Wednesday, July 23, 2008 Vice guv wants government to divulge MILF territory By Ben O. Tesiorna
NORTH Cotabato Vice Governor Emmanuel Piñol has formally demanded that the National Government make public a draft Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the secessionist Moro Islamic Liberation (MILF), which government negotiators said may be signed in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia by the end of this month.
Piñol, accompanied by his lawyer, Israelito Torreon, personally delivered his letter addressed to Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (Opapp) chief Hermogenes Esperon Jr. and government chief negotiator Secretary Rodolfo Garcia in Mandaluyong City Monday morning.
In his letter, Piñol invoked his right to information as enshrined in Section 7 Article III of the 1987 Philippine Constitution saying "there is an urgent need for the National Government to divulge to the people and their leaders the contents and provisions of the proposed MOA with the MILF so that we could voice our views before it is signed."
Citing the landmark case of Chavez vs PEA-Amari, (384 SCRA 152), Piñol said the National Government cannot adopt a position of "releasing the document only after it has been signed."
The Supreme Court (SC) decision on the Chavez vs PEA-Amari ruled: "The right to information contemplates inclusion of negotiations leading to the consummation of the transaction. Certainly, a consummated contract is not a requirement for the exercise of such right. Otherwise, the people can never exercise the right if no contract is consummated, and if one is consummated, it may be too late for the public to expose its defects. Requiring a consummated contract will keep the public in the dark until the contract, which may be grossly disadvantageous to the government or even illegal, becomes a fait accompli."
Piñol said failure on the part of the National Government to respond to his request would result in the filing of a Mandamus Petition before the SC to compel Secretary Esperon to officially divulge to the people the contents of the draft MOA.
"We were never consulted on this matter, even when I was still the governor of North Cotabato who actively submitted inputs to the government negotiating panel. As residents of North Cotabato, we have to be consulted and informed of the provisions pertaining to the so called Bangsamoro Juridical Entity and the proposed expansion of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (Armm)," said Piñol, who was governor of North Cotabato for nine consecutive years.
"Besides, we have already rejected the proposal for North Cotabato to join the Armm several times in the past, the last being the August 14, 2001 plebiscite which was roundly thrashed by the 98 per cent of the voters of the province," he added.
Piñol also demanded the deferment of the signing of the MOA on ancestral domain until such time that the government has decided to divulge its contents to the public.
The expanded Armm, as planned according to unofficial documents, will be managed and governed by the MILF under an organization called Bangsamoro Juridical Entity, which will among others get a share of 75 percent of all proceeds from the exploitation of natural resources, including oil and natural gas.
The Bangsamoro Juridical Entity will reportedly be allowed to organize and arm its own security force and lay claim to internal and territorial waters, which are perceived to be granted only to independent states under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Seas (Unclos).
Mulsim group Suara Bangsamoro, meanwhile, called for President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo not to railroad the peace negotiations with the MILF by offering a peace package that does not reflect the "aspirations of the Bangsamoro people," a phrase agreed upon by the two peace panel in an executive meeting held in Kuala Lumpur last July 16.
Amirah Ali Lidasan, national president of Suara Bangsamoro, said there will be no meaningful peace with the Moro people if the Bangsamoro's right to self-determination will be compromised in the peace package, especially the right of the Moro people to govern their ancestral domain.
According to Lidasan, the issue about the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity should not just be about the numbers of the villages to be included under the Moro people's ancestral domain, but more so with the vulnerability of the Moro communities to be piled with the rest of the communities being sold wholesale by the Arroyo government big foreign businesses.
Lidasan fears the Arroyo administration is bent on settling with the MILF in its bid to fast track the wholesale selling of remaining unexplored and unexploited natural resources found within the Moro communities.
Lidasan said in the past, most of the all-out wars against the MILF in mainland Mindanao and pursuit operations against Abu Sayyaf under the pretext of anti-terror policy of the Arroyo administration have forced hundreds of Moro people to evacuate their ancestral domain, adding that not all of them were able to go back in fear of military reprisal and because government troops have set up detachments in their communities.
"The real aspirations of the Bangsamoro people are that their land will be free from foreign plunder -- where they will not be forced out of their lands to accommodate foreign businesses and plantations," said Lidasan. (With Press release)
