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Monday, September 01, 2008
Moro rebels skeptical on peace deal with Arroyo
MANILA -- Government's refusal to sign an accord granting Muslims more autonomy in the south makes it impossible for Islamic insurgents to forge a peace deal with President Arroyo, a chief rebel negotiator said Sunday.
The Supreme Court at the same time is due to rule on the constitutional and political questions of the controversial memorandum of agreement on ancestral domain (MOA-AD) with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
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The MILF will not resume Malaysian-brokered talks unless the Philippine government agrees to sign a preliminary accord on an expanded Muslim autonomous region, an accord that took years to negotiate, negotiator Mohagher Iqbal said.
The government refused to sign the accord after three rebel commanders led a deadly rampage against southern Christian communities, prompting a major military offensive that officials said would continue through Ramadan, the Muslim holy month of fasting that starts this week.
"It's almost impossible to make a peace deal under this presidency," Iqbal said. "The level of trust is practically zero."
Just weeks ago, a peace deal to end the decades-long Muslim rebellion in the southern Mindanao region - homeland of minority Muslims in the predominantly Roman Catholic nation - had seemed within reach after government and rebel negotiators initialed the highly contentious accord on ancestral domain.
The accord seeks to expand an existing Muslim autonomous region by adding more than 700 villages subject to the approval of residents in a plebiscite.
But politicians in areas that would be affected challenged the deal in the Supreme Court, triggering the Aug. 18 attacks on predominantly Christian towns in Mindanao in which dozens of civilians were shot and hacked to death.
Government forces launched air and ground assaults targeting the three rebel commanders and the men who conducted the raids.
The rebel attacks and subsequent military assault killed at least 47 civilians, while more than 360,000 have been displaced, the government said. At least 17 soldiers and pro-government militiamen and more than 100 guerrillas also were killed, according to the military. The rebels say they lost only 10 fighters.
Rebel leaders have called on the government to stop the assault.
Military spokesman Lt. Col. Ernesto Torres said the assault would not stop but may be adjusted to focus on intelligence gathering in the hunt for the wanted rebel commanders and to allow villagers to observe Ramadan in peace.
"Our armed forces and our police will take into account the sensitivity of our Muslim brothers and sisters," Press Secretary Jesus Dureza said. But "we will not allow these lawless elements to ... hide behind the Ramadan. They have committed not only criminal acts but un-Islamic acts," he said.
The military has prepared contingency plans after receiving information that the wanted rebel commanders may again attack civilian communities and troops, Torres said. He said troops have had discussions with local officials on ways to immediately respond to any buildup of rebel forces.
Rebel spokesman Eid Kabalu said the military assaults have hit the guerrilla front's main forces and Muslim communities, driving many villagers from their homes ahead of Ramadan and making it more difficult for his group to resume talks with the government.
SC ruling
Chief Justice Reynato Puno said the high court is expected to rule within two weeks the motion of the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) to dismiss all petitions questioning the legality of the MOA-AD.
"The court can't close its eyes from the realities on the ground... it's a high priority case, so the court must be careful," he said when asked if the SC had difficulty ruling on the petitions in view of the ongoing violent military attacks in Mindanao.
Puno said if the OSG's motion to dismiss is denied, the SC will then proceed to resolving the merits of the five petitions and nine interventions questioning the constitutionality of the peace pact.
If it is a political issue, he said the SC will make a determination which questions should be resolved by the court, adding that some political questions also fall within the jurisdiction of the judiciary.
Puno noted that government, especially during the time of former President Ferdinand Marcos, often made use of the political questions doctrine as defense in shielding itself from criticisms in its legal excesses involving human rights violations and in warding off petitions questioning the authority of the President in the exercise of his power as Commander-in-Chief.
He said the SC in a number of cases had sustained such kind of defense, when the high court can hardly question the legality of the executive's actions because they form part of the political questions doctrine.
This, however, changed in 1986 after the People Power Revolt when the tribunal adopted the 1987 Constitution, Puno said.
"To a larger degree, the 1987 Constitution prohibited the use of political questions doctrine to shield itself from such petitions," he said.
Press Secretary Jesus Dureza meanwhile said the aspirations of the Bangsamoro for their own territory may still be realized with the help of Congress through amendments to the 1987 Constitution.
He said the public particularly the Bangsamoro groups should be patient in light of the developments in the peace negotiations between the government and the MILF.
"We can still address the Bangsamoro aspiration without getting into an agreement with the MILF, but do this through our normal channel. We have Congress (that is) open to consider certain reforms that we can do to respond to the aspirations of the Bangsamoro," he said.
He reiterated that the government would no longer negotiate with armed groups but shift its dialogue on the communities with the context of the "disarmament, demobilization and reintegration" as the center or focus.
"Let's not talk anymore using the armed group as the basis for talking reforms because we have also a bigger sector, the peaceful sector, the peaceful citizens, who can also be with us in our work towards a reform agenda - you may call it a political settlement - and this can be done with the existing processes that we have in Congress and of course we can even open up the Charter to be able to really respond to the aspiration of the Bangsamoro," he said. (AP/ECV/JMR/Sunnex) |
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