Friday, August 08, 2008 Pact on ancestral domain under embargo
LOCAL Government Secretary and presidential adviser on political affairs Ronaldo Puno said the government has embargoed the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) that was initialed by government and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) negotiators late last month.
"Until August 5, 10 a.m., the agreement entered into between government negotiators and different other parties made the document under embargo for obvious reasons and avoid speculations, to avoid premature judgments and so on," Puno said.
The MILF has said the MOA is a done deal and now binding with its initialing last June 27 by presidential adviser on the peace process Hermogenes Esperon Jr., government chief negotiator Rodolfo Garcia and his MILF counterpart Mohagher Iqbal, and the Malaysian chief peace facilitator.
However, Esperon said the document is not deemed effective, insisting that it had not been formally signed. However, he said there is a meeting of minds between the two sides in so far as the contents of the document are concerned.
Meanwhile, North Cotabato Vice Governor Emmanuel Piñol said Esperon should not get all the blame over the controversial MOA-AD.
In an interview Wednesday evening, Piñol said he is not supporting the call for the resignation of Esperon as demanded by Senator Mar Roxas Wednesday.
Piñol earlier said Esperon is just new to the post, just about two months, and the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity was discussed and drafted before Esperon's assumption to the post.
"Yung ginawa lang yata ni Esperon dyan is yung word na (What Esperon did was to drop the word) freedom sa (in the) MOA-AD ay na-drop. The bulk of the agreement was made during the past Opapp administration (under now Press Secretary Jesus Dureza)," Piñol said.
The vice governor said it was unfair for Esperon to get all the flak over something that's not entirely his doing.
It was learned that the Senate will be conducting an inquiry against Esperon for his statement to Piñol that "the Armed Forces of the Philippines" will not help the people of North Cotabato if the Moro Islamic Liberation Front attacks the province as a result of the temporary restraining order issued by the Supreme Court."
In an interview at ABS-CBN's "Umagang Kay Ganda" Thursday, Piñol appealed to Esperon to just admit his mistake publicly so that they could move on with their lives and forget about the whole thing.
The vice governor said Esperon is still considered a hero by the people of North Cotabato for his role as a brigade commander during the height of the 2000 all-out-war in Mindanao.
"I think asking Esperon to resign is too much. Esperon is a hero of North Cotabato. He is hardworking. Alam mo pare, aminin mo na lang and we will forget about it. Let's go on with our lives," Piñol said in the television interview. (BOT/With VR/Sunnex)
