to bring it up again.

But something strange happened, according to the Mindanao Christians and Highlanders Alliance (Micha). In radio broadcasts in Cotabato City, MILF leaders announced that the Arroyo peace panel secretly had revived talks on July 7, 2009, in Kuala Lumpur. On July 29 both sides recognized the other’s stand: for the MILF, that the MOA-AD had been initialed; for the GPH, that it was never signed. In December 2009, with six months left in office, the Arroyo admin agreed to rush a Comprehensive Compact. Negotiations would skip other substantive aspects, like disarmament. But they would proceed from the context of the MOA-AD.

The Arroyo panel never got to finish the talks. But, Micha says, the MILF nonetheless submitted its final working draft to the new panel formed by President Noynoy Aquino. The 26-page document refers to the MOA-AD several times.

After Aquino’s meeting in Tokyo last week with MILF chief Murad Ebrahim, details of the final draft hit the headlines in Manila. Mohager Iqbal, head of the MILF panel, announced that they would no longer insist on independence, but on a sub-state. This Bangsamoro, he said, would be subject to the Republic in the areas of territorial integrity, domestic and international trade, currency and monetary policy, defense and external security, foreign policy, citizenship and naturalization, Customs and postal services, and national taxation.

But Micha points to the other realms that the MILF draft demands: public welfare; charities; health; education; registration of births, deaths, marriages, and residence; land surveys, distribution and water; agriculture and forestry; ancestral lands and agrarian structure; inland waterways and cost shipping; inland fisheries and aquaculture; marketing and public safety of food, drinks and tobacco; transportation and infrastructures; tourism; ports and harbors; coast guard and border patrols; urban and rural development; regional development; business registration and local taxation; preservation of natural and historical cites; and waste and noise abatement.

The Aquino administration says it will not enter into any secret pact like the MOA-AD. The peace agreement shall be based on public acceptability. Given the MILF draft, Micha cautions the GPH against surrendering sovereignty to separatists.

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Filipino-American geologist Manuel C. Diaz reacts to two recent items in Gotcha. On the difficulty of auditing dredging works: “The cross section of the works can be accurately measured. In a Korean company contracted for the Saigon port during the Vietnam War, we did shallow seismic surveys before and after the dredging. The rate of siltation can also be calculated this way.”

On getting oneself out of the Immigration bureau’s hold-departure order or watch list, “To get a certificate you have to pay P500, plus spend a whole day at the bureau. I was subjected to hold-departure since 1997. I got a certification from the Sandiganbayan that I am not the same person in the list. Still the bureau required me to get its own certification, or else I would not be allowed to leave. It’s a racket”

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Do you wanna have fun? You will, watching Sweet Charity, because of the all-star musicale cast. Nikki Gil and Kris Lawrence are the, um, perfect couple; with Ciara Sotto, Shiela Valderrama-Martinez, Sheree, OJ Mariano, Miguel Faustmann, Angela Padilla, Caisa Borromeo, Topper Fabregas, Chinie Nepomuceno, Anthony Tarrosa Ong, Peter Alcedo, Job Bautista, Francis Matheu, Vinia Pamplona, Chai Relucio, Carmelle Ros. Produced by Santi Santamaria; directed by Bobbie Guevara; choreographed by Deana Aquino.

Bob Fosse’s Broadway hit that originally starred Shirley MacLaine is presented by 9 Works Theatrical, up to August 27, at the Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium, RCBC Plaza, Makati. Proceeds of the last day’s matinee are for the KC de Venecia Foundation. For reservations, (02) 5575860, 5867105, (0917) 5545560.

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Catch Sapol radio show, Saturdays, 8-10 a.m., DWIZ, (882-AM).