On the ABSCBN News program discussing the Mindanao Peace Process tonight, Moro Islamic Liberation Front consiglieri Datu Michael Mastura's cheekily insisted that the MOA-AD should still be accepted by the Philippine Govt as a "compromise agreement". But Governor Manny Pinol shut him down with the observation that this was useless appeal considering the unanimous and strident decision of the Supreme Court striking down the MOA-AD as brazenly unconstitutional, and possibly leading to partition (and civil war.)
But the comment that got my attention --because it possibly explains what happened last year -- was from Irene Santiago of the Mindanao People's Commission who observed that the signing of the MOA-AD itself was "tactically wrong" because it wasn't even necessary at that point in the peace negotiations. After all, the whole process began in 2001 with the so-called Tripoli Agreement and still required a "Comprehensive Compact". The MOA-AD signing was NOT NECESSARY for anything other than Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's SONA 2008.
Hahaha! So that's probably what happened. The President wanted to be able to make that "big announcement" of a peace deal with the MILF, so she rushed the signing of a MOA-AD that in the final analysis was only a framework towards the Comprehensive Compact anyway. It blew up in her face and on the poor people of Mindanao, Christian and Muslim that were then plunged into war.
1 comment:
Dean Jorge Bocobo,
I personally believe that the war in Mindanao is not just a political issue between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. The MOA-AD is truly a false agreement primarily because it is unconstitutional (i.e., it will allow the separation of a legitimate part of the Philippine territory into a separate and independent state which the MILF calls the Bangsamoro)and it is only a justification that the state(the GRP)is not serious with the Tripoli Agreement of 1976 and the Jakarta Accord of 1976 which urge the GRP and the MILF “ to promptly put an end to armed hostilities and to pursue peace talks towards finding a peaceful resolution to the existing problem in Mindanao;”. The MOA-AD is not a peace document. It is a mere justification that the government of the GRP is desperate on the attempt to silence the call of the Muslim people for the real situation in Mindanao. The war in Mindanao is big profit-making business for this corrupt government. With this the war is not just a political issue but also a program to inculcate a culture of violence and corruption.
JC F. Alejandro
UP Visayas
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