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Bangsamoro pact a done deal, binds gov’t — MILF

08/06/2008

The controversial agreement between the Arroyo administration and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to set up a Bangsamoro homeland for the Muslim separatist group is considered signed and binding and the signing in Malaysia of the deal is a mere formality, the MILF said in a statement released yesterday.

The Arroyo administration had initialed the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MoA-AD) and it is a done deal notwithstanding the Supreme Court’s (SC) order to withhold the signing of the pact in Malaysia, the MILF indicated.

The agreement will pave the way for the creation of the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity (BJA), envisioned to expand the current Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

The SC issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) the other day to stop the government from signing the MoA-AD with the MILF supposedly scheduled yesterday in Malaysia.

The formal signing ceremony was supposed to have taken place at Marriott Hotel, Putrajaya, Selangor, Malaysia. “A public ceremony only gives importance politically to that ‘done deal’ as a means to establish their consent to be bound to the initialed text of the MoA-AD,” according to the MILF.

Mohagher Iqbal, MILF chairman of the committee on information, described the

TRO as an internal process of the government, which has no binding effects on the MILF.

“The act of initialing the MoA-AD agreed text between the parties,” Iqbal said, “constitutes a signature of the Philippine government and MILF.” Initialing was in fact “done with a credible third party witness, the Malaysian government as facilitator of the talks since 2001,” he said.

Adhering to diplomatic practice, the MILF peace panel and the government peace panel exchange the agreed on text to establish their consent, he said.

Secretary Rodolfo Garcia, GRP chief peace negotiator, and Secretary Hermogenes Esperon of the Office of the Presidential Assistant on the Peace Process (OPAPP) likewise initialed the document for the government, while Mohagher Iqbal for the MILF, and Datuk Othman bin Abdulrazak, the chief peace facilitator, for the Malaysian government.

Iqbal insisted the signing ceremony was a matter of formality, but even without this ceremony, the document is already legally binding on the parties.

MILF forces, meanwhile, traded mortar fire with troops just hours after the SC stopped the land deal, the military said.

The mortar attack by an unknown number of MILF rebels on soldiers stationed near Midsayap town lasted for about half an hour late Monday, the military said.

The rebels had taken positions in the town’s outskirts, displacing more than 300 families, in violation of a 2003 ceasefire accord, the military said.

“The MILF fired about a dozen mortars toward army positions,” said regional army spokesman Lt. Col. Julieto Ando. “We returned mortar fire, but there were no reports of casualties.”

Ando said the rebels who attacked apparently ignored commands from the MILF leadership to leave the area as both sides negotiated a deal on territory.

The attack came after the Supreme Court in Manila stopped the government from signing a deal that would have given the MILF administrative and economic power over a large semi-autonomous area in southern Mindanao island.

The deal was to have been signed Tuesday in Malaysia, which has been brokering peace talks between the two sides.

The agreement was meant to pave the way for a final political settlement to end the MILF’s 30-year fight for an independent Islamic state.

Asked what would be the impact of the aborted signing to the MILF, Iqbal said: “Nothing! This is not even a setback to the MILF. We are on the upper hand especially in the battle for moral ascendancy.”

He added: “It is the Arroyo administration which is shamed in the eyes of the international community. There are so many ambassadors already in the Malaysian capital to attend the signing ceremony, only to be told that it is cancelled at the last minute.”Among those foreign dignitaries already in Kuala Lumpur are US ambassador to the Philippines Kristie Kenney and Ambassador Sayed ElMasry, adviser to Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) Secretary General and Special Envoy for Peace Process in Southern Philippines.

Sayed ElMasry agreed to officially endorse the GRP-MILF MoA-AD; in fact, his name is appearing in the initialed document as one of the signatories.

The MoA-AD is the textual version of the consensus points arrived upon by the government peace panel and the MILF peace panel for about four years of peace negotiations which commenced way back in December 2004.

The Philippine National Police (PNP), meanwhile, is bracing for more MILF assaults after the SC issued the halt order on the signing of the agreement.

PNP spokesman Chief Supt. Nicanor Bartolome said the PNP is “preparing for any eventuality” since the SC stopped the signing of the MoA in Malaysia scheduled yesterday.

The SC issued the TRO on Monday after local officials of North Cotabato and Zamboanga City filed petitions against the MoA.

Bartolome in a press conference yesterday said that the national police are looking into the worst scenario following the TRO.

Bartolome said police intelligence units have not monitored any specific threats in the region after the TRO.

Some 600 policemen from the police Regional Mobile Groups of Regions 9, 10, 11, 12 and Caraga will be sent to augment territorial forces in the ARMM to ensure peace and order there.

Police will also be on guard for the August 11 elections in the region, he said.

Supporters of the peace pact led by House Deputy Speaker for Mindanao Simeon Datumanong, meanwhile, explained that the MoA-AD is an initial document that would serve as a guideline for the peace talks to proceed.

“I appeal for calm and tranquillity, the provision of the agreement is nothing to be afraid about because nothing is final yet. The MoA is just a guideline and basis to proceed with the peace talks or final peace negotiation,” Datumanong said.

Datumanong, a former justice secretary under the Arroyo administration, echoed what other lawmakers had said that the MoA “is just a piece of paper” until it goes through congressional approval and subsequent plebiscite.

Lanao del Norte Rep. Abdullah Dimaporo, for his part, explained that the MoA is a declaration of both the MILF and the GRP (Government of the Republic of the Philippines) panel to sit down for the formal peace negotiation. It is not the agreement itself, he said.

“It is a declaration of both sides to sit down for the formal negotiation and identifying the agenda of the negotiation. Proof that the MoA is not the peace agreement is that negotiation is still to be done in the minimum one-year timeline,” Dimaporo said.

He said that the final peace agreement will have to go through the legislative process as in other bills filed in Congress.

“For example, how can Lanao del Norte be dismembered and the boundaries of ARMM be expanded without legislative act?” Dimaporo said.

House Deputy Minority Leader and Bayan Muna Representative Satur Ocampo also charged the Arroyo government of negotiating in bad faith with the MILF and blamed the administration for the political turmoil surrounding the stalled signing of the agreement. Charlie V. Manalo Gina Peralta-Elorde and Gerry Baldo