A most painful task: Retrieving your dead comradesForty-four members of the Special Action Force, the elite group of the Philippine National Police, were killed by the rebel Muslim group the Aquino government has signed a peace agreement with. Yet, social media denizens are in an impassioned discussion over Philippine Miss Universe pageant candidate MJ Lastimosa’s “cake gown.”
Last Monday, Direk Joey Reyes posted this in his Facebook wall: “Dear Janet, Now you can be at ease. There is another woman more hated than you in the Philippines.Take care.”
Janet, of course, is Janet Napoles, the pork barrel queen through whom senators and congressmen robbed billions of the people’s money.
Thinking it was Social Services Secretary Dinky Soliman, who rounded up almost 500 destitute families in Pasay and Manila and brought them away from the sight of Pope Francis and the foreign press during the Papal visit two weeks ago, I commented, “Korek, Direk.”
One more not rise to a standing ovation for a trailer even before the movie is made, lest unrealistic expectations spoil the actual viewing. Similarly, the Framework Agreement with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front is a milestone for sure, but unrestrained hype may well derail peace in the end. The Framework says little but the public has been conditioned to believe it says everything. What will happen when our people check under the hood and discover what’s not there?
Most importantly, the key Framework provisions each refer to an “Annex” that does not exist. This is not about missing footnotes but goes to the heart of a peace pact: What will be in the “Annex on Power Sharing,” “Annex on Wealth Sharing,” and “Annex on Transitional Arrangements”? How exactly will power and wealth be shared in the future? There can be no “just and lasting peace” unless we agree on these.
When the Framework was first published online, I thought the missing annexes would soon follow. After all, the Supreme Court struck down the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain in 2008 because, among other grounds, it lacked transparency. But the Framework signing has come and gone, and it is clear that those annexes still do not exist.
Speech of President Aquino on the Framework Agreement with the MILF
Aquino announces agreement on creation of Bangsamoro political entityDalawang henerasyon na po ang lumilipas mula noong magsimula ang hidwaan sa Mindanao. Isang siklo ng karahasang umangkin sa buhay ng mahigit isandaang libong Pilipino—hindi lamang ng mga kawal at mandirigma, kundi pati mga inosenteng sibilyang dumanak ang dugo dahil sa alitang puwede namang naiwasan.
Marami na pong solusyong sinubok upang matapos ang hidwaang ito; nakailang peace agreement na po tayo, ngunit hindi pa rin tayo umuusad tungo sa katuparan ng ating mga pangarap para sa rehiyon. Nabigyan ng poder ang ilan, ngunit imbes na iangat ang kaledad ng buhay sa rehiyon, nagbunga ito ng istrukturang lalo silang iginapos sa kahirapan. Nagkaroon ng mga command votes na ginamit upang pagtibayin ang pyudal na kalakaran; naglipana ang mga ghost roads, ghost bridges, ghost schools, ghost teachers, at ghost students, habang tumaba naman ang bulsa ng iilan. Nag-usbungan ang mga warlord na humawak sa timbangan ng buhay at kamatayan para sa maraming mamamayan. Umiral ang isang kultura kung saan walang nananagutan, at walang katarungan; nawalan ng pagtitiwala ang mamamayan sa sistema, at nagnais na kumalas sa ating bansa.
The ARMM is a failed experiment. Many of the people continue to feel alienated by the system, and those who feel that there is no way out will continue to articulate their grievances through the barrel of a gun. We cannot change this without structural reform.
Ang isa sa isyu na binanggit ni Escudero ay ang P5 milyon na ayuda sa Moro Islamic Liberation Front na matagal nang nakikipagbakbakan sa ating Hukbong Sandatahan. Ang mainit na engkwentro ay yung nangyari
noong Oktubre 18 sa Albarka,Basilan kung saan 19 na sundalo ang namatay.
Hindi maalis na lalong magagalit ang marami dahil ang dating ng mga aksyun ni Aquino ay alaylay na alalay sa MILF. Sa kanyang unang pahayag, nagalit sa palpak ng military at hindi siya nag-order na tugisin ang MILF na sangkot sa trahedya. Nang sumunod na mga araw,nang lumabas ang balita ng demoralisasyun sa military, sinabi niyang bibigyan daw ng hustisya ang mga namatay.
Abigail Valte
No doubt that Gloria Arroyo and her cohorts would encourage dissatisfaction with the Aquino government but floating a destabilization rumor to divert attention from the Malacanang’s public management bungling of the Oct. 18 Albarka tragedy is a big turnoff.
Peace adviser: MILF to be charged if P5-M aid misspent
The Aquino administration on Thursday vowed to hale the Moro Islamic Liberation Front to court if a P5-million “aid” for a leadership institute is found to be spent for “lawless elements” instead.
But presidential peace process adviser Teresita Deles insisted the P5-million transaction was above board, and that the money was for establishing a Bangsamoro Management and Leadership Institute.
“Certainly if we can see the P5 million was spent for lawless elements, criminal charges will follow. That is the way it is in any such transaction,” Deles said in an interview on dwIZ radio.
Probably anxious to contain the public’s outrage over the seemingly lack of anger by the President against the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which killed 19 soldiers in an encounter last Oct, 18, Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Abigail Valte confirmed rumors of destabilization plot against the Aquino government in the wake of talks of widespread demoralization in the military.
Pagdating ng mga bangkay sa Villamor Air Base. Thanks to Inquirer for photo.Kung hindi nagagalit o ayaw galitin ni Pangulong Aquino ang Moro Islamic Liberation Front sa nangyari sa Basilan at sa Zamboanga Sibugay, siguro dapat huwag na muna siya manisi sa military na ngayon ay nagdadalamhati sa pagkamatay ng 26 nilang kasama sa loob ng isang linggo.
Ewan lang kung ganun din ang dating sa iba. Ngunit ang dating sa akin sa reaksyun ni Pangulong Aquino sa nangyari sa Basilan ay mas galit siya sa military dahil pumalpak ang kanilang operasyon kaysa sa ginawang pagpatay ng MILF sa mga sundalo kahit na may ceasefire sa labanan dahil sa peace talks sa pagitan ng pamahalaan at MILF.
Naintindihan ko na pangkalahatan at pangmatagalan na kapayaaan ang hangad ni Aquino ngunit bilang commander-in-chief meron siyang obligasyun para damayan ang kanyang mga tauhan sa oras ng trahedya.
Aquino and Murad in a Tokyo Hotel Thursday evening. Photo by OPPAPGENERAL SANTOS CITY- Now the silence can be explained.
President Benigno Simeon Aquino III and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) chair Al Haj Murad Ebrahim shook hands and talked peace for two hours in a hotel in Japan with their respective panel chairs taking down notes, the President’s Cabinet members and the MILF’s peace panel and Central Committee members as well as the Malaysian facilitator waiting outside the meeting room.
The President and the MILF chair agreed to move the negotiations forward to ensure that whatever agreement is forged can be implemented within the Aquino administration whose term ends on June 30, 2016, the chairs of both panels told MindaNews in separate telephone interviews. How the talks can move forward, the panels will discuss when they meet within the month, they said.
by Khrysta Imperial Rara VERA Files My son wants to be an MILF commander,” said 38-year-old Abdulbasit Benito, a peace advocate based in Cotobato City.…
While everybody was busy moving heaven and earth to prevent Justice Alberto Agra from clearing Zaldy Ampatuan, former governor of the Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao, and his uncle Akmad of complicity in the Nov 23, 2009 massacre in Maguindanao, the government panel negotiating with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Muslim rebel group are moving towards signing agreement that officials say would lead to peace in Mindanao but others are concerned could spark another round of war.
Are the two issues connected? After all, didn’t the government arm and coddle the Ampatuans as vigilantes against the MILF?
We hope Agra’s shocking decision of exonerating the two Ampatuans from the crime so shocking it earned for the Philippines the dubious distinction of being the most dangerous country for journalists was not meant to make us too pre-occupied that they would be able to finally sign an agreement that would result in the dismemberment of the country.
In a 10-paragraph joint statement that Ambassador Rafael Seguis, chair of the Philippine government panel and Mohagher Iqbal, MILF panel chair at the conclusion of the 18th round of exploratory talks last Wednesday in Kuala Lumpur, there’s a one sentence that is causing a lot of concern to many who are worried that Arroyo would try again what she failed to do last year with the MOA-AD (Memorandum of Agreement- Ancestral Domain), which is to create a Bangsamoro state within the Philippine state.
Mukhang may niluluto na namang isang midnight deal itong administrasyong Arroyo. Ito ang kasunduan sa Moro Islamic Liberation Front na magkakaroon sila ng sariling nilang bansa sa ilalim ng Pilipinas.
Sariling bansa sa loob ng bansang Pilipinas? Hindi tama dahil kung magkaroon ng Bangsamoro substate, ay parang nagtanggal ka ng parte ng Pilipinas at binigay sa MILF.
Di ba yan ang ginawa ni Gloria Arroyo noong isang taon sa kamuntik lang matuloy na MOA-AD (Memorandum of Agreement-Ancestral Domain) na ipinabasura ng Supreme Court dahil labag ito sa Constitution?
Nagkita noong isang linggo ang GRP (Government of the Republic of the Philippines) panel at ang MILF sa Kuala Lumpur at nagpalitan sila ng oputline ng kanilang proposal. Sabi ni Presidential Peace Adviser Annabelle Abaya na 17 pages daw ang sa kanila at 31 pages naman daw ang sa MILF.
