P-Noy’s legacy of peace

Even after the Bangsamoro Framework Peace Agreement is signed in March, the final agreement that will bring peace to Muslim Mindanao still has a long way to go. But if this succeeds, historians will write about this as one of the greatest legacies of the PNoy government to the world.

In order to appreciate the magnitude of this undertaking, we need to remember that the Philippines is only one of many countries around the word dealing with a Muslim minority issue.

In Thailand, there is a Muslim insurgency in the Southern provinces. Since the beginning of 2004, Southern Thailand has been caught in an escalating violence. Thailand placed its three Southern provinces with Muslim majority population under martial law following a well coordinated attack on Thai army and police facilities.

Since 1976, the Tamil Tigers has been a separatist military organization based in northern Sri Lanka. They have been fighting against the majority Buddhist Sinhalese population. The demand has been for a Tamil homeland.

In the Kashmir province of India, the conflict is also between the Hindu government and the Muslim majority in that province.

In Russia, the government has claimed they have stabilized the situation in Chechnya, a small, primarily Muslim region in the Southwestern corner of Russia. Chechnya declared its independence from Russia in 1991, and soon there was a war. In 1996 a peace agreement was signed, giving Chechnya substantial autonomy. But in 1999, separatists started a campaign of terrorism and Russia had to intervene again. The Sochi Winter Olympics in Russia this year is being held hostage by these separatists. In fact, the Americans have sent two warships into the waters of Russia to provide evacuation facilities for Americans in case of a terrorist attack.

In China, the Muslims in Sinkiang province have long been fighting for an independent state. Recently a bombing in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, which caused injuries to some Filipino tourists, were attributed to this separatist group.

These religious conflicts have placed even internationally respected human rights advocates in a difficult dilemma. In Myanmar, there has been communal violence between the Buddhist majority and the Muslim minority. Aung San Su Kyi, the highly respected human rights leader of the opposition, has remained silent about the conflict. She has not publicly condemned the actions of the Buddhist majority against the Muslim minority in that country.

In Indonesia, the situation is different. The population is more than 90% Muslim. The demands for political autonomy are in predominantly Christian areas like  Aceh (Sumatra) and West Papua. There has also been periodic violence against the minority Chinese population who are predominantly Buddhist.

Even Europe was not spared as evidenced by the bloody wars, where rape became a weapon, between the Bosnian Muslims, Croatian Catholics and the Serbian Orthodox.

Samuel Huntington, a political science professor, wrote a book entitled “Clash of Civilizations” which attempted to explain the reasons for these pervasive conflicts. He talks of “fault lines.” In geology, the existence of a fault line means that, sooner or later, there will be an earthquake all along the fault line.

So he says that there are geographic fault lines or where two cultures or civilizations literally meet each other. These ‘fault line” conflicts occur between neighboring states from different civilizations such as Hindu India and Muslim Pakistan. There could also be conflicts between different civilizations within a state such as Buddhist Thailand and Muslim Southern Thailand.

Huntington says that “fault line” conflicts are especially prevalent between Muslims and non-Muslims. The 20th century conflict between Western democracy and Communism was only a fleeting moment in history. The deeply conflictual relations between Islam and the West has been existing since the time of the Crusades.

It is, therefore, from this perspective that if PNoy can find a way to bring peace between the two cultures, this would be a legacy the whole world can emulate and use as a model.

On the other hand, there is a legacy of the past administration that really needs to be changed in the soonest possible time. Zenaida Cruz-Ducut was appointed head of the Energy Regulatory Commission by then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for a term of seven years.

Cruz-Ducut was congresswomen of the 2nd District of Pampanga from 1995 to 2004. She was replaced by Mikey Arroyo, son of GMA. IN 2010, the seat was taken over by President GMA herself.

Before she took over as head of the ERC, Cruz-Ducut was deputy chief presidential counsel. Her appointment was controversial from the start. She was closely associated with the alleged jueteng lord Bong Pineda. She was the legal counsel of the Pinedas from 1989 to 1995 until she was elected to Congress. She was one of the incorporators of the “Association of Capangpangan Cockpit Operators together with Rodolfo Pineda and Robin Nepomuceno.

The Energy Regulatory Commission is supposed to focus on two primary responsibilities - to ensure consumer education and protection, and to promote the competitive operations in the electricity market.

The ERC is also supposed to create a regulatory environment that is both democratic and transparent. This environment should also equitably balance the interests of both the consumers and the utility investors.

In the recent power rate controversy, did the ERC protect the interest of the consumers? Did the ERC create an environment that was transparent? In all her decisions, did Cruz-Ducut balance the interests of the consumers and the power companies?

On its website, it says that the ERC is supposed “to become a dynamic organization of professional people with the highest degree of technical competence and integrity.” Perhaps the kindest thing we can say about Cruz-Ducut is that the tremendous challenges of restructuring the power sector may be beyond her level of competence. This is called the Peter Principle.

There is too much at stake. It is time for Zenaida Cruz-Ducut to go.

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