Philippines: Supreme Court rules on future MILF agreement

There must be consultation and the agreement must be constitutional. Arroyo had been trying to negotiate more or less in secret and with no consultation. The MILF will no doubt be very upset and feel that Arroyo has been negotiating in bad faith. No doubt she was with respect to the rest of the Philippine people. With respect to the MILF it is less clear. She should have known that the agreement would be unconstitutional but maybe she thought the supreme court would go along with her. It was close. Unfortunately the end result will be as the editorial claims: renewed armed conflict.


A welcome ruling
Editorial

‘The guidelines are prescriptive. The ruling, thus, has the effect of setting the ground rules for a possible resumption of negotiations. Now, the question: Is the executive prepared to go back to the negotiating table based on these clear-cut instructions?’
The Supreme Court has struck down the memorandum of agreement on ancestral domain which was drawn up by the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in what both sides said was a big step toward ending the Muslim insurgency in Mindanao.
The vote was a tight 8-7. It could have gone the other way, with the minority’s position anchored on Malacañang’s stand that the issue was moot and academic because Gloria Arroyo had already given the assurance that her administration would not sign the agreement in its present or any other form.
The majority’s ruling should be welcome. It lays down the parameters for any negotiations that the Executive department may pursue in the future. There must be public consultation and any and all concessions granted to the MILF must be within the bounds of the Constitution.
Negotiating in furtive secrecy amounts to a whimsical, capricious, oppressive, arbitrary and despotic exercise of legal authority, the court said. The Executive also cannot enter into an agreement which commits itself to seek changes in the charter to accommodate the terms of that very agreement, for the power to propose amendments resides exclusively on Congress.
(Beyond the specific issues, the ruling was also welcome in that it dispels suspicion that the highest court is now in the pocket of Malacañang following the upholding of the claim of executive privilege on the Neri case.)
The guidelines are prescriptive. The ruling, thus, has the effect of setting the ground rules for a possible resumption of negotiations. Now, the question: Is the executive prepared to go back to the negotiating table based on these clear-cut instructions? And corollary to that, is the MILF agreeable to entering into negotiations in the full knowledge of such instructions upon the other party?
As we see it, the Supreme Court ruling has nil effect on the position already adopted by the Executive. Arroyo has already said her new peace tack calls for disarmament, demobilization and re-integration. DDR or by any other name demands the surrender of the arms and disbandment of the armed units of the MILF.
We also already know what the MILF response to Arroyo’s position is. What the government cannot win in the battlefield, it cannot gain on the negotiating table.
Both sides are already headed for a collision course. The Supreme Court ruling merely firms up the trajectory already adopted and announced by Arroyo. Even if the minority opinion had prevailed, the effect would have been the same.
It’s war then. We can only pray it does not consume us all.

Editorial: MILF talks sense!.

This is an editorial from Malaya. Malaya loses no opportunity to attack Arroyo! However, it does seem as if the Arroyo administration was negotiating in bad faith given that the negotiators seem not to have the power they were supposed to have. Even so the Supreme Court claimed the agreement was unconstitutional. This surely must be frustrating to the MILF and it is not surprising that some of the commanders should rebel and renew conflict. At least during Ramada it seems as if there is relative peace again so far. It remains to be seen if MILF will be willing to wait for Arroyo to be out of power! There is no guarantee things would improve with her departure.


MILF talks sense
Editorial

'The challenge now is how to prevent the outbreak of all-out war.'
We might as well wait for the next president after the 2010 elections." No wiser words than these we have lately heard on the peace negotiations between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front which appear headed for the rocks.
Mohagher Igbal, MILF chief negotiator, added:
"The peace process is now in purgatory. It was buried by government's decision not to sign the ancestral domain agreement. We're not only disappointed and frustrated over government's decision to turn its back on the ancestral domain deal, we've completely lost trust and confidence in them. The fate of the peace negotiation rests solely in the hands of the government."
We have suspicions about the MILF's ultimate aim, which is the setting up of an independent state. They have also proven to be hard bargainers. But we have to concede that that the proposed memorandum agreement on ancestral domain was a product of negotiations between two panels authorized by both principals. There was a meeting of minds. The agreement was initialed by representatives of both sides. In fact, had the Supreme Court not stopped the government from signing, the MOA-AD would have been a fait accompli on August 5.
Now Solicitor General Agnes Devanadera has claimed before the Supreme Court that Gloria Arroyo had not read the proposed agreement, much less authorized government chief negotiator Rodolfo Garci and peace adviser Hermogenes Esperon, who were already in Kuala Lumpur when the Supreme Court issued the TRO, to sign on behalf of the government.
Susan Roces was wrong in saying "ang sinungaling ay kapatid ng magnanakaw." They are the same person. The evidence of such identity has been piling up since the day Gloria took her oath as president when the elected one was still alive, in full control of his body and his mind, and had not been impeached by the Senate.
The MILF's mistake was in presuming it was negotiating with someone in good faith. But that's all water under the bridge. The Executive department has declared it has no intention of signing the MOA in its present form or in other form, for that matter.
The challenge now is how to prevent the outbreak of all-out war. Iqbal's suggestion that the MILF wait for the next president is a good starting point.
It's less than a year before Gloria's exit. While waiting for her departure, the current truce could be kept in place. The MILF leadership has already declared it would not resume hostilities, adding that the units engaged in recent attacks did so without its authorization.
The military, for its part, has said it was limiting its offensive against the leaders of these "rogue" MILF units. The troops can continue going after Commanders Kato and Bravo. The latter can also continue playing hide and seek with their pursuers. It's not the first time such choreographed maneuvers have taken place in the South.
Before we know it, it's already June 30, 2010. Negotiations can then resume.

Arroyo: All-out war, no; all-out peace, yes.

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Philippine govt. rejects call for all out war against MILF.

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Forget peace, wage just war: Philippines vs MILF

This is from the Tribune.
This editorial no doubt captures the feeling of many opposed to negotiations with the MILF. It really seems from what I have read that there is widespread opposition to the agreement and this opposition is strengthened by actions of some factions within the MILF who have created havoc when they have taken over some local areas of late.
The Tribune's tone is always rather shrill and especially strident in its criticism of the Arroyo government.

Forget peace, wage just war
EDITORIAL
08/21/2008
Muslim secessionist rebels have lost the war, amid too many unjust battles they fought over their control of the so-called ancestral domain.
The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) leaders and fighters have proved all too clearly, their intention of establishing an independent Islamic state within the Philippine territory, by armed force, if they can’t get this from government, through peaceful means. But once done, they will invade the whole of Mindanao and Palawan and control both regions under their independent Islamic state.
It is most stupid for the MILF to claim that the initialed Memorandum of Agreement is a “done deal” as even this rebel group knows that nothing in that MoA can be implemented without congressional action that will moreover have to be ratified by the Filipino people — including the Muslims — who now see these Moro rebels as terrorists out to kill, burn and loot to force government into getting what they demand.
They lost the battle for the hearts and minds of the Filipino people, Christians and Muslims alike, in their bid for their claimed ancestral domain, and lost whatever little trust and goodwill they had before their terrorist attacks.
Even those bleeding hearts that cry for negotiated peace cannot be expected to support the so-called Bangsamoro state proposal — not after the monstrous attacks staged by the MILF commanders and their fighters on civilians, some of whom were even hacked to death.
Who, in his right mind, would accept the excuse of the MILF that its fighters attacked these villages and innocent civilians, both Christians and Muslims because they were angry over the collapse of the MoA on ancestral domain or that the commanders did it on their own?
The MILF leadership just proved it can’t control its commanders. Worse, it proved too that if the MILF leaders don’t get what they want, they will loot, burn homes, kill unarmed civilians to get what they want. Who is to trust the MILF today?
It will be extremely difficult for the Arroyo government to even resume peace talks with these Islamic terrorists, as Malacañang will definitely lose military and Gloria Arroyo’s Mindanao-Palawan local executives’ support, along with the general public’s support, something she cannot afford to lose completely in one blow, as it would be the end of her, and her regime.
Why negotiate with an armed rebel group that admits it has no control over its commanders and fighters? Why negotiate with this secessionist group that claims it represents the Muslim population, when clearly it is an empty claim? The MILF certainly does not represent the Moro National Liberation Front, nor the many Muslim Filipinos in the country.
Even if Gloria will not admit it, it was a huge mistake on her part to coddle the MILF and to engage in a general peace agreement in 2001, shortly after she grabbed power from then sitting President Joseph Estrada, granting the Muslim rebels the opening for their claim of ancestral domain, along with Gloria’s nod for the MILF to exercise control over territories, calling these the MILF-controlled areas, complete with the MILF armed force that will police these areas.
Estrada and his military, launching an all-out offensive against the MILF in 2000, succeeded in recapturing the government camps that the MILF controlled and used to train and recruit fighters. The MILF as a force was degraded and on the run, with its leader Hashim Salamat, already hiding out in a Muslim state.
But Gloria allowed the MILF back and in the past seven years, coddled the armed group so much that she gave them even more than what its leaders had bargained for — and all because she, her coup plotters and the MILF leaders were allies in toppling the Estrada government, and no doubt, having succeeded, she rewarded the MILF with that pledge of “freedom” and an ancestral domain given in an accord signed and sealed in Tripoli, Libya in 2001.
Today’s state of affairs between the Gloria government and the MILF has deteriorated and there is no choice but to wage an all-out war against the MILF.
It is clear that Estrada made the right move against the MILF in 2001 and Gloria the wrong move in 2001 in coddling these Islamic terrorists.

MILF attacks towns but peace talks continue.

This is from Malaya.
Many in the MILF are upset over the pace of the peace process and also by concerns that the agreement will be rendered null and void by the courts. Apparently these attacks were not authorised by the central command of MILF. I have posted another article from a Davao (Mindanao) that maintains talks are still ongoing.


MILF attacks Iligan,4 towns in Lanao Norte26 killed; AFP orders offensive
BY VICTOR REYES
MORO Islamic Liberation Front rebels occupied a town in Lanao del Norte and attacked three other towns in the province and Iligan City yesterday, prompting the military leadership to order another round of offensives.
As of press time, three soldiers and 23 civilians were reported to have died from the rebel attacks in parts of Kolambugan, Linamon, Maigo, and Kauswagan towns and Iligan City.
Some of the civilian fatalities were used by the rebels as human shields while they were withdrawing.
"The rebels killed them on their way out. That is the report given to us by the civilians," said Brig. Gen. Hilario Atendido, head of the AFP Task Force Tabak which is in charge of the Lanao provinces.
He said most of the civilian casualties were from the Kolambugan and Linamon. He said some of the civilian fatalities were hostages taken by the MILF during the Kolambugan attack.
The attacks followed those in Lanao del Norte Sunday that left four soldiers and four militiamen dead.
Also on Sunday in Iligan City, suspected MILF rebels detonated two bombs at two budget hotels, wounding three persons.
AFP chief Gen. Alexander Yano said the attacks are a "virtual declaration of war" by the MILF and "a clear manifestation of the insincerity to the peace process of a significant portion of the MILF."
"This was confirmed by Commander Bravo's declaration of jihad (holy war)," he said referring to the leader of the MILF forces that attacked Iligan City and the four towns.
"It appears that several MILF sub-commanders are not controlled by the MILF leadership and are just using the peace process as a blanket to launch violent attacks against the people of Mindanao," he also said.
MILF forces under Commander Umbra Kato last month forcibly occupied 15 barangays in North Cotabato. They were flushed out of the areas last week in four days of military offensives. The Maguindanao-based Kato reportedly had 500 to 800 men.
Atendido said about 500 rebels occupied Kolambugan and some 300 to 500 attacked Kauswagan.
Kolambugan was cleared around noon. Troops repulsed the attackers in Kauswagan.
MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu said the rebels actually pulled out of Kolambugan on the order of the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces, the armed wing of the MILF.
"There is already a pullout upon command, upon orders of the leadership of the BIAF, MILF after several hours of trying to get in touch there (with fighters in Lanao). Apparently, they were reached because the command is for them to pull out from the area. Right now, the area is clear," he said.
Kabalu said rebels occupied the town because of frustration over the slow progress of the peace process and because of agitations by some quarters that a peace accord with the MILF would not be fully implemented by the government.
Kabalu said the actions of the MILF fighters were not authorized by the MILF leadership.
HUMAN SHIELDS
Atendido said the rebels attacked Kolambugan town around 4:30 a.m.
"They held hostage the whole town but we could not enter because the civilians were being used as human shields," he said. "Some of people were tied."
The rebels brought with them a number of hostages as they withdrew.
"They pulled out already of the area. They let go of the children and the women but took with them the adult men," he said.
The rebels also attempted to blow up two bridges leading to Kolambugan to prevent government reinforcements. "But they were not able to do it," he said.
Atendido said the rebels could not stay long because troops had been pre-positioned in the area.
MORE ATROCITIES
In Kauswagan, he said soldiers repelled the attacking rebels. On their withdrawal, they brought a number of the civilian hostages, he said.
The PNP said MILF rebels killed seven farmers in Barangay Tacub, Kauswagan in a pre-dawn attack.
Before the Lanao del Norte attacks, MILF forces under Commanders Dante Macaputang and Mursad Taya of the MILF's 104th Base Command ransacked the Sta. Cruz pawnshop, a drugstore, and the public market in Maasin town in Sarangani province at around 2 a.m. They also toppled a power generator, causing brownout in the area.
Two died in the incident, said Maj. Armand Rico, spokesman of the Eastern Mindanao Command.
TREACHEROUS
President Arroyo, in a nationwide address, described the latest attacks as "sneaky and treacherous."
"We will not tolerate and will crush any attempt to disturb peace and development in Mindanao.I assure the Filipino people that the government will defend them at all cost against any move or any group that will disrupt our aspirations for a genuine and lasting peace not only in Mindanao but in the whole country," said Arroyo, who convened the National Security Council yesterday afternoon.
Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro, who flew to Cotabato City, the North Cotabato and Lanao del Norte incidents are the biggest cease-fire violations so far and authorities are also looking at possible cohorts of the two MILF commanders, especially Bravo.
Teodoro said police and military forces in Mindanao remain on "combat alert."
Press Secretary Jesus Dureza said the MILF could show sincerity in the peace talks by taking appropriate actions.
"It is not for us to tell them what they should be doing. They have to do what is necessary especially in the light of these incidents now," he said.
The Coast Guard raised the alert level in the affected Mindanao areas.
Vice Adm. Wilfredo Tamayo, Coast Guard chief, also ordered the tightening of security in major ports in the region. - With Raymond Africa, Jocelyn Montemayor and Gerard Naval

This is from the Mindanao Times.
Even the cease fire let alone the peace agreement seems tenuous. There is a widespread opposition to the agreement it seems and widespread disillusionment also within the MILF. Some obviously want to continue an armed struggle.

Philippines say Muslim homeland must pass through plebiscite

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