Wednesday, August 06, 2008 Nalzaro: ARMM expansion By Bobby Nalzaro Saksi
DIPOLOG City--During the wake of my mother, I did not know the events that happened in the country.
Some residents here listen to Cebu-based radio stations. This is why commentators Choy Torralba of dyLA and Eddie Barrita of dySS, and former broadcaster and now Tudela Councilor Jojo Solante where applauded by their fans when I introduced them during the church service.
I started reading the newspapers again last Monday. One issue I encountered and which will affect the lives of Mindanaoans is the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines and Muslim rebels.
The pact expands the number of provinces under the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). Some 712 more barangays will be incorporated into the ARMM subject to the approval of the residents in a plebiscite. The expanded ARMM will be known as the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity.
The villages to be added to ARMM will be taken from the provinces of North Cotabato, Zamboanga-Sibugay, Palawan and Zamboanga City. The autonomous region will have its own, legal, banking and education systems, civil service and internal security force.
I don't want to sow intrigues and inject the issue on racial discrimination, but the areas to be added to ARMM are predominantly Christian.
In North Cotabato, for example, there are more Ilonggos than Muslims. In Zamboanga City, we can count with our fingers the number of barangays occupied by our Muslims brothers. Good that they did not include Zamboanga del Norte, my home province.
What is the basis of the negotiators to include these areas in the expanded ARMM? Was it based on the number of Muslim residents or on heritage, culture and the issue on ancestral domain?
If the number of Muslim residents is the answer, then they should include barangays Alumnus and Alaska in Mambaling because there are more Badjaos there than Cebuanos.
But how come both the government and the Muslim rebels did not hold consultations in the affected areas before they drafted the MOA? Why did they conceal the agreement to the residents and to the Filipino people? Is this part of the secret deal between the Arroyo administration and the rebels?
This is a wrong move by the administration. Instead of attaining peace, this deal will complicate the already volatile situation in Mindanao.
