As in other peace accords, the initialing of the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) on Ancestral Domain by the Philippine government (GRP) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) would be the easy part. The really difficult task would be how to win public support for the accord and in actually implementing it.
This became evident during a July 21 panel discussion, “Ancestral Domain MOA in the GRP-MILF Peace Talks: Good News or Bad News?,” organized by the Cotabato-based think-tank, Institute for Autonomy and Governance (IAG) with the support of the Konrad-Adenauer Stiftung.
Among the major concerns raised by the participants, mainly well-known peace advocates, on the draft MOA were:
– Lack of consultation of stakeholders, including Christian leaders, indigenous peoples in Mindanao, and peace advocates themselves;
– That the MOA on ancestral domain effectively grants belligerency status to the MILF, which the group may use later to declare independence;
– That the accord’s plan to hold a plebiscite to expand the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) even before a final peace agreement is reached with the MILF may not be the best way to move the peace process forward.
What is the MOA
In his summary of the GRP-MILF draft MOA on ancestral domain, Atty. Camilo Miguel Montesa, policy adviser of the Institute for Autonomy and Governance (IAG), said the Philippine government agrees to:
– Recognize the Bangsamoro people as “distinct from the rest of the national communities”;
– Grant the Bangsamoro people their own “distinct territory”;
– Grant the Bangsamoro pople their own “government”; and,
– Concede international recognition to the Bangsamoro people.
Who are the Bangsamoro
The Bangsamoro people refer to “those who are natives or original inhabitants of Mindanao and its adjacent islands including Palawan and the Sulu archipelago at the time of conquest or colonization and their descendants whether mixed or full native blood.”
Spouses and descendants, including the Lumads, he said, are also classified as Bangsamoro “unless they choose otherwise.”
“They are the ’First Nation’ with defined territory and with a system of government having entered into treaties of amity and commerce with foreign nations,” Montesa said.
Bangsamoro territory
Under the MOA, the Bangsamoro territory comprises the following areas:
– the present Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM);
– the municipalities of Baloi, Munai, Nunungan, Pantar, Tagoloan, and Tangkal in the province of Lanao del Norte, which voted for inclusion in the ARMM during the 2001 plebiscite;
– additional geographic areas in the provinces of Sultan Kudarat, Lanao del Norte, and North Cotobato, “subject to plebiscite.”
Montesa said that under the MOA, the Bangsamoro homeland did “not form part of the public domain.” Thus, it is “not within the jurisdiction of the Philippine government.”
The Bangsamoro homeland, he added, “encompasses ancestral communal and customary lands, maritime, fluvial and alluvial domains as well as all natural resources therein that have inured or vested ancestral rights on the basis of native title.”
Bangsamoro government
The Bangsamoro territory will be governed by the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity (BJE).
Montesa said the “relationship between the Philippine government and the BJE shall be associative characterized by shared authority and responsibility with a structure of governance based on executive, legislative, judicial and administrative institutions with defined powers and functions.”
The BJE’s purpose is to “establish a system of governance suitable and acceptable to them as a distinct dominant people.”
Montesa said the public still does not know about the MOA. He said peace will not work if people are not informed about the agreement and why it should be supported.
Pinol to oppose MOA before SC
The MOA is expected to encounter rough sailing right after its initialing.
North Cotabato Vice-Governor Emmanuel Pinol said the Arroyo government has not been “forthright” in its talks with the MILF on “what is achievable and what is doable.”
He said the MOA will require several other steps, including charter change and another plebiscite “only to face stumbling blocks along the way.”
Pinol, also former governor of North Cotobato for nine years, said he expected various leaders and groups to oppose the MOA.
He said he has already asked the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) for an official copy of the draft MOA and its annexes so he can question its legality before the Supreme Court (SC).
Pinol said his complaint will not be entertained by the SC unless he gets an official copy of the MOA. If he fails to get an official copy, he will ask the SC to compel the OPAPP to give him an official copy.
“By Monday [July 28], we should already be in the Supreme Court,” he said.
No consultation?
Pinol decried the fact that local officials like himself were not even consulted on what barangays will be included in the plebiscite that will determine the new Moro homeland.
He warned the government was courting trouble with the MOA, especially in “warrior towns” of North Cotobato like Pigkawayan.
“When the leaders themselves are not aware of this, then you are courting trouble,” he said.
But Atty. Benedicto Bacani, executive director of IAG, stressed that the people have the final say on whether to join the new Moro homeland by casting their votes in the plebiscite. “Let them say no,” he said. “Perhaps, it’s a matter of explaining to them also.”
Pinol said the government was “trying to raise false hopes” with the MOA.
Aside from possible legal obstacles, Pinol said he does not believe President Arroyo will be able to implement the MOA since she will be a “lameduck president by 2009.” New national and local elections are scheduled in May 2010.
“We were not even to pass cha-cha at a time when Gloria was very influential, and she had the mayors, governors, congressmen all toeing her line. How much more in 2009, one year before the end of her term?” he asked.
Pinol said the GRP negotiating panel has “misjudged the sentiments of the people of Mindanao.”
“We don’t like this [MOA]. We were never consulted about the plebiscite,” he said.
When told that the OPAPP conducted consultations with various stakeholders including himself, Pinol said the proposals he made in these meetings called by former OPAPP chief Jesus Dureza were never adopted in the MOA.
He said the people of Mindanao want peace and are tired of war. In the past several years, when there was relative peace, Pinol said North Cotobato became more progressive.
Instead of trying to reach a political solution with the MILF, Pinol said the government should concentrate on economic projects that will eliminate the roots of the conflict in Mindanao.
“We have failed to realize that had there been greater scrutiny on what really ails the area, we would have discovered that it is the poverty of the people and corruption that prevails in the area,” Pinol said.
Pinol said there was no need to hold another plebiscite in North Cotobato since 98% of those who voted in the 2001 exercise chose not to join the ARMM.
“If they want to fast-track the peace process, this is the wrong way of doing it,” he said.
He said he and the North Cotobato governor have already talked to local officials and have passed a resolution against the MOA.
“We want peace but we are not willing to sacrifice a lot of things in the name of peace because the peace that you have in mind will create a lot of trouble for us,” Pinol said.
Fr. Eliseo Mercado OMI, head of the peace advocacy group, Kusog Mindanao, lamented that even civil society groups, including the Bishops-Ulama Conference, who have been in the forefront of peace advocacy in Mindanao, were also not adequately consulted on the MOA.
But he downplayed this problem, saying it shouldn’t be difficult for influential leaders, such as Catholic bishops, to get a copy of the MOA from the Office of the President.
IPs, other sectors not consulted, too
Ponciano Bennagen, a member of the 1987 Constitutional Commission representing indigenous peoples, also lamented that key stakeholders in the peace process in Mindanao were not adequately consulted and given access to the MOA on ancestral domain.
Due to this drawback, he proposed that various mechanisms be established to discuss the MOA with the stakeholders, including Christian political leaders.
“We haven’t heard from the Lobregats yet,” he said. “We need to address the question of transparency and then the education of the communities, the direct stakeholders.”
He said even peace advocates who may be in favor of the MOA will find it hard to campaign in the plebiscite if they are not adequately informed about the agreement.
Bennagen also questioned why in the MOA, indigenous peoples are being given the freedom to choose whether to join the BJE “when they have already made their choice, and they don’t want to be part of the BJE.”
He said there is an “indigenous peoples representative in the technical working committee and his voice has not been registered in the entire process.”
“Where is our voice? They have sent communication to both panels but they’re not registered in all of these,” he said
Other sectors complain, too
Estrellita Juliano, vice-president for Mindanao of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said she supports Pinol’s plan to question the MOA before the Supreme Court due to lack of consultation and transparency.
Peace advocate Miriam Coronel, a professor of political science at the University of the Philippines Diliman, advised the panel discussants to come up with “mechanisms that will address the issue of transparency and lack of information.”
She said the MOA is not clear on the role of other peace stakeholders. “Everything is dependent basically on the goodwill basically of government. All the different voices, which may be for or against this agreement, there is no mechanism for them.”
Bacani said the government has promised to undertake an advocacy campaign for the MOA on ancestral domain after it is signed. He acknowledged, though, that this does not address the issue of lack of participation of the stakeholders in the accord.
Sister Linda Hisug, a peace worker in Mindanao, said the concept of freedom being pushed by the MILF is not clear to women religious groups in the south. She said they were also not consulted on the MOA on ancestral domain.
“Even this issue you’re talking about now, it is something that is hidden to us and we even ask why this is hidden to us. I believe this question will be answered if things are more clear and issues are more defined,” she said.
Israelito Torreon, president of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines-Davao del Sur chapter, said the people of Davao were surprised about the agreement on ancestral domain since they were also not consulted. He also raised the issue of lack of transparency on the accord.
Zamboanga Archbishop Romulo Valles lamented that the MOA does not augur well for a good start in the implementation of peace due to lack of transparency and consultation.
“Up to now, officially we don’t have a copy. We, other leaders and stakeholders would feel the same. We are kind of deceived, deprived of a voice. So it’s an uphill battle. I guess one cardinal principle for stakeholders to start well, but this one, at the very start, it’s a bad step,” Valles said.
Peace settlement first
Klaus Preschle, country representative of the Konrad-Adenauer Stiftung, said the MOA appears to be just a “ceremonial document” that would show that the GRP-MILF peace process is still on-going.
He said it may not be a good move to have a plebiscite on a new Moro homeland before a peace settlement is reached with the MILF.
“To me personally, it is completely unclear for what a cha-cha at this stage would be needed,” he said. “If I were a citizen and you just ask me to be part of an area, I will ask back, what does it mean for me? What is this plebiscite for?”
Preschle said having a plebiscite before the signing of a general peace agreement would be putting the cart before the horse. He said the government may first have to complete the peace process with the MILF first and then pass a new organic act before holding a plebiscite.
“It is unclear to me why there has to be cha-cha for something that is not on the table? Because the solution is not on the table. The peace process has not come to an end,” he said.
In response to this, Montesa said the MILF wants the government to first show that it can expand the ARMM before discussing how it will be transformed into a new BJE.
Preschle also predicted that the charter change initiative that will have to be done to allow for a Moro homeland will be muddled with other issues such as President Arroyo trying to stay in office beyond 2010. He said this will only make citizens confused.
MILF belligerency
Another major point discussed by panelists was that the MOA allegedly grants the MILF the status of belligerency.
If the Arroyo government signs the MOA, Pinol said it would “open a new door” for the MILF and allow it to claim that they “have already established a state.”
Montesa agreed, saying the MOA already contains the elements of the state—government, people, territory, and “concedes international recognition.”
Fr. Eliseo Mercado, a former member of the government negotiating panel, said the essence of the agreement on ancestral domain is not on territory but on its concept.
“This is the first time that I’ve seen a document as such. Because there…you have all the elements of a state,” Mercado said. “That entitles the Bangsamoro to a self-declaration. Because it’s all there: you’ve been recognized, you have territory, you have self-determination, your ancestral domain is your birthright, it’s not part of the public domain.”
He praised the MILF negotiators for doing a good job pushing its agenda in the MOA.
Mercado said the MOA is not just a “symbolic recognition” of the Moro people and state but “a real recognition.” He said the government may have agreed to grant this as “restitution of historical injustices” against the Moro people or it could be a “formula for peace and development.”
Must show good faith
In order to avoid a situation that would push the MILF to declare independence, Mercado said the Arroyo government must be able to implement the next steps of the accord on the plebiscite that would expand the ARMM.
Otherwise, it would give the MILF the chance to say the government “negotiated in bad faith” which will “open the MILF to go for a self-declaration [of independence].”
While President Arroyo may be able to convince Congress to support a plebiscite, Mercado said the more difficult part of the next phase is the need to change the constitution that would legitimize the Moro homeland through a shift to a federal system of government.
Mercado said it may not be feasible to have this shift under Arroyo, and he said the MILF may be willing to wait for the next president instead of going to war to achieve its goals.
Montesa had the same view as Mercado. He said: “If GRP fails to convince Congress to go on a campaign for cha-cha, then the MILF has two decisions: either they will let it pass, wait for the next President; or, they will break the talks and do a self-declaration ala Kosovo. Why? Because as I’ve shown you, the elements of a state are already agreed upon in the MOA.”
No to war mongering
Zainudin Malang, Bangsa Moro Center for Law and Policy, an analyst of the peace process, warned Christian leaders of Mindanao against war mongering
“By raising the spectre of armed opposition to the MOA, that already generates even more fears and apprehensions. We have to look at things from both perspectives,” he said. “We will keep going back to 1960s. We should not engage in war mongering.”
Looking at the other side of the coin, Malang said the Moro peoples have also said that they were never asked to join the Christian homeland through a plebiscite.
Pinol denied he was anti-Muslim and had called for armed struggle. “We could come up with a better deal,” he said. “I’m not looking for war. I’m not looking for trouble.”
He said the elements of the MOA on ancestral domain “would create more problems than solutions.”
One way to address to address the roots of the conflict, Pinol said, is to define which of the Moro lands were acquired through forced dispossession. “We should come up with a mechanism there,” he said. Once these forcibly-acquired lands are defined, these should be “rightfully returned to the Moros.”
Federalists’ concerns
Reynaldo Deang, secretary-general of the Citizens Movement for a Federal Philippines, expressed concern that the MOA defined the Moro territory along the concept of race.
Based on studies in Eastern Europe, he said federalism can be a “solution for multi-racial questions but only if you do not equate culture with politics.”
Where race boundaries coincide with territorial boundaries, there is inherent instability in the federations. It exacerbates rather than solves the problems,“Deang said.”The federalist movement is apprehensive of the definition of the territory coinciding with the concept of homeland and race. This is one of the things we in the federalist movement would like to avoid," he said.
Deang said the MOA on ancestral domain, based on classical international law, would grant belligerency status to the MILF. He said the government may be risking a war if it signs the MOA.
“No government, in the name of peace, can inaugurate a war in this kind of situation. I’m really very worried. I hope it doesn’t happen,” he said.
He said the peace process in Mindanao should not exacerbate divisions in the country.
Opportunity to help peace process
Soliman Santos, a peace advocate and an expert on peace talks with Moro separatists, stressed the need for a national discussion that would help clarify and educate the people on the peace process, including on the ancestral domain agreement.
He said the signing of the MOA on ancestral domain represents an opportunity to finally settle the armed conflict with Moro rebels in southern Philippines.
“We’ve had this Bangsamoro problem with us for so long, and maybe this is the opportune moment,” Santos said. “This could be some kind of a watershed for taking stock of things.”
He suggested that the period between the signing of the MOA on ancestral domain and the final comprehensive peace agreement with the MILF is the “critical period” for a national discussion on the peace process.
Santos supported Ferrer’s proposal for a mechanism that would include discussions on issues such as lack of consultation and transparency.
He said the national discussion can also help define the final peace agreement. “Let even the final content of that comprehensive compact benefit from such kind of a discussion.”
“In questions of process, questions of substance—is this granting belligerency status to MILF, is this a prelude to a Kosovo-type solution, let’s clear the air on this and try to focus energy and concerns in getting clear about what are problems, what are solutions, how we should go about this as much as possible without a return to arms, or a return to war, even on the MILF side,” Santos said.
He suggested that the issues discussed in the panel discussion be sent to both negotiating panels to help them in the peace process.
Lessons from MNLF accord
Pinol acknowledged that there was an “early process of consultations” conducted by then Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Jesus Dureza.
In those consultations, he suggested that the government learn from its 1996 peace agreement with the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF). One of the proposals he made was for “total disarmament” in the peace agreement with the MILF. There was no disarmament in the MNLF peace accord.
“We don’t mind if they double their territory for as long as they don’t have arms, and then we can live side-by-side as brothers and sisters,” he said.
In addition to disarmament, Pinol proposed in those early consultations that instead of focusing the talks on the political apparatus that will govern the Moro peoples, the concentration should be on economic development and poverty alleviation.
He alleged that the current ARMM has not been able to address poverty among the Muslims because of bureaucratic corruption.
MILF links with terror groups
Pinol also warned that giving the BJE’s 75% share of the income from exploitation of resources in the Moro homeland is a big risk to peace in the area. He said this would give the bad elements in the MILF the funds to buy more arms.
“Nobody can deny that the MILF, for some time, was connected with the JI [Jeemah Islamiyah] and the al-Qaida. What are our fears?” he asked. “With the vast resources that they will get from their share of natural resources, i.e., oil, gas, whatever, they could buy arms. What’s going to happen to us?”
But Malang allayed “fears” that the creation of an expanded Moro homeland will lead to oppression against the Christians by Muslims. He said the Moros will not be “treating Christians as unjustly as the Christians have treated the Moros.”
He also defended the ARMM from Pinol’s criticism that it has failed in governance. Malang said ARMM’s autonomy is just on paper and that it still relies heavily on the national government for resources.
Malang said “fears” of both sides should not be used to block the peace process but should be an opportunity to “seek clarification.”
“Let’s not use it as basis to oppose any signing. Nothing has been signed yet. If we don’t see anything good in it, then let the people decide. Because a plebiscite, after all, is an expression of sovereignty, which can only be exercised by individual members or society and the polity, not by their elected leaders or their representatives,” he said.
Can Arroyo deliver?
Mercado said President Arroyo’s call last Tuesday for a postponement of the ARMM elections on August 11 is a sign that the government is serious about implementing the MOA. This is because the leaders of the two factions of the Moros—the MILF and the MNLF—had asked that the ARMM polls be postponed to help move the peace process forward.
On whether President Arroyo can really deliver on what the government has promised the MILF, Mercado said “the president will deliver what is deliverable on the part of the president.”
However, he said the president will not guarantee the deliverable that needs an act of Congress, such as a law calling for a plebiscite and the eventual shift to a federal form of government. “That depends on Congress. Congress should do the best effort.”
Mercado said he believed that the Arroyo government was negotiating with the MILF in bad faith since it doesn’t appear that it will be able to deliver on its promises.
He said the Arroyo government is now so unpopular and incapable of fulfilling its commitments in the MOA.
“The government has no social capital, it is unpopular. So that means, if they sign now, I’m asking government, are they signing this MOA for a feather in their hat but they will not deliver? If there is no intention to deliver, then the government has negotiated in bad faith, and the MILF will be on high moral high ground, then they will declare a Kosovo type-independence,” Mercado said.
He said it is not the MILF that will go to war but the government. “But that will happen only if the government will not deliver and if government really negotiated in bad faith. From the looks of it now, if you will ask me, government is negotiating in bad faith, not because I’m now in the opposition but it looks like it,” Mercado said.