Philippine Daily Inquirer reported Aug. 30, 2008 the following: Press Secretary Jesus Dureza said the government now intended to “refocus” the peace talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) on the issues of “disarmament, demobilization and rehabilitation” after it set aside the contentious proposed Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) on ancestral domain with the secessionist [...]
An Open Letter re: MOA-AD
August 27, 2008 By 22 Comments
An Open Letter re: MOA-AD By Datu Michael O. Mastura (This open letter that’s currently going the rounds is attributed to Datu Michael O. Mastura, a member of the MILF peace panel. Mastura is an Islam scholar, a Filipino lawyer and a former member of the Philippine Congress representing Maguindanao.) Dear All, We don’t have [...]
Demystifying sovereignty in peace & AD talks
August 25, 2008 By 3 Comments
Blogger Dean Jorge Bocobo observes that “a lot of the verbiage on ancestral domain in the MOA-AD comes verbatim” from The Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA). The MoA-AD is the Memorandum of Agreement between the Government of the Philippines (GRP) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front on “ancestral domain” the constitutionality of which is currently [...]
Let’s talk peace again
August 21, 2008 By 7 Comments
Solicitor General Agnes Devanadera has been reported to have said in a manifestation to the Supreme Court that the “issuance by the honorable court of a temporary restraining order, coupled by present conditions in some areas in Mindanao dictate (sic) that the MOA, in its present form, must undergo a thorough review” and that “the [...]
SC review of MoA blatantly irregular, imperils peace process
August 18, 2008 By 2 Comments
The future State of Bicol per Senate Joint Resolution No.10 (SR 10) will have greater powers than the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity proposed in the MoA-AD (the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain between the Government of the Philippines and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, now under scrutiny by the Philippine Supreme Court.) The senate resolution, [...]
Federalism: a constitutional response to secession
August 13, 2008 By 16 Comments
(The piece below was first published in the moribund Pinoy-rin.net and Inq7.net on April 10, 2001. When I reposted it in PCIJ on July 29, 2005 as a reaction to Sheila Coronel’s “Dreaming of Federalism,” it elicited some purposeful exchanges among commenters; it was also picked up, and a shorter form of it was published [...]
The realpolitik of Mindanao peace process
August 11, 2008 By 22 Comments
Dean Raul Panganiban is objecting to the proposed Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MoA-AD) between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) on the following grounds: 1) The 1987 Constitution uses “autonomous region in Muslim Mindanao” (ARMM) while MoA-AD uses the term “Bangsamoro Juridical Entity” [...]
What’s all the big fuss about the MoA-AD?
August 8, 2008 By 20 Comments
(After about three years of stormy courtship the wedding day has been set, invitations have been mailed out and families, friends, sponsors and guests of honor have booked their flights and made hotel reservations. But then a TRO was dropped on everyone like a bombshell. The wedding, the big celebration could not take place. A [...]
The Mindanao saga continues
August 5, 2008 By 27 Comments
In an old post, I have tired to explain that – The problem today in Mindanao was first spawned by dispossession through Christian settlements encouraged by the government in Manila, and by the central authority’s requirements of land ownership based on priority of claims. Many Muslims and indigenous people have always thought themselves to be [...]
‘The Mar who would be the man’ redux
August 1, 2008 By 1 Comment
(In my blog re GMA’s SONA 2008, I have dared to characterize President Arroyo “as a dyed-in-the-wool incrementalist unwilling to be a transformation agent,” somehow the antithesis of the one on Mar Roxas that I wrote in October 2005. I wish to repost here the old Roxas piece in the hope of whipping up further [...]
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