The Inquirer banner headlines came just 27 days apart, on August 3 and August 30, respectively.
In capsule, they show how a deal, no matter how well-intentioned, has unraveled completely due to the public uproar, fueled in large part by the revelations about the utter surrender of Philippine sovereignty to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
Popularity: 3% [?]
i’d add that any public sympathy for the MILF was lost after the attacks by macapaar and kato.
now, the MILF is being looked at as no better than a roving band of bandits ravaging mindanao because they can’t get what they want by peaceful means. kind of like an unruly, spoilt child throwing a tantrum — it begs to be spanked.
Parang ZTE nung nabisto at nagalit ang taong bayan biglang kinancel.
Moot na daw sabi ni Devanadera sa Supreme Court,
Moot na daw pero nagpapatayan pa rin sila sa Mindanao.
If the conflict persists, it is because The MILF is willing it to continue, and it is because The Arroyo Administration has made such a blunder in this whole negotiation..
For such an important negotiation, involving peace in Mindanao, even the secrecy of The Arroyo Administration had to creep into the MOA-AD..
When will this Administration get it? That keeping secret, keeping hush, especially on issues of national interest, will always result in an outcome contrary to the desired result…
it’s better to err in the pursuit of peace, and backtrack when it’s proven unacceptable by the approving authority, than intransigently persist in the name of “palabra de honor”. it’s been shown that moa or no moa, peace is still elusive in mindanao and that there is no substitute for the rebels laying down their arms and embracing the rule of law as a recipe for permanent peace. separation, under whatever euphemism, e.g bje, autonomous region, sovereign state, cannot solve the problems of poverty of the ordinary muslims. if anything, only their “leaders” will reap the benefits of power and wealth. other ethnic groups suffer the same poverty too. but they don’t demand separation or special favors. we have to solve our problems, suffer our misfortunes, enjoy the benefits of our labor, and live in peace under democracy and rule of law, as one nation.
“Better to err in the pursuit of peace,” true Perhaps, Atty. Ben. But As Manuel Buencamino observes above, this is not the first time (or even second instance)that the Arroyo regime has back-tracked when its hand ‘is caught in the cookie jar.
It it has am an impressive ‘track record’ of attempting to ram down ill-considered, even possibly graft-attended ‘deals’ and potentially-illegal edicts. Then when there are exposes and public uproar, Malacanang retreats in the guise of being “sensitive to the public pulse,” but really with the aim of avoiding damaging legal censure, with it’s political capital and credibility further expended, and eroded.
As one well-known business leader tells his friends, “the governance by adhoc-ism” and tantrum-driven directives seem to be SOP. Do we deserve this??? Tsk, tsk…
what’s wrong with avoiding legal censure? that’s why we have review mechanisms, checks and balances, freedom of the press. no one has a monopoly on truth and correctness. only through a free discussion in the market of ideas do we gain insight as to what is good, beneficial and true, then let the rule of law takes its course. that is democracy.
it’s easy to beat our breasts whenever an opposing side backtracks and to cockily crow “i told you so”. why can’t we just celebrate and be happy that what could be a mishap have been averted and that, hopefully, a better way could be found, for a change?
Bencard,
“why can’t we just celebrate and be happy that what could be a mishap have been averted and that, hopefully, a better way could be found, for a change?”
Why do we have to ride a car driven by a drunk and then celebrate if we don’t get into a car wreck?
because, like it or not, most of us are fools – sometimes.
Atty. Ben,
I am far far from exultant nor do I have an ‘I told you so’ attitude. There’s nothing I want more than to be able to voice support for the commitment to pursue peace, but not peace at the price of surrendering the Republic’s sovereignty and dismembering it.
My worry is the regime’s propensity for actions that are not backed by true love of country and a vision grounded on preserving national territorial integrity.
It ain’t over till the Fat Lady sings. In this case, the Supreme Court. If they rule the thing as moot and academic, the MOA-AD could easily be resurrected by the same mechanism of its purported demise: mere proclamation by a moral dwarf and her incompetent sycophants. Puno hints of another anti-Solomonic decision coming, where they rule on some things, but not on others. The False Mother WILL have her half of the Baby. And Sulaiman will give it to them.
Her men rushed the Bangsamoro Domain deal so she could boast about it in the 2008 SONA. “A comprehensive peace has eluded us for half a century. But last night, differences on the tough issue of ancestral domain were resolved.” Why was there not a word about it in the 2009 SONA? Hehehe.
Because it is nothing to boast about.
In retrospect – http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA298651&Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf
The inclusion of the Muslim areas into what is today the Republic of the Philippines was the subject of a strong protest by Muslim leaders in 1935. A declaration was drafted and unanimously approved in a mass meeting on 18 March 1935 at Dansalan
(now Marawi City). This was forwarded to the US Congress through the President of the United States. Following are excerpts from the historic declaration:
In the agreement that we arrived at (i.e., the Declaration) people
gave their unanimous approval.
We would like to inform you (i.e., the U.S. Congress) that because
we have learned that the U.S. is going to give the Philippines
independence through efforts of Hon. Quezon, Osmena and others, we
want to tell you that the Philippines as it is known to the American people (is) populated by two different people with different religions, practices and traditions.
The Christian Filipinos occupy the Islands of Luzon and the Visayas. The Moros predominate in the islands of Mindanao and Sulu
(Basilan and Palawan were then regarded as part of the latter). With regards the forthcoming Philippine Independence, we foresee what condition we will be and our children when independence is granted these islands. This condition will (be) characterized by unrest, suffering and misery . . .
Our Christian Associates have for . . . many past years shown
their desire to be the only ones blessed with leadership and well
progressive towns without sharing with us the advantage of having good towns and cities. One proof of this is that, among us who are capable of (participating) in managing and (administering the) government. . . have not been given chances to demonstrate their ability. Another proof is that the Christian Filipinos have taken control of our Insular funds which by right we must have equal share (in). Most of these funds are annually appropriated for Luzon and the Visayas and very little are appropriated for the so-called Moro provinces in the islands of Mindanao and Sulu. As a result their provinces progress by leaps and bounds and ours (lag behind). Another result is that we have been and are still behind in. . . modern civilization and education.
One more very discriminating act of our Christian Filipino
Associates is shown in the recent Constitution of the Philippine
Commonwealth. In this Constitution no provision whatsoever is made that would operate for the welfare of the Moros . . . The (provision of the ) Constitution are all for the welfare of the Christian Filipinos and nothing for the Moros. As a proof (of) this our delegate did not sign the Constitution.
We do not want to be included in the Philippine independence (for)
once an independent nation is launched (there will be) troubles between us and the Christian Filipinos because from time immemorial these two people have not lived harmoniously … It is not . . . proper to have two antagonizing people live together under one flag, under the Philippine independence. One proof of this (is) that when Lanao had its Filipino Governor many leading Moro datus were killed for no apparent reasons.
This trouble has not yet ended up to the present time because our people can’t and will never forget the bitterness of this incident.
Should the American people grant the Philippines an independence,
the islands of Mindanao and Sulu should not be included in such
independence . . . Our public land must not be given to other people other than the Moros. We should be given time to acquire them because most of us have no land. Our people does not yet realize the value of acquiring lands of considerable area. We do not know also how to acquire those lands by the process of law. Where shall we obtain the support of (our) family if our lands are taken from us. It will be safe for us that a law should be created restricting the (acquisition of ) our lands
by other people. This will also avoid future trouble.
Our practices, laws and the decisions of our Moro leaders should
be respected . . . Our religion should not be curtailed in any way. All practices which are incidents to our religion of Islam should be respected because these things are what a Muslim desires to live for . . . Once our religion is no more, our lives are no more.
(Signed) Hadji Bogabong (Kali Sa Onayan) and over one
hundred leading datus, Hadjis, Imams and Kalis.24
Ding:
You ought to read this – http://www.stimson.org/rv/pdf/Islam_&_Politics/Islam&Politics-Chapter_2_Rasul.pdf