I belong to the Iranun , one of the Moro ethnic tribe in the Southern Philippines.
I advocates: Peace & Justice
Sinulat ni Kaka Alih
Ang buwaya ay reptile na kabilang sa family Crocoylidae (minsan ay nauuri bil
ang subfamily Crocodylinae).
Tinatawag ding buwaya ang mga kabilang sa order Crocodylia gaya ng mga kabilang sa family Alligatoridae (alligator at caiman) at family Gavialidae (gharial).
Ang mga buwaya ay malalaking reptile, mahilig sa tubigan, at matatagpuan sa malaking bahagi ng Tropiko sa Asya, Africa, ang Americas, at Australia. Nahihilig na manirahan ang mga buwaya sa mga ilog na mabagal ang agos at kumain ng iba’t ibang uri ng buhay at patay na mga mammal at isda. Ang ilang species, kilala dito ang Crocodylus porosus (Saltwater Crocodile) ng Australia at ng mga pulo sa Pasipiko, ay napag-alamang nakikipagsapalaran sa dagat.
At Heto ang kaugnay sa ating pinag-uusapan nabasa ko sa Mindanews: “Punsters often associate corrupt public officials with crocodiles. “
Ang buwaya ay inihahambing sa mga gahaman sa pera, o yaong mga official na kurakot, ngunit maaring mali ang paghahambing, Ituloy natin ang article:
“The comparison owes to the freshwater reptile’s supposed voracious appetite for meat which serves as a metaphor for these officials’ insatiable urge to line their pockets with public funds.
But the association could be unfair – to the crocodiles. Take the case of the Philippine crocodile. It is also known as the Mindoro crocodile thus the scientific name Crocodylus mindorensis. Experts say an adult of this species eats only twice a week during which it consumes an average of seven kilos of meat. That’s roughly one kilo per day, a relatively moderate intake given the animal’s maximum length of three meters at maturity. Females are smaller than males.”
So therefore mali pala tayo sa paghahambing, diba? sa kabilang banda ang mga tinatawag na buwaya:
“On the other hand, corrupt officials, regardless of the sizes of their bodies and intestines, hardly set a limit to their greed. The only limit would be the lack of opportunity. “
“Crocodiles are carnivorous. Corrupt officials, like most Homo sapiens, are omnivorous.”
O di magkasalungat pala, so mali tayo, dapat mag-isip pa tayo ng ibang katawagan sa kanila, o wag na tayong manakit ng pananalita.
“They eat meat, veggies and fruits. They also eat swine which they would cook into a specialty called swine scam. When elections are coming they would also take the risk of eating a recipe called fertilizer scam. Reports said each serving of fertilizer scam costs at least 700 million pesos.
Moreover, once they have their fill, crocodiles would withdraw from their prey to give other crocodiles a chance to eat. The same cannot be said of selfish officials, who would share the stolen amounts only when it becomes necessary to do so. Otherwise they would keep the loot to themselves.
There are more differences. Philippine crocodiles, as the name suggests, are endemic to the Philippines. Corrupt bureaucrats are found anywhere else in the world. In other countries, however, they immediately resign at the slightest hint that their shenanigans have been discovered by media.
Kaya mga kapatid sa media, its time na magbago na tayo ng terms na gagamitin.
Philippine crocodiles are among the most severely threatened species around the globe. Studies placed their number at less than 100 non-hatchlings surviving in the wild. But the population of corrupt officials has never decreased. On the contrary, their tribe is growing by the day, with their spouses, sons, daughters and kin lining up as hereditary successors of an unstoppable orgy of theft abetted by public apathy.
Katunayan pala ay lumiliit nalang lahi ng buwaya sa Pilipinas, samantala ang tinatawag nating buwaya na mga official ng goberno, ay lalong dumarami.
Owing to their critically endangered status it is strictly prohibited to kill or harm Philippine crocodiles. Scientists call them an indicator species, which means that their presence indicates a healthy condition of the surrounding environment.
Sana may bumibili ng “buwaya” na tao, katulad sa balat ng buwaya na marami ang nag–oorder, pag mayroon tiyak ko mawawala silang lahat na mga “buwaya”, dahil kahit ako marami akong alam na “buwaya” na pwede kong hulihin at ipagbili.
| PEACETALK: Gov’t-Moro Conflict: Is there an end in sight? By Michael O. Mastura | |
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| Michael O. Mastura | |||||||
| Friday, 26 September 2008 15:33 | |||||||
A few weeks ago, the option for peace in our time proffered to end the armed conflict in Mindanao through a negotiated political settlement was restrained by the Supreme Court. The ‘rule of law’ is supposed to be the embodiment of reason. But the petition for redress by the political class at national and local level has not dissolved the disruptive passions of people. The common law ‘doctrine of frustration’ in negotiation has set in the state coercive apparatus of structural violence to meet negative violence from the Moro commanders. By force of habit of imitation, the DILG and the PNP-AFP tandem have adopted the American posse style to mark the heads of two MILF commanders with a P25-million reward. As we discuss cases, as here, we move away in reality from the peace process instead of identifying ceasefire violations. The question is why return to the negotiating table? The European Union has condemned the indiscriminate killing of civilians and expressed deep concern about “civilian militias becoming embroiled in the violence” and declared its worry about the potential “to inflame sectarian violence.” There is a positive violence however attached to popular and constructive movements. Should the hostilities escalate, it will be on grounds of “self-evident truths” for freedom. A facet of Bangsamoro assertion of “earned sovereignty” negates the self-perceived threat of “dismemberment” from a political life hardly fit for the system of human life acceptable to them. Yet in this country, the most corrosive impulse of a legalese regime is a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) that has turned upside down the Terms of Reference (TOR) of the peace deal between the Government and the Moros. (Not unimaginable is a TRO ‘for sale’ scandal, too, in other instances.) But the aborted signing was shot through with domestic violence and vigilante violence that derailed the Government-MILF peace process. As one commentator observed, “government has pushed out the boundaries of what’s acceptable”. We will return to this point in terms of two components of acceptance: legitimacy and justice. But as a Muslim public intellectual, it is my duty first to examine the ideation behind the crafting of the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD). Media coverage of the events was lopsided with anti-Moro sentiment and anti-Muslim bias. The perceived “generosity” or “appeasement” has demonstrated that the discourse is often pre-empted in an open forum by so-called expert opinions. Spin masters, too, in broadcast media and opinion editorials tend to appropriate the discourse with very little explanation of the background. Near real time coverage of the military operation in North Cotabato, South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao, Lanao del Norte and Lanao del Sur has exposed the “excessive use of force” in recent weeks. I reiterate here my point made during a multi-donor conference last year in Davao City: That development is not primarily an “economic problem” because peace and human security paradigms hinge on the dimension of political impact. Speaking of the theme of “Learning from Peace and Development Paradigms and Practices in Mindanao” (2007) is contextual parsing in human security concepts. I at once debunk the main assumption that “continued poverty is the root cause of unpeace” in that southern island. Measuring the value of human life against justice, root cause prevention, and the responsibility to protect from avoidable catastrophe are major issues now in foreign policy. The ‘right to humanitarian intervention’ can no longer be denied in armed conflict situation. Political tides may cut a peace deal many ways more than economic factors. In my view the predictors of development success are not necessarily natural resource endowment, access to capital, or mass education. The economic dimensions of ‘war-making’ have long been overshadowed by informed analyses—e.g. as highlighted in the 2005 PHRD—both for conflict resolution and risk investment. You know this is a political issue: how to balance the right to self-determination and contested framework of sovereignty in a highly centralized unitary structure. In somewhat more concrete terms, our MOA-AD is not about “dismemberment” but the “entrenchment” of the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity (BJE). A negotiated political settlement of the conflict in Mindanao addresses the very crucial element of continuing humanitarian insecurity: the birthright to true identity and true pride in a definite homeland. Psychological conduct and consent to be governed are not supposed to be unrelated. Our memorandum for self-determination envisages a “new formula” free from any imposition to ensure success. The political unrest of Bangsamoro people and indigenous peoples can be conceptualized as a crisis of political representation.
In mid-August 2008 The Economist observed: “In fairness, the peace agreement promises referendums in the affected districts. But even if the Supreme Court eventually lets it be signed, putting it into effect will almost certainly require change to the constitution.” But in emerging practices, modern interventionist paradigm of “re-territorialization” for human development is justified on account of state failures. There is also a necessary “re-characterization” involved from sovereignty as control to sovereignty as responsibility for human protection purposes. The 2005 PHRD failed to grasp the “MILF track” because your recommendation is short of understanding the ‘territorially bounded entity’ equated with the nation. A distinct domestic community’ of Moros is signified in the MOA-AD in order to present the rest of the Filipinos as “real”. If those “imagined communities” made to ground sovereign authority a logic of representation should be defined in terms of the totality of associative relationship between the BJE (as a sub-state) and the GRP (as a parent state). The political economy of armed conflict must be analyzed beyond the greed of the political class or business interest. Today for a state to be sovereign, it must find the origin of its sovereign authority in its people as the legitimate interpretive community. Constitutional discursive strategy of writing “we the people” sees all populations as undifferentiated mass in order to politicize the concept of representation. The allocation of power in the Constitution remains within a system of “representation” but issues such as “earned sovereignty” take on the negotiability of “state rights” entrenched in ancestral domain preceding the unitary State structure of this Republic. The acceptance of our MOA-AD has two components: legitimacy and content. When acceptance is in doubt, legitimacy is taken for granted or it is not necessary to seek consensus. Principles of obligation are much talked about in a revolutionary tide. Questions about content of legitimacy become tied to justification for intervention for Government’s inaction. Our MOA-AD provides for workable associative arrangements and permissible foreign policy and trade relations to avoid confusing legitimacy with justice. Negotiations to settle sovereignty-based conflict are unlikely to succeed without third party facilitation implemented with international monitoring. Does it matter if Government disowned the initialed MOA-AD at the instance of the Opposition and local officials? Scrapping the eleven-year-old GRP-MILF peace talks and disavowing to sign ‘in any form’ the MOA-AD overturn the interim mechanisms for making minds meet. This first message is simple realism to fix in the public mind what took three years and eight-months to negotiate as trade-offs presently tangled with controversy. Ambiguity in crafting this legal framework is the glue that binds the GRP and MILF negotiating panels to write together the Comprehensive Compact. If the onus is on Government to accept the peace deal, then it is fair to demand now for a Protocol to guarantee its compliance with the final act. The prevalence of bad faith in peace talks is the second message. Because military offensive distorts the reality, war hysteria can lead to ‘conscience-shocking situations’ and defense deficit spending. Shared legitimate grievances among the Bangsamoro people in turn feed on the mentality of ‘ungovernable territory’ rather than lawlessness or terrorism. It is as much concerned with distortive election results that are blamed on ordinary Muslims. Sorting out that formative and deformative power of full autonomous existence is the dominant consideration in our memorandum of self-determination. That is why this MOA-AD is an “elegant formula” rather than a caricature of Islamic peril to this largely Catholic country. Certainly one of the most difficult issues in the raw interplay of power relates to DDR, shorthand for: disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of local security forces. By shifting to DDR, Government runs the grave risk of navigating a timeframe for transition process beyond the benchmarks of legitimacy. I now coin D to mean Disarm, D to Disown, and R to Reject. It should go without saying that rejection encourages option to secede. The decades of the 1970s under martial rule witnessed numerous IDPs who have not returned but still harbor humiliation (and alienation). All that said, by joint understanding, the mechanism of entrenchment for purposes of giving effect to a transition has a defined function in the MOA-AD framework that is essential for preparatory work on the future status negotiations as the end in sight.
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| Sittie Sundang/MindaNews contributor | |
| Thursday, 25 September 2008 15:42 | |
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TALAYAN, Maguindanao (MindaNews/24 Sep) — They left their homes when clashes erupted last month, were forced to go back to their homes and farms for economic reasons, but were once again forced to flee as skirmishes between the military and Moro rebels continued.
Such is life for the internally displaced persons (IDPs), more commonly known as “bakwits,” from the municipalities of Talayan, Datu Anggal Midtimbang, Datu Piang, and Datu Saudi in Maguindanao. In Talayan, residents started evacuating at the height of fighting noon of Tuesday. Some of them arrived at the evacuation centers in the poblacion area only this morning. The barangays affected are Barrio Muslim, Tulunan, Nunangen, Damablak, North Binangga, Linamunan and Katibpuan. According to Omar Salic, barangay chair of Tulunan in Datu Anggal Midtimbang, over 100 soldiers believed to be from the Army’s 46 Infantry Battalion arrived in their area around noon. A few minutes later, aerial bombardments began and firefights flared up. Salic immediately instructed his constituents to leave the barangay. “We all left the place together because we were afraid to be hit in the crossfire,” he said. He said the recent evacuation is the worst since the fighting in Maguindanao started on August 19. Bainot Alamada, 36, a resident of Damablac in Talayan, hiked with her six children for two hours to get to the Manggahan evacuation center around 9:00 in the evening. They left behind their five bags of palay and three goats. “We just can’t carry the palay and the goats anymore because we walked all the way,” she added. Alamada’s family was displaced when war erupted last month. But they returned home for economic reasons. “We’d rather go home and farm to have food because we cannot rely on the daily rations at the evacuation center,” she said. In Datu Piang, Musib Uy Tan, the mayor’s executive assistant, said there was also firefight in Barangay Andavit 10 a.m. on Tuesday. It lasted until 5:30 p.m., triggering another round of displacement. Tan said he was approached by the barangay chair of Andavit this morning to find space for his constituents considering that IDPs are now crowding makeshift evacuation centers. Tan has appealed to all concerned groups and agencies to donate more food for the evacuees as their number continues to increase. In Datu Saudi Ampatuan, IDPs from Gawang and in some parts of Ilian and Madia left their homes and farmlands to go back to evacuation centers to escape the fighting that started 9 a.m. Tuesday. The same evacuees reportedly returned to their homes only three days ago, believing that there will be no encounters and air strikes again. Elsie Amil, the municipal social welfare development officer, said they do not know yet the exact figure on the number of IDPs because they are still consolidating the data they have gathered this morning. Meanwhile, in a meeting this morning, the Regional Disaster Coordinating Council (RDCC) and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD-ARMM) called on all concerned groups and agencies to supply viand as partner for the rice rations from the World Food Program (WFP) and other non-government organizations. (Sittie Sundang is a member of the Mindanao Emergency Response Network) |
| Patricio P. Diaz/MindaNews | |
| Wednesday, 24 September 2008 23:13 | |
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GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/24 Sep) — Rudy is persona non grata to Iligan City! Why not Gloria? For what is he unacceptable or unwelcome to Iligan City? Reports MindaNews: … for his alleged participation in the “conspiracy to fool the people, cut Iligan City into pieces and of the biggest blunder the Philippine government has ever made which is the carving and giving a big chunk of Mindanao to a rebel group, just to attain the simple word ‘peace’”. (September 21, 2008)
Wow! I think, that’s a grand compliment. Persona non grata is a censure – not of notorious persons but persons of dignity, usually diplomats, who have offended a host country. That’s a way of recognizing Prof. Rudy B. Rodil as a very dignified person. Who doubts that he is? Look here! When a diplomat or a visiting dignitary offends the host country, he is declared “persona non grata” and advised to leave; but this is not done on a “wanted undesirable alien” who is hunted, arrested and deported. See the connotation of persona non grata? The person is unwelcome for breaking some code of conduct but not the law. In Iligan City, like in other cities, there are many unwanted persons – law and immorality violators, some in the “wanted list” of the police. But the Iligan City Sanggunian or Council has never passed a resolution declaring them persona non grata. But the Iligan City Council unanimously declared Rudy, “the pride of Iligan and the rest of Mindanao for his expertise on Moro and Lumad histories”, persona non grata – with City Mayor Lawrence Cruz concurring — for not doing his job as vice-chair of the GRP negotiating panel to their political satisfaction. They could not distinguish Rudy’s job from their job. But on September 28, 1994, the Iligan city government honored Rudy with “Outstanding Citizen” or Ang Buotang Iliganon Award. Now, after exactly fourteen years, dili na buotan si Rudy – no longer a good Iliganon. Rudy has not been asked to return his award; neither has he been ordered to leave Iligan City as personas non grata are asked to leave their host countries. Does Prof. Rudy B. Rodil deserve the persona non grata “award”? Said Mayor Cruz, “We could not understand why Rudy, despite being a professor in Iligan, did not consult us on the matter of potentially including 82% of our land area in the BJE.” Was Rudy an appointed representative of Iligan City in the RP panel? Was consultation an individual or a collective task of the panel? It appeared that secrecy, instead of consultation, was the policy. Could individual panel members do consultations on their own initiative? But Rudy said that on April 25, 2006, he told the city council of the possibility that the predominantly Moro barangays would be included in the BJE. If the city government was really that concerned, why did it not make a formal communication with the panel? SP Resolution 08-563 accused Rudy of conspiring to “cut Iligan City into pieces” and to give “a big chunk of Mindanao to a rebel group”. Was the GRP-MILF peace negotiation a “grand conspiracy”? If the quest for Mindanao peace is, it is. Is it? The Iligan City government has all the right to lead Iliganons in street and other forms of public protests, to storm Malacañang with complaints. But, has the City Council the power to summon to explain a member of the GRP panel created by the President? Rudy is presidential appointee. That was like summoning the President to explain. In the MindaNews, Rudy asked: “Did I give anything away? Did the national government give away something when a plebiscite is precisely required?” The questions beg proper understanding of the issue – letting reason prevail over emotion. The proposal to include barangays – supposedly predominantly Moro contiguous with the ARMM — in the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity could happen only with the consent of the residents in a plebiscite. So, if there’s any giving, it’s the residents by voting YES who will. Resolution 08-563 was emotional in noting that had it not been for the “resourcefulness” of Mayor Lawrence Cruz, “Iligan City could (have awakened) morning of August 6, 2008 that its eight barangays are devoured, by virtue of the MOA” The resolution, done on September 1, almost a month after the public issuance of MOA-AD, showed that the Iligan City mayor and councilors did not read, failed to understand what they had read or ignored what they had read on framing their persona non grata resolution. It is clear that the MOA-AD would not take effect on the day after its signing. It is clear, too, that if the eight barangays will vote like what they did in the ARMM plebiscites of 1989 and 2001, they will remain with Iligan City. It is the residents of the eight Iligan City barangays and all the other 735 who will decide to or not to be with the BJE a year after the signing of MOA-AD. Telling the people otherwise is fooling them. Do they doubt if the MILF will abide by the will of the voters in the 735 barangays – eight in Iligan City? In his latest statement, MILF chairman Hadji Al Murad Ebrahim appeared to have erased any doubt. He said that “the MILF has agreed on a plebiscite” in exchange for the GRP “promise to do all legal means to accommodate the MOA-AD”. (MindaNews, September 17) Does this not mean that the plebiscite will be manipulated to deliver all the 735 barangays to the MILF? The plebiscite will be conducted according to a law passed by Congress and the President cannot commit Congress to MOA-AD, according to Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro. Congress is certain to enact a law according to the Constitution and the MILF knows that, Teodoro told abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak In retrospect, did Iligan City also declare Rudy persona non grata in 1996? He was also member of the GRP panel that negotiated with the MNLF. The 1996 Final Peace Agreement gave to the MNLF not only eight barangays but the entire Iligan City and a much larger chunk of Mindanao. But like in 1989, the Iliganons told the MNLF in the 2001 plebiscite that they were not joining the ARMM. In venting their ire on Rudy, were they no longer sure that the eight barangays that in 2001 voted 98 percent NO would not stick it out with Iligan City in another plebiscite? The 1994 “Outstanding Citizen” award was to honor Rudy as member of the 1993-1996 GRP panel. The Iligan City mayor and council are unfair to Rudy. The GRP panel, in negotiating the MOA-AD followed the policy and guidelines set by President Arroyo and the security cluster of the Cabinet. When the cluster objected to parts of the text, the panel was asked to have this modified. The MOA-AD was scrutinized by the security cluster and with the imprimatur of President Arroyo. If anybody has to be declared persona non grata by the Iligan City government, it should be President Arroyo – Gloria, not Rudy. Does Iligan City not pride itself for having Gloria as its adopted daughter and Gloria proudly proclaiming the city as her foster home as she said she had grown up there with her grandmother? Pero dili man nila madaug-daug – hindi nila kaya – si Gloria (They are afraid of Gloria). And to be more unfair to Rudy, the city government had not given him a copy of the persona non grata Resolution as of last September 21. He said he only heard about it from friends; an NGO worker sent him a scanned copy of a news report published in the September 7 issue of the local weekly, Mindanao Scoop. (MindaNews, September 21) Was the city government – the mayor and council – serious about Resolution 08-563 censuring Rudy, or was that just a political show? If it was serious, it should have (1) served Rudy the original copy on September 2; (2) ordered him to leave Iligan City, as alien personas non grata are ordered to do; and, (3) recalled the “Outstanding Citizen Award” given to him 14 years ago. They did not! That speaks a lot. (”Comment” is Mr. Patricio P. Diaz’ column for MindaViews, the opinion section of MindaNews. The Titus Brandsma Media Awards recently honored Mr. Diaz with a “Lifetime Achievement Award” for his “commitment to education and public information to Mindanawons as Journalist, Educator and Peace Advocate.” You can reach him at patpdiazgsc@yahoo.com.) |
| Violeta M. Gloria/MindaNews | |
| Tuesday, 23 September 2008 21:31 | |
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ILIGAN CITY (MindaNews/23 September) – Fourteen years ago, the city government honored Mindanao historian Professor Rudy Rodil as a “Buotang Iliganon” (good citizen of Iligan) for his membership in the government peace panel that forged a peace agreement with the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF).
Earlier this month, the city council passed a resolution declaring Rodil a persona non grata for his alleged participation in the “grand conspiracy to fool the people, cut Iligan City into pieces and of the biggest blunder the Philippine government has ever made which is the carving and giving of a big chunk of Mindanao to a rebel group, just to attain the simple word ‘peace.’” The resolution was alluding to the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) the signing of which was stalled after the Supreme Court issued a temporary restraining order against it. Rodil was vice chair of the government peace panel in talks with the MILF. “It hurts,” Saturnina Rodil, English professor at Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology and Rodil’s wife, said of the declaration. “The resolution is full of hate, anger and is generating hate. It truly hurts. We are taking it seriously but we are not letting it affect us. I said ‘us and we’ because I cannot separate myself from Ompong (Rudy),” she said. But Rodil said she holds no rancor in her heart for the local officials. “We wish them (local officials) and their families good health and happiness,” she said She said many Iliganons do not have limited views and that they would eventually realize that peace not war is the best option. She added that her husband had appeared twice before the city council whose members ignored his statements and did not show any respect for him even if reporters were around. The third invitation asked him to “explain to the city council why he shouldn’t be declared persona non grata.” Civil society leaders last week marked the International Day of Peace in Cagayan de Oro City with a conference that honored Rudil for his contribution to the peace process as a member of the government peace panel Rodil’s wife said the resolution declaring him a persona non grata was read during the program to provide context but that the conference participants ignored it. “Ompong is a whole lot busier than he was with the panel,” she revealed. “He is too involved in many activities now and has numerous speaking engagements, one after the other.” She on the other hand has been involved in providing relief and psychosocial therapy to war-torn communities. Mary Ann Arnado of the Mindanao People’s Caucus told participants to a peace conference here Monday not to be silent on the fate of Rodil. The conference was supported by the government and the UNDP Act for Peace Programme. “Rodil merely performed his mandate as member of the peace panel. I challenge the city council of Iligan to declare President Arroyo as persona non grata because it’s from her where Rodil got his mandate,” Arnado said. “The civil society must back up Rodil who was just loyal to what he ought to do as part of the negotiating team. We will not just demand to stop the war, not just call for a ceasefire but must also find a resolution to our problem so that we will not end up in a cycle of violence,” she explained. “This is not the time to blame each other. We will work for a peace that is not imposed but is anchored on justice,” she added. “Rodil deserves to be honored as we have honored him recently for his contributions in the peace process,” said Regina Antequisa, executive director of Ecoweb Inc. who also attended the conference. “There is a need to raise the level of people’s awareness on the impact of the conflict and to encourage community leaders and members to participate in the efforts to positively promote peace and in resolving conflict,” she said. (Violeta M. Gloria/MindaNews) |
September 21, 2008
| Patricio P. Diaz/MindaNews | |
| Saturday, 20 September 2008 19:59 | |
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4th of a series GENERAL SANTOS CITY(MindaNews/17 September) — If Muslim Autonomy, whether it is the ARMM or the BJE version, is real autonomy, it must have a strong economic economy. With weak economy like what the present ARMM has, political autonomy is meaningless. From this, the Bangsamoro quest in MOA-AD for their ancestral domain, lands and other resources must be understood.
III. Resources The 12-consensus-point strand “Resources” is controversial because of the powers granted the BJE in the development of the economic resources of the Moro Homeland. By these powers, the Moro Homeland is free from the control of the Manila government – unlike in the case of the ARMM — with a partnership, not a benefactor-beneficiary or master-subject relationship. Curiously, it should be asked: What is wrong in empowering the BJE “with authority and responsibility for the land use, development, conservation and disposition of the natural resources within the homeland”? (Consensus 1) (See also: Consensuses 2 and 3) What is wrong with the rationale behind the grant of such powers: to “reinforce their economic self-sufficiency”? Strategic Minerals Of the four “measures to make progress more rapid” enumerated under Consensus 1, stimulating the local economy to address unemployment and living conditions (b), uprooting the causes of poverty (c), and reviewing “public services, industrial or trade-related and agrarian related issues”(d) should be positively appreciated. What is being objected to as excessive, as well as unconstitutional, is Consensus 1.a that empowers the BJE: “Entry into joint development, utilization and exploitation of natural resources designed as commons and shared resources, which is tied to the full setting of appropriate institution, particularly affecting strategic minerals.” This suggests that the BJE can enter into joint ventures with domestic and foreign investors in the exploitation of the natural resources — in particular strategic minerals which under Section 2 of Article XII of the 1987 Constitution “shall be under the full control and supervision of the State”. The ARMM, under R.A. 6734 and R.A. 9054, is vested with the authority to control and supervise the “exploration, utilization, development and protection of mines and minerals” within the region except “the strategic minerals”. This is also stipulated in the 1996 GRP-MNLF Final Peace Agreement. “Strategic minerals” are “uranium petroleum and other fossil fuels, mineral oils, all sources of potential energy”. These are speculated to be abundant in the ARMM. Is economic autonomy not essential to Muslim autonomy? Is withholding these strategic minerals not undermining economic autonomy? The policy is cockeyed. The ARMM can explore, use, develop and protect mineral resources (R.A. 9054, Article XII, Section 5) but not the highly demanded strategic minerals which are reserved for the national government. Yes, the choicest cuts are always for the masters. Foreign Trade Consensus 4 has two very controversial stipulations: First, “The BJE is free to enter into any economic cooperation and trade relations with foreign countries” with the condition “that such relationships and understandings do not include aggression against the Government of the Republic the Philippines”. Second, by right, the BJE has the “option to establish and open Bangsamoro trade missions in foreign countries with which it has economic cooperation agreements”. These agreements are condemned for being unconstitutional. But the ARMM can enter into economic agreements: “Subject to the provisions of the Constitution, the Regional Government shall evolve a system of economic agreements and trade compacts to generate block grants for regional investments and improvements of regional economic structures which shall be authorized by law enacted by the Regional Assembly.” (R.A. 9054, Article IX, Section 11) While not explicitly said, Section 11 implies that the “economic agreements and trade compacts” are between the ARMM and foreign countries. The MOA-AD is explicit: “any economic cooperation and trade relations with foreign countries”. Is the implicit constitutional but the explicit unconstitutional? If foreign trade relations are constitutional as implied in Section 11, why should trade missions be unconstitutional? They are necessary to promote trade relations. MNLF Chairman Nur Misuari, as ARMM governor, spent much of his first year in office as a one-man trade mission to foreign capitals inviting investors to invest in the ARMM and other SZOPAD provinces. Did he violate the 1987 Constitution? Int’l Meetings Consensus 4 has more controversial stipulations: Third, “… the Central Government shall take necessary steps to ensure the BJE’s participation in international meetings and events, e.g. ASEAN meetings and other specialized agencies of the United Nations.” Fourth, this obligation of the Central Government (Third, above) “shall entitle the BJE’s participation in Philippine official missions and delegations that are engaged in the negotiation of border agreements or protocols for (a) environment protection,(and b) equitable sharing of incomes and revenues, in the areas of sea, seabed and inland seas or bodies of water adjacent to or between islands forming part of the ancestral domain, in addition to those of fishing rights”. Objections to these agreements have no constitutional basis but spring from anti-Muslim bias and prejudices akin to ridicule: The Muslims are demanding too much, not so different from how masters sneer at their subjects who desire to be treated as equals. However, these are essentially the same as the GRP-MNLF agreement on Muslim right to representation in the national government and organs of the state, Paragraphs 63-67, 1996 FPA. These are embodied in R.A. 9054, Article V, Sections 4-7. The “system of economic agreement and trade compacts” is for the ARMM to generate funds for the regional economy. Consensus 4 should be viewed similarly instead of viewing it with anti-Muslim bias, prejudice and cynicism. International meetings and Philippine official missions, including the President’s state visits, offer opportunities to invite investors. Should the BJE be denied such opportunities? Negotiations of border agreements or environmental protection adjacent to the Moro Homeland involve BJE economic and related interests. Should the BJE be denied the right to cooperate with the national government to protect and promote regional and national interests? Two More Also objected to in Consensus 6 is the 75-25 sharing with the national government in favor of the BJE of revenues generated in the region. In R.A. 6734, the sharing is 60-40; in R.A. 9054, 70-30, except in strategic minerals which is 50-50. Will this redound to better fiscal stability? Consensus 7 provides that: (1) “The legitimate grievances of the Bangsamoro people arising from any unjust dispossession of their territorial and proprietary rights, customary land tenures, or their marginalization shall be acknowledged.” (2) “Whenever restoration is no longer possible, the GRP shall take effective measures or adequate reparation collectively beneficial to the Bangsamoro people , in such quality, quantity and status to be determined mutually by both Parties.” The MNLF did not demand these during the negotiations of the Tripoli Agreement of 1976 or of the Peace Agreement of 1996. The first is exacting acknowledgment of injustice done; the second, reparation for such injustice. This is a daring but not a novel demand that should be weighed by its merits. There were cases in the United States when the Indians were awarded by the U.S. Supreme Court compensations for illegal dispossession of their lands covered by treaties. The Rest The last five consensus points under “Resources” should occasion no controversy. They are regulatory and organizational – unless the authority given the BJE and its relation with the national government is questioned. Consensuses 8 and 9: The authority granted the BJE has also been given to the ARMM in Article XII, Section 5(d) of R.A. 9054: “Except as provided in this Organic Act, existing leases, permits, licenses, franchises, and concessions shall be respected until their expiration unless legally terminated earlier as provided by law enacted either by Congress or by the Regional Assembly”. Consensus 10 calls for the establishment of “a five-member BJE economic-expert mission” or “the Mission” the functions of which are detailed in Consensuses 11 and 12. There is no similar concession in either R.A. 6734 or R.A. 9054 for the ARMM. By its functions and membership, the establishment of the Mission is an innovative strategy for “reconstruction and development”. Examine, first, its functions and, then, its membership: Consensus 11: “The Mission … shall cooperate fully with all organizations in involved in the implementation of the peace settlement”. And, “It shall launch a plan and joint international appeal for the reparation and development of the conflict affected areas in Mindanao. Consensus 12: The members will be appointed by (a) the Third Party facilitator – two from international institutions, one of whom will be the chairman; (b) two by the BJE, one of whom will the co-chairman; and, (c) one member by the national government. If the primary objective of Muslim autonomy is to empower the Bangsamoro people to become genuinely autonomous politically and economically, what is unconstitutional with their quest for resources that they can fully develop by their own efforts with assistance from the national government and the international communities? (To Be Continued) (”Comment” is Mr. Patricio P. Diaz’ column for MindaViews, the opinion section of MindaNews. The Titus Brandsma Media Awards recently honored Mr. Diaz with a “Lifetime Achievement Award” for his “commitment to education and public information to Mindanawons as Journalist, Educator and Peace Advocate.” You can reach him at patpdiazgsc@yahoo.com.) Source: Mindanews |
Kaka Alih-September 20, 2008
| Carolyn O. Arguillas/MindaNews | |
| Wednesday, 17 September 2008 10:10 | |
| DATU PIANG, Maguindanao (MindaNews/16 Sept) — A portion of the pawas (marshland) still reeked of death on Sunday, six days after a fisherman and five of his children, one of them pregnant, were killed by shrapnel from an alleged air strike targeting “renegade” members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). A red-white-and-green malong hangs at one corner of the kamalig (farmers’ resting hut). Dannex Canday, son of the hut owner, said they took down its nipa roof and “wall” made of coconut leaves and piled them on the ground because shrapnels from what exploded on the riverbank had grazed them, and the bamboo and round timber posts, as well.
Aida’s malong. MindaNews photo by Carolyn O. Arguillas
Aida, 18, the eldest child of Daya Manungal and Vilma Mandi, owned that malong. In four months, she was going to give birth to her first baby.
But she died instantaneously, her head almost severed, her right eye gouged out by shrapnel.
Maguindanaoans say it must have been “Kahandu nu Kadenan” (God’s will) or “bagi” (destiny).that Guiamaludin, 13, the eldest son, survived.
The third crater, 30 meters away from the kamalig. MindaNews photo by Carolyn O. Arguillas The blasts produced three huge craters, each measuring 1.5 meters to 1.8 meters in diameter and at least ¾ meter deep. Shrapnels were still found in the third crater some 30 meters away from the riverside kamalig.
The two craters to the right and left of the kamalig. MindaNews photo by Carolyn O. Arguillas
One of the craters nearest the kamalig. As deep as the level of the raised short pants. MindaNews photo by Carolyn O. Arguillas Two of the craters are on the riverbank itself, about three meters apart, very close to the kamalig. The kamalig was not burned. Whatever exploded nearby was not incendiary.
Part of the boat. MindaNews photo by Carolyn O. Arguillas
A fragment from the ill-fated banca lay on the ground. Nearby, the detachable bamboo seat, on top of which is what appears like a cloth–wrapped makeshift “cushion.”
Blood on the cloth and on Aida’s malong has since faded but not totally rinsed off by rain.
The stench of death still blows across this vast marshland.
Four minutes to safety
They had traveled some 800 meters from Sitio Dagaren in Barangay Tee, and had only about 800 meters more (not 500 to 600 meters as earlier estimated by MindaNews) to reach Butalo bridge and the highway.
On a “pumpboat” – in these parts, actually a small but motorized banca — it is a two-minute and thirty-second ride to the death site from the bridge, but four minutes from the site to the bridge.
Daya knew they were four minutes to safety. But he had to stop, relatives said, because the boat’s engine had malfunctioned.
Daya apparently feared more the possibility of sinking than being mistaken for rebels from the air. The boat had more children than adults. Their clothes were multi-colored. Guiamaludin wore a bright golden yellow shirt.
On such a beautiful morning, even those along the highway could tell the approaching boats carried civilians, as they and the barangay captain asked soldiers on ready-fire position at Butalo bridge, to hold their fire. The soldiers held their fire.
Daya steered the boat towards the pawas, instructing his children — the pregnant Aida, 18; Guiamaludin, 13, Bailyn, 9; Zukarudin, 7; Adtayan, 5 and Faidza, 2 - to wait in the kamalig..
They never reached the kamalig. Guiamaludin recalls that just as they had disembarked from the banca and taken two to three steps through the mud, they were thrown away by the blasts. He could not say how far away he was thrown off.
When he looked around, his siblings and his father were either dead or dying. Ten to 15 meters away, still cruising the river, the terrified occupants of the other boat screamed and cried as the bombs exploded. Vilma, Daya’s wife, held on tightly to her 16-day old baby, Fairudz and children Bainor, 11, and Tata, 4.
Mohalidin Unsi, Aida’s husband, was frantic. In four months, they would be having their first baby.
Mohalidin had no time to grieve when he reached the bank and saw his lifeless wife. “Pinulot nya raw yung mga body” (He said he collected the bodies) and put them on the boat, to bring them to Butalo bridge, Noraisa Mandi, Aida’s aunt, said. Noraisa said that as Mohalidin was counting and collecting the bodies, he was shouting to the planes overhead to stop bombing. Mohalidin narrated how his father in law, Daya, groaned in pain. But when he came back for him, said Noraisa, Daya was gone. He had fallen into the river. His body was recovered the next day.
Mohalidin told a press conference in Cotabato City four days later that he doesn’t remember how many bombs exploded that morning. In his limited Pilipino, he said, “di ko kayang bilangin, basta marami” (I can’t count how many, but plenty) Of those on board Daya’s boat, only Guiamaludin survived. Bailyn was rushed to Dulawan, the town’s center, and would have been rushed along with Guiamaludin, to the regional hospital in Cotabato City, 54 kilometers away. She never made it to Cotabato. Bailyn expired in Dulawan. Last meal Guiamaludin never expected he would have his buka (meal to break the fast) in a hospital in Cotabato City where he was brought for surgery for shrapnel wounds on both legs and other parts of his body. The family shared their saul (meal before fasting) at 3 in the morning of September 8, the 8th day of the Ramadhan. It was to be their last meal together. At 5 a.m. Guiamaludin, who had become a fisherman since he stopped schooling after the second grade, set out on his banca to fish while his father Daya and brother-in-law Mohalidin, went shrimping, separately. For a family of 13 (Daya and Vilma and their nine children; and Mohalidin and Aida who stayed in the same house with them), the men had to ensure there was food on the table for the little ones, and for the adults’ buka that night and the saul the next morning. It had only been a week since they returned home in Sitio Dagaren. On the third week of August, they fled to Butalo, to avoid getting caught in a crossfire between government forces and the MILF. They had been doing this daily routine for a week now when the planes came. It was a sign for them to flee again. Guiamaludin recalls seeing four planes. Mohalidin says he saw seven – helicopters, OV-10 Broncos and planes he could not identify. (The Philippine Air Force later said the aircraft that flew were helicopters, OV-10 Broncos and Layang or SF-260 Warriors). From where they were, Daya, Guiamaludin and Mohalidin all rushed home, got the children and boarded their “pumpboats” for Butalo. Bainor had boarded her father’s boat when Daya asked Aida to trade places with her. It wasn’t in the rush that Daya and his wife Vilma boarded separate boats. It was deliberate, Noraisa said. Daya had made sure Vilma took another boat and that Aida and Mohalidin took separate boats. Noraisa explained this was Daya’s way of ensuring “may maiwan” (someone will be left behind should anything untoward happen). Before the morning ended, only Guiamaludin survived from Daya’s boat. Vilma survived with Bainor, Tala and the infant Fairudz. Mohalidin lost his wife and the baby in her womb. “Extremely necessary” The military’s Information Coordination Center on September 9 quoted Col. Marlou Salazar, commander of the Army’s 601st Infantry Brigade as saying his troops were in Barangay Tee “based on civilian reports that Wahid Tundok, Kato’s right hand man, and possibly (Umbra) Kato himself, were in the area.” “As the troops entered the barangay, they were met by gunfire from the MILF forces in the area. Heavy exchange of fires between the forces commenced at around 9:55 a.m.,” Salazar said. On the same day, Air Force spokesperson Maj. Gerardo Zamudio, told MindaNews “three possibilities” - that civilians could have been caught in a crossfire during the “intense firefight” between the ground troops and the MILF; that they were caught in the crossfire during the air and river fighting between the Air Force and the rebels allegedly on a pumpboat; and that the slain civilians were not killed during either firefight but elsewhere. Daya and his five children were killed in the pawas where they disembarked, halfway between Sitio Dagaren and Butalo bridge. Air Force Chief Lieutenant-General Pedrito Cadungog told reporters in Manila on September 10 that the pilots were shot at, “so what do you do? Rules of engagement compel that you fire back,” he said, stressing that in combat, “moments of indecision can kill you also.” Vilma, Mohalidin and Guiamaludin claim there was no exchange of gunfire before the blasts. Residents along the highway some 800 meters from the blast site said they heard no exchange of gunfire before the explosions. Military sources told MindaNews that gunfire exchange over such a wide expanse of river and marshland can be heard up to five to seven kilometers away at daytime and up to 10 kilometers at nighttime. The Commission on Human Rights said it has directed its regional office in Mindanao to investigate what happened. “Children as collateral damage is unacceptable,” CHR chair Leila de Lima said. ”There was no bombing,” Zamudio told MindaNews on September 16. Guideline 2 of the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ “Tactical Adjustments on Military Operations During Ramadhan,” states that “tactically, artillery and air strikes will be minimized as much as practicable.” ”Nonetheless,” it added, “field commanders are not prevented to proportionately employ such firepower when extremely necessary in addressing imminent threats from an overwhelming LMG force.” “LMG” is military parlance for “Lawless MILF Group,” referring to renegades in the MILF like Kato and Bravo, who, the MILF leadership maintains, is still within their control. Zamudio stressed the pilots merely fired back because they were fired upon by the rebels. He said rockets were used on them, not bombs “Do rockets produce craters?” MindaNews asked. “There are craters?” Zamudio asked. (Carolyn O. Arguillas/MindaNews for Philippine Human Rights Reporting Project) |
(Sinulat ni Kaka Alih para sa programang Bantay Bayan Boses ng Sambayanan, sa segment na Kukltura at kaugalian- September 12, 2008-7:00-8:00 umaga- sa community radio – DXUP FM, Upi, Shariff Kabunsuan)
Bago pa man dumating dito sa mga pulo o lupang nasa Silangan ang mga kastila, noong 1521 ay may kultura at kaugalian na ang mga naunang naninirahan. Ang mga ninuno natin ay nagtanggol sa kanilang mga kaharian ngunit dahil sa makabagong armas sila ay natalo at nasakop ng Espania. Dahil ang mga mamayan sa Lupang Silangan (na tinawag ng Espania na Pilipinas, na ang ibig sabihin ay “tao ni Haring Felipe”) ay nasakop ang mga Pilipino (tawag sa taong nasa Pilipinas) ang mga kulturang ito ay dahan-dahan nangawala at di man nawala ay nadagdagan o sadyang nabago sa pagdaan ng panahon.
Sa bandang Mindanao, Sulu at Palawan (MINSUPALA) ay nahirapan ang Espania na sakopin dahil sa isa na itong matatag na bansa noon pa man bago sila dumating. Bagamat hindi gaano makabago ang armas ay organisado ang kanilang tanggulang bansa. Hindi basta-basta nakapagtatag ng kanilang goberno dito sa MINSUPALA ang mga dayuhang mananakop na Espaniol, ngunit dahil sa tulong ng mga kapatid na ngayon ay tinawag na Pilipino (na walang magawa kundi sundin ang utos ng mananakop, kaya sila napilitang maging mandirigma na nagsisilbi para sa Espanya) ay natalo nila ang depensa ng mga Bangsamoro sa Sambuwangan(Zamboanga), at itinayo ng Espania ang kanilang kuta, tinawag nila itong cota del pilar.
Dahil sa hindi nasakop nanatili (intact) ang kultura mga Bangsamoro (Moro ang tawag ng Espania sa mga tao na katulad ng kanilang nakalaban sa Morocco. At Bangsa ang ibig sabihin sa Malay ay nangangahulugan ng angkan- kaya angkan ng mga Moro=Bangsamoro) ang kanilang mga kultura at kaugalian. Ang mga ito ay hinango naman sa Islam, ang relihiyong kanilang pinaniniwalaan.
Islam ay pagtalima at pagsuko sa nag-iisang Diyos. Ang tagasunod ng Islam ay tinatawag naman na Muslim na ang ibig sabihin ay naniniwala, mga taong tumalima sa kautusan ng Allah (ang tawag sa Poong Lumikha o Diyos).
At dahil sa paniniwala sa Islam ang kanilang mga kultura at kaugalian ay nilimbag sa timplang Islam.
Dumaan ang mga panahon, dumating ang Amerikano (tawag sa taga Amerika), natalo naman nila ang Espania at sila ay napaalis dito sa Pilipinas, bagamat ang kanilang kamandag ay nanatili nanalaytay pa rin sa dugo ng mga Pilipino.
Nasakop na ng Amerika ang Pilipinas, hindi ito nagtagal, bakit ? dahil marahil wala na silang makakatas, dahil nasaid na maraahil ng Espania ang tamis nito, kaya iyon marahil ang dahilan na ibinigay na nila ang “pagsasarili” (independence) sa mga Pilipino.
Ang masakit lang nito ay isinama nila ang mga kapatid na nasa Mindanao na hindi man lang nila kinunsulta, ong papayag ba sila o hindi. Sa kabila ng katotohanan na sila ay nagsisigaw na ibalik sa kanila ang kanilang dating pagsasarili.
Nagplano ng mga programa ang bagong nagsasariling bansa (ang Pilipinas) kong papaano magkaisa sa paniniwala at kultura ang Pilipino at ang ayaw na matawag na Pilipino. Sila ay nakisalamuha, naging kapit bahay at ang iba naging kabiyak, at dito sa prosesong ito ay dahan-dahan, nabuo ang mga kultura at kaugalian na hindi ginagawa ng mga ninuno ng mga Bangsamoro at wala sa katuruan ng Islam.
Ang tanong ano ang mga ito, na mga kultura at kaugalian na wala sa mga ninuno at hindi itinuturo ng relihiyong Islam?
Narito ang ilan na makikita mo sa mga Bangsamoro :
1. Pagdiriwang sa araw ng kapanganakan (Birthday)
Ang mga “assimilated” na Bangsamoro sa ngayon ay nagdiriwang na rin ng kaarawan ng kanilang mga anak katulad ng mga Pilipino o yaong ngayon ay tinatawag na “settlers”.
Ang mga ninuno ng mga Bangsamoro ay may sarili silang pagdiriwang sa mga anak na bagong panganak, pagkapanganak ay tatawag sila ng Azan o bang sa tabi ng kanilang anak. Ilang araw o linggo ay magtatakda sila ng kaduli na tinatawag na “gunting” dito bibibigyan ng pormal ng pangalan ang bata. Sa ibang tribung Bangsamoro (Maguindanaon, Iranon) mayroon din silang tinatawag na “likat sa lantay” isa din itong uri ng kanduli (thasksgiving).
Papaano nagdiriwang ang mga ibang Pilipino ng kaarawan? Kanilang hinalaw marahil sa kanluraning kultura.
Ang pagdiriwang ng kaarawan ay bantog na bantog noon pa sa mga paganong Greko at Romano. Ito ay ipinagdiriwang sa pamamagitan ng pagdarasal, pag-aalay, masaganang kainan, at ang pagbibigay ng regalo sa may kaarawan.
Diyan marahil nahango ang pagdiriwang sa kaarawan ng kapangakan ni Jesus o Iesa (kapayapaan ay sasakanaya).
Tanong bakit kayong mga Bangsamoro ay ipinag diriwang ang Kaarawan ni Propeta Muhammad kong tawagin ninyo ay Maulidin Nabi
Ito ay sadyang napakalungkot na nangyayari. Bagama’t ang mga Muslim ay may maliwanag na patnubay na nananatiling nasa orihinal na anyo hanggang sa ngayon, hindi pa rin maiwasan ng iba ang pagsagawa ng mga bagay na salungat sa itinuturo ng Islam. Ito ay dulot ng kamangmangan sa pananampalataya at sa pagnanais na tularan ang ginagawa ng iba.
Si Propeta Muhammad ay nagsabi:
“Anumang bagong bagay na isinasama sa ating pananampalatayang ito (Islam), ay hayaan itong itakwil.”
Si Propeta Muhammad ay nagsabi:
“Wala nang iba pang gawain na makapaglalapit sa inyo sa Allah maliban lamang sa mga naituro ko sa inyo.”
Bilang pangwakas, tayong mga Muslim ay may dalawang batayan sa ating panuntunan ng buhay: ang Qur’an at ang Sunnah ni Propeta Muhammad. Ang ating pamumuhay at pagsamba ay nararapat lamang ayon sa Kanyang ipinahayag at sa pamamaraang itinuro ng Kanyang Propeta upang ito ay tanggapin ng Allah.
Si Propeta Muhammad ay nagsabi:
“May dalawang bagay akong iiwanan sa inyo na kung inyo itong panghahawakan ng mahigpit ay hindi kayo maliligaw: ang purong Salita ng Allah at ang aking Sunnah.”
Mga karagdagang mga talata sa Qur’an at mga Hadith:
“Katotohanan, nasa Sugo ng Allah ang pinakamahusay na halimbawa upang pamarisan - sa sinuman na may pag-asam sa (pagharap sa) Allah, sa Huling Araw at laging alaala ang Allah. [Surah Al Ahzab, 33:21]
“…At anuman ang ibigay sa inyo ng Sugo ay kunin ito, at anumang kanyang ipagbawal sa inyo ay iwasan ito…” [Surah Hashr, 59:7]
“… At hayaan ang mga sumasalungat sa mga ipinag-uutos ng Sugo na mag-ingat, kung hindi’y magkakaroon sila ng Fitnah (pagsubok, kahirapan, lindol, patayan, pang-aapi, etc) o isang napakasakit na parusa ang mapapasakanila.” [Surah An-Nur, 24:63]
“O kayong nananampalataya! Sundin ang Allah at sundin ang Sugo), at yaong may otoridad. Kung kayo’y di-magkaunawaan sa anumang bagay sa isa’t isa, isangguni sa Allah at sa Kanyang Sugo (saws), kung kayo ay naniniwala sa Allah at sa Huling Araw. Iyon ay higit na mahusay at higit na karapat-dapat sa huling pagpapasiya.” [Surah An-Nisa, 4:59]
“At kung inyong susundin ang karamihan dito sa daigdig, kanilang ililigaw kayo nang malayo sa landas ng Allah. Wala silang sinusunod maliban sa haka-haka, at wala silang ginawa kundi magsinungaling.” [Surah Al An-am, 6:116]
Si Propeta Muhammad ay nagsabi:
“Mag-ingat sa kalabisan tungkol sa relihiyon. Napahamak ang mga nauna sa inyo dahil sa kanilang pagmamalabis tungkol sa relihiyon.”
Si Propeta Muhammad ay nagsabi:
“Huwag magmalabis sa pagpuri sa akin kagaya ng ginawa ng mga Kristiyano sa anak ni Maria. Ako ay isang alipin, kaya’t inyo lamang sabihin: “Alipin ng Allah at Kanyang Sugo”.
2. Pagpapaputok sa araw ng Id
Pagsapit ng Id (Hariya Puwasa at haj) ay nagpapaputok ang mga Bangsamoro, bilang pagsasaya, katulad ng pagdiriwang mga Intsik. Ang mga Intsik na kilalang mangangalakal sa mundo at dumating na sila ditto sa MINSUPA, at marahil ito ang impluwensa nila sa mga Talainged (native inahabitants).
Noon ang pinapuputok ay rebentador at kanyon na gawang Tsino, di nagtagal ay ginaya ng mga mga Pilipinong taga Bulacan. Sa ngayon ay nawala ang mga iyon, at napalitan ng mga makabagong armas na pumuputok at ito na ang ginagamit.
3-Kalilang (ceremonial of marriage)
Ang kasal ay sa mga restaurant o hotel ay isinasaayos ng mga “third generation” at kanila nila ito kinopya sa sa kultura ng settlers at dinagdagan ng kulturang Bangsamoro, lalo na yaong hindi pa tanggap ng mga katutubong Bangsamoro. Halimbawa ang Biblia ay pinalitan ng Qur’an. Nagsasabay ang babae at lalaki, at nagpaparada na ang babae kahit hindi pa sila kasal.
Naglalagay din sila ng decoration na tinatawag na pandala.
Ang mga Bangsamoro noon kong may ikakasal ay hiwalay ang lalaki at babae, pagkatapos ng Kutba Nikah (wedding sermon) ay sasamahan ang lalaki ng biyanan sa babaeng pinakakasalan.
Ang kalilang ay ginagawa sa bahay ng babae, isa araw o higit pa bago ang kawing l o kasalan.
4- Pagdadamit
Sa ngayon ay nakapantalon ang mga babae katulad ng mga lalake, at ang mga damit ay hakab na hakab ang porma ng katawan.
Ang damit ng babae ay tinatawag na minoro ang pangitaas at malong ang pang-ibaba, ito ay kahantulad sa damit ng T’duray noon. Nagtetendong (bandana) ang mga babae. Naglalagay ng mga decoration ang babae sa kanyang damit ng mga ginto o pilak.
Ang lalake naman ay gumagamit ng tubaw. At may nakasukbit na gurok sa tagiliran (maliit na punyal) at nakasabit na sundang o kampilan sa biwang at kong minsan may dala-dalang bangkaw (spears).
5-pag-inom ng alak na makalasing (kamer)
Sa ngayon ay umiinom ng alak na makalasing ang mga Bangsamoro, katulad na rin mga Settlers na Pilipino, kahit ito ay patago sa mga kamag-anak o angkan, dahil sa isinusumpa o itinuturing noon ng mga ninuno na “kafir” (hindi naniniwala) ang uminom ng arak (alak na makalasing) ayon sa paniniwala ng ninuno o matatanda ay 40 na araw na walang matatanggap na amal (pagsamba sa Allah o Gawain para sa Allah ang matatanggap).
Ang basehan ng mga Bangsamoro kong bakit hindi dapat inumin ng isang Naniniwala ang alak na makalasing ay base na rin sa Quran.
“O kayong naniniwala o Nanampalataya! Ang mga nakalalasing na alak (lahat ng uri ng inuming may alkohol at i iba pa na nakapagbibigay ng lambong sa kaisipan tulad ng ipinagbabawal na gamot, droga, ), pagsusugal, Al Ansab at Al Aslam (mga gamit sa paghahanap ng suwerte at pasiya) ay kasuklam-suklam at mga paglalalang (pakana) ni Satanas. Kung kaya’t iwasan ito upang kayo ay mangagsipagtagumpay.” [Qur’an, Surah Al Maida: 90]
Mga sakit na idinudulot ang alak, :
Nagtutulak sa isang tao na gumawa ng mga kakaibang krimen at iba pang mga kasamaan.
(Script na sinulat Kaka Alih September 15, 2008 para sa progrmang Kapayapaan)
“Dapat ang goberno hindi mangurakot” iyan ang madalas na maririnig mo sa mga mamayan. Ang tanong tama ba iyan? Sino ba talaga ang goberno, hindi tayong mamayan? Hindi ba ang gobernong ito ay demokrasiya? Anong democracy= “Ang demokrasya ay ang pamamahala ng mga tao (mula sa Griyego: demos, “mga tao,” at kratos, “paghahari” o “pamamahala“)..”
Aminin natin na sangkatutak na nga talaga problema ng Pilipinas, ang tanong may pag-asa pa ba tayo? . my answer is Yes positive, dapat huwag tayong mawalan ng pag-asa . humulagpos tayo sa ating mental kolonisasyon… ipinama ng mga nagging “colonizers” natin na sila ang magaling at tayo “segunda Mano” lamang. Itatak natin sa ating isipan at puso na “kaya natin ito”.
Sana maliban sa mga negatibong obserbasyon, magbigay din tayo ng mga positibo na likas sa ating mga Pilipino na maipagmamalaki natin.
Halimbawa: “likas sa atin ang pagkakaroon ng close family ties”, tugon ng isang retiradong guro. “Diba sa ibang mauunlad na bansa, kadalasan pinapaubaya na lang sa mga caregivers ang pag-aalaga sa mga matatanda.”
Ito ang isa pang positibong sagot: “…unahin and edukasyon ng ating mga mamamayan” advise ni Ustadz Muhamad Taha Yusof (guro sa Arabic school sa Upi).
Tama si Ustadz, marami sa ating mga mamamayan ang hindi alam ang mga proseso sa gobyerno, marami rin ang hindi alam ang pinagkaiba ng Senate sa Congress, kahit ako hindi ko alam ang tunay na struktura ng gobyerno, Democracy raw tayo, pero anung klase? Free Capital pero may kulang, di ba minsan kailangan din natin ng political science?
“…dapat highschool palang ituro na and economics politics at sistemang goberno na dapat pairalin” tugon ng isang educators na nainterview natin.,
Yes, marami sa ating mga kabayan ang hindi aabot na makapasok sa Unibersidad o college.. ditto sa bayan ng Upi, mapalad na ang makatungngong sa high school.
Dapat alam natin paano nilalakad and bansa at kung bakit ginagawa ang mga “bill and policy”, sa totoo lang kahit ako natuto lang ako sa mga term na ito ng nasa media na ako.
Ayon sa isang nakasama natin sa seminar workshop:
“ang kulang lang satin ay pagmamahal sa sariling bayan, ang tao natin laging pinapagbintangan ang goberno, pero kelangan din natin kumilos hindi lamang ang gobyerno, sabi nga ay democracy tayo, kaya may kapangyarihan ang boses natin (tulad sa EDSA I and II), pero kelangan din natin alamin ang limitasyon ng kakayahan na ito, hindi lahat ay gagawin ng gobyerno,o hindi lahat gagawin ng mamamayan, alalahanin ang Pilipinas ay isang pamilya.”
“Dapat matuto tayong sumunod sa batas papaano kasi kahit simpleng batas lamang, tulad ng traffic rules di sinusunod ng mamayan.” Payo naman ng isang municipal kagawad ng Upi
Kailangan seryosohin na natin ang sinasabi nating pag-unlad, dapat lahat tayo ay kikilos, kung ang gobyerno man ay walang ginagawa, atleast tayo kumilos, kung mapaganda natin ang paligid o ambianace sa Pilipinas pwedeng tumaas ang tourism natin.
Alam nyo napansin ko kasi dito sa Pinas ang ibang Pilipino lakas manglait sa kapuwa Pinoy, ganito kasi ang problema natin ay hindi natin tinitingnan ang mga mabuting gawain ng gobyerno, ang hinahanap lagi ng reporter ay yum mga basurang ginagawa nila, kung may ipakita naman na maganda, ang sinasabi natin ay “ngayon lang yan”, o di kaya “hindi yan totoo”.
“Kailangan itaas rin ang morale ng ating mga kababayan, kailangan rin mahalin natin ang ating sariling kultura, mayroon pa rin sa ating mga mamayan na hindi nila kilala ang kanilang sariling kultura at kaugalian, kong minsan pa ikinahihiya nila na sila ay nabibilang sa kanilang tribu.” E-mail ng isang peace advocates na ngayon ay nakabase na sa Cotabato City.
“Madali lang Kaka, teach Pinoys na to plant malungay para hindi na sila manghingi.. bigyan sila ng talbos ng kamote para makatanim at din a manghingi sa kapitbahay.. bigyan ng buto ng kamatis, para di nabumili sa palengke.” Dagdag ng kaibigan guro.
“Regaluhan ng tandang at inahin na manok na walang bird flu para paramihin at
sigoradohing hindi gawing pulutan or pang ulam ang inahin para dumami pa”. biro ni Maestro, nakaugalian kong tawag sa kaibigang guro.
“Ang mga tao sa pamayanan walang sakit, dapat malinis ang kanilang kapaligiran. Dapat isulong nila ang family planning program. “ paliwanag ni Jackielyn “Life Saver” Gamit, health worker Derpartment of Health sa byan ng Upi.
“…use condom kayong mga lalaki, sa mga babae pumunta sa health center tutulungan naming kayo .. para hindi masyadong maraming palamunin.” Dagdag Life Saver.
Para naman sa isang manunulat sa blog: “Disiplina ang kailangan” Ang tanong papaano mo ipapatupad ang disiplina?
Para kay Marvin: “Magiging maulnalad ang pamayanan pag ang mga tao ay reklihiyoso” nagbabayad sila ng kaukulang buwis, may proyekto silang pinatutpad sa kanilang mga barangay”
Ikaw kaibigan my alam ka ba papaano paunlarin ang iyong bayan?
source: http://dxup.multiply.com/
Ang illegal recruiter ay:
agad naniningil ng placement fee o anumang kaukulang bayad nang walang resibo
nangangako ng madaliang pag-alis patungo sa ibang bansa
nagre-require agad ng medical examination o training kahit wala pang malinaw na employer o kontrata
nakikipag-transaksiyon sa mga aplikante sa mga pampublikong lugar tulad ng restaurant, mall, atbpa. at hindi sa opisina ng lisensyadong ahensiya
bahay-bahay kung mag-recruit ng mga aplikante
hndi nagbibigay ng sapat na impormasyon tungkol sa ina-aplayang trabaho
nagsasabi na may kausap na direct employer at ang mga aplikante ay di na kailangang dumaan sa POEA
nangangako ng mabilis na pag-alis ng aplikante gamit ang tourist o visit visa
walang maipakitang employment contract o working visa
nagpapakilala na empleyado ng isang lisensyadong recruitment agency ngunit walang maipakitang ID
nagpapakilala na konektado sa isang travel agency o training center
nanghihikayat sa mga aplikante na mangalap ng iba pang aplikante upang mapabilis ang pagpapaalis
walang maibigay na sapat at tamang impormasyon tungkol sa sarili tulad ng buong pangalan o address
nangangako na ang mga dokumento ay ipapasok sa POEA para mai-process (lalo na sa kaso ng EPS-Korea)
hihikayatin ka dahil nakapag-paalis na ng isa o higit pa gamit ay tourist visa
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Patricio P. Diaz/MindaNews Saturday, 13 September 2008 GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews / September 12) - Recapitulation: In sum, people (Bangsamoro: Consensus 1), territory (Bangsamoro homeland: Consensus 2), resources (ancestral domain and ancestral lands: Consensus 3), governance (self-governance as Bangsamoro right: Consensus 4), and the authority and jurisdiction of the autonomous government (the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity: Consensus 5) contemplated in the “Concept and Principles” strand of the MOA-AD are all contained in Article X, Sections 15 to 21 of the 1987 Constitution. The only difference: Those elements of the Muslim autonomy are defined more comprehensively in “Concepts and Principles” than in Article X. Obviously, this comprehensiveness – spelled out in details in the next three strands — set off the alarm, opposition and protests on the issue of constitutionality. Pressured, President Arroyo rejected the MOA-AD.* *[The turn-around of the Arroyo government – rejecting its own baby, the MOA-AD, and changing its peace process policy – has created an issue of constitutionality vs. the peace process. We will take this up in our concluding discussions.] Territory The consensus on “Territory” covers (1) the core and expanded geographical areas of BJE (Consensus 1, 2.a-e, 5); (2) the inland waters, territorial waters and lands (Consensus 2.f-g, 3); (3) what to do with territorial waters (Consensus 2.h-k); political subdivisions (Consensus 4). Article I of the 1987 Constitution defines the “national territory” as “consisting of its terrestrial, fluvial, and aerial domains, including its territorial sea, the seabed, the subsoil, the insular shelves, and other submarine areas”. And more:” The waters around, between, and connecting the islands of the archipelago, regardless of their breadth and dimensions, form part of the internal waters of the Consensus 1 of “Territory” states: “The Bangsamoro homeland and historic territory refer to the land mass as well as the maritime, terrestrial, fluvial and alluvial domains, and the aerial domain, the atmospheric space above it, embracing the Mindanao-Sulu-Palawan geographic region. However, delimitations are contained in the agreed Schedules (Categories or maps of Category A and Category B geographical areas). (Italics supplied) Compare Article I with the italicized portions of Consensus I. This is the ground for critics and opponents of MOA-AD to charge the agreement of granting the MILF more than allowed by the Constitution. The following should be noted: First: While Consensus 1 copies Article I, Consensus 2.f-g draw the demarcation lines of the BJE internal and territorial waters. Neither R.A. 6734 nor R.A. 9054 defines the territory of the ARMM aside from the component provinces and cities; however, the ARMM map once displayed at the Office of the Governor showed demarcation lines. Second: As implied in R.A. 6371 (the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act of 1997), the right to ownership of land is limited to the land surface only. In the MOA-AD, the territorial rights granted the MILF exceeded the limits reserved for the state only. Third: Because of these, the MOA-AD is deemed unconstitutional. Those who are unaware of, or who disregard Map A and Map B, conclude that the MILF is claiming the entire Mindanao, Sulu and A relevant question is: If by the above the MOA-AD is unconstitutional, will the peace process justify measures to remedy the unconstitutionality? Core Area In Consensus 2.c, six municipalities of Lanao del Norte – Baloi, Munai, Nunungan, Pantar, Tagoloan and Tankal – are included in the ARMM as the core area of BJE because they “voted for inclusion in the ARMM during the 2001 plebiscite”. There has been no protest from Lanao del Norte. Yet, it should be asked: Is this unconstitutional? They should have been realigned with Lanao del Sur as part of the ARMM in 2001. The provided-clause of Article X, Section 18, Paragraph 2 states: “… provided that only provinces, cities and geographical areas voting favorably in such plebiscite shall be included in the autonomous region”. Perhaps, a few more barangays could have been included. (bold ours). However, Congress deliberately revised Section 18 in Article II, Section 1(1) of R.A. 6734: “There is hereby created the Autonomous Region in Muslim Compare the bold-faced texts in the two quoted provisions above: “geographical areas”, which could mean municipalities or barangays, has been omitted in Article II, Section 1(1) of R.A. 6734. The same has also been omitted in Article II, Section 1 of R.A. 9054 that amended R.A. 6734 according to the 1996 GRP-MNLF Final Peace Agreement. Has Congress the power to revise the Constitution in enacting laws? Are acts inconsistent with such laws but consistent with the original provision/s of the Constitution unconstitutional? Categories A and B Consensus 2.d proposes the inclusion of 735 barangays deemed contiguous with the ARMM through a plebiscite “within twelve (12) months following the signing of the MOA-AD. The proposal may have become academic but it has not lost its political interest; this or a similar proposal may be revived in pursuit of the peace process. So it is with Consensus 2.e. Any imputation of unconstitutionality on Consensus 2.d and Consensus 2.e is off the mark since the Category A and B geographical areas are to be asked in a plebiscite their option to join or not to join the BJE – those in Category A, 12 months, and those in Category B, 25 years after the signing of MOA-AD. The only question which is more of an enigma but not on constitutionality is the ambiguity of the MILF position. While in both consensus points “plebiscite” is provided, this position — by its language and statements outside of the MOA-AD — is unclear whether the MILF will accept unfavorable results of the plebiscite. A clearly stated position would calm down the doubts. There are two reactions from the concerned areas that enhance the tension. First, these areas voted NO in the 1989 and 2001 ARMM plebiscites, why ask them again to or not to join the BJE – a new name for the ARMM? Second, the geographical areas listed are – a significant number of them — not predominantly Muslim. These should not be a source of tension. Concerning the first, a NO in the past plebiscites is not certain to be NO in the next. Give those who may want to change the chance to. Regarding the second, each barangay should have been followed by statistical facts: population showing Muslim-Christian percentages; numbers of YES and NO in the 2001 plebiscite. Territorial Waters Relative to the territorial waters, as well as the internal waters, their impact on the peace process should be more important than constitutionality. The Constitution should be a tool of the peace process not an obstacle. As it was already pointed out, if constitutional amendment has been proposed to attract foreign investors, why not do the same for the peace process? One paramount question is this: If foreign investors are welcome to develop the country’s natural resources, why are the Muslims unwelcome to own portions of those resources and to cooperate with the state in developing them? Is their ability to carry out the activities enumerated in 2.i(1)(2) doubted? If so, help them develop their skills and with funds since they have expressed their intention to explore, utilize and do other activities to make productive their ancestral domain and lands. In their articles on “Ancestral Domain, Political Subdivisions Consensus 4 states: “All territorial and geographical areas … may be formed or constituted into political subdivisions of the Bangsamoro territorial jurisdictions…” Obviously, this very general provision is subject to more discussions as to how the subdivisions would be done. Section 2, Article VII of R.A. 6734 is more specific: “The Regional Assembly may create, divide, merge, abolish or substantially alter boundaries of any municipality or barangay in accordance with the criteria laid down by existing law subject to approval by a majority of the votes case in a plebiscite in the political units directly affected.” R.A. 9054 (Article VI, Section 19) lengthily amended this to include provinces and cities which inclusion the Supreme Court recently declared unconstitutional. This gives a clue on how constitutional or unconstitutional Consensus 4 would be even if the power to form and constitute, per se, is not unconstitutional. (To Be Continued) (”Comment” is Mr. Patricio P. Diaz’ column for MindaViews, the opinion section of September 13, 2008 As Vilma’s son-in-law, Mohalidin Unsi, also began to sob, the Bangsamoro Youth Leaders’ Forum, the organizers of the press conference, quickly turned off the Powerpoint Presentation of photographs and video footage of what happened here Monday morning of September 8. It took some time for Vilma and Mohalidin to regain composure, Vilma, especially, because since Monday, she has had to recount the tragedy of losing an entire family, before investigators, NGO representatives and relief workers, neighbors and the media. She had just visited her son, 13-year old Guiamaludin, who is recuperating from leg wounds. Immediately after the press conference, she was going to rush back to Datu Piang to breastfeed her newly-born, Fairudz, a survivor of war. Fairudz was 16 days old when she lost her father and five siblings. Vilma and Mohalidin stressed “there was no firefight” in Barangay Tee early that morning as the military alleged. “The planes just came and fired away.” “There was no encounter between government and MILF (Moro Islamic Liberation Front) forces. The planes suddenly arrived and bombed the pumpboat,” Vilma said in Maguindanao. ”There was no encounter. The planes just suddenly came,” Mohalidin said. He counted “three double-bodies (apparently referring to Layang or SF 260); two OV-10s and two helicopters.” In the rush to flee Barangay Tee, Vilma, who was carrying her baby, Fairudz, and Mohalidin, got separated from the rest of the family and boarded another “pumpboat” (actually a small motorized banca) towards this barangay, at least a kilometer from the highway). Their boats were at the tailend of a convoy. How many boats were in the convoy, neither Vilma nor Mohalidin could say. Vilma’s boat was 10 to 15 meters away from the boat carrying her husband, Daya Manunggal, and their six children – the pregnant Aida, Guiamaludin, Bailyn, Zukarudin, Adtayan and Faidza — when a bomb – or a rocket fired from the sky – exploded near the boat. Only Guiamaluddin survived from that boat. His eldest sister and three younger siblings died instantly. Another sister, Bailyn, died on the way to the hospital in Cotabato City, some 54 kilometers away. Daya’s body was recovered the next day. Mohalidin said Daya, apparently fearing the boat would capsize because of their number and because a sack of rice was also loaded on it, stopped at an “island” (a small land mass) with about two or three huts, and had just asked his children to disembark when the something exploded a few meters away. Mohalidin counted seven aircraft hovering when villagers rushed to their small motorized bancas, to flee Tee for “safer grounds” in Butilen, across the marshland. In the third week of August, the start of the renewed hostilities between government and the MILF, the Mandi-Manungal family had fled Sitio Dagaren in Barangay Tee for sanctuary in Barangay Butalo and returned home on September 1. Mohalidin doesn’t remember how many bombs exploded the morning they sought refuge from war. In his limited Pilipino, he said, “di ko kayang bilangin, basta marami” (I can’t count how many, but plenty) Zainar Mukalan, who lives close to the highway and Butalo bridge, told MindaNews there was no exchange of gunfire before the bombs were dropped. Military sources say the exchange of gunfire in a setting such as a vast marshland, can be heard from as far as five to seven kilometers away at daytime or 10 kilometers at nighttime. Zainar, in his 50s, says the planes came at around 9 a.m. but did not fire until around 10. He said he heard three explosions, one of which, he later learned, killed the children. The best vantage view was from the Butalo bridge, some 30 meters away from Zainar’s.house. Zainar said soldiers stationed at the bridge, who could clearly see who was approaching along the river and the marshland, were on ready-fire position. None of them managed to fire, however, as residents and the barangay captain of Tee told asked them hold their fire as the convoy of at least five boats carrying villagers from Barangay Tee, was approaching Butilen. Zainar was from Barangay Tee himself but during an evacuation five years ago, opted to live here close to the highway, the bridge and the barangay hall of Tee (the barangay hall was moved from Tee to Butilen about a decade ago as more residents of Tee evacuated to Butilen. As of August 1, 2007, the National Statistics and Coordination Board recorded Tee’s population at 1,724 out of Datu Piang’s 49,971). Musib Uy Tan, the mayor’s executive assistant told MindaNews that reports reaching them also indicated that residents heard no exchange of gunfire before the bombings. The government’s Information Coordination Center on September 9 reported that military authorities denied Air Force planes dropped bombs in Barangay Tee. “The government forces were continuing its limited operations against the forces of the rogue MILF leader Umbra Kato but were adopting an adjusted law enforcement operations in deference to Ramadhan. Col. Marlou Salazar, the 601st brigade commander, whose forces were involved in the military operations, said that the troops were in the barangay based on civilian reports that Wahid Tundok, Kato’s right hand man, and possibly Kato himself, were in the area. As the troops entered the barangay, they were met by gunfire from the MILF forces in the area. Heavy exchange of fires between the forces commenced at around 9:55 a.m,” the report said. The report noted that the “the helicopters, Layang (SF 260) planes and OV-10 planes were sent upon the request of the ground forces to assist them in their operations against the lawless MILF in the area. Their mission, the report said, was to conduct “persuasion” and “reconnaissance flights over the river and marsh areas “to assist the ground forces in locating and determining the involvement of the lawless MILF forces.” “According to Col. Robles, initially, the Air Force helicopters and planes did not find the MILF troops on the river, marsh area and the ground so they were ordered to return to base. However, on the way back, the Layang planes were fired upon by the MILF forces. Since the rules of engagement of the air forces is to retaliate if fired, upon, the planes fired back after verifying and confirming the location of the lawless MILF forces from the ground forces,” the report said. (Carolyn O. Arguillas/MindaNews) (Sinulat ni Kaka Alih para sa programang Bantay Bayan Boses ng Sambayanan, sa segment na Kukltura at kaugalian- September 12, 2008-7:00-8:00 umaga- sa community radio – DXUP FM, Upi, Shariff Kabunsuan) Bago pa man dumating dito sa mga pulo o lupang nasa Silangan ang mga kastila, noong 1521 ay may kultura at kaugalian na ang mga naunang naninirahan. Ang mga ninuno natin ay nagtanggol sa kanilang mga kaharian ngunit dahil sa makabagong armas sila ay natalo at nasakop ng Espania. Dahil ang mga mamayan sa Lupang Silangan (na tinawag ng Espania na Pilipinas, na ang ibig sabihin ay “tao ni Haring Felipe”) ay nasakop ang mga Pilipino (tawag sa taong nasa Pilipinas) ang mga kulturang ito ay dahan-dahan nangawala at di man nawala ay nadagdagan o sadyang nabago sa pagdaan ng panahon. Sa bandang Mindanao, Sulu at Palawan (MINSUPALA) ay nahirapan ang Espania na sakopin dahil sa isa na itong matatag na bansa noon pa man bago sila dumating. Bagamat hindi gaano makabago ang armas ay organisado ang kanilang tanggulang bansa. Hindi basta-basta nakapagtatag ng kanilang goberno dito sa MINSUPALA ang mga dayuhang mananakop na Espaniol, ngunit dahil sa tulong ng mga kapatid na ngayon ay tinawag na Pilipino (na walang magawa kundi sundin ang utos ng mananakop, kaya sila napilitang maging mandirigma na nagsisilbi para sa Espanya) ay natalo nila ang depensa ng mga Bangsamoro sa Sambuwangan(Zamboanga), at itinayo ng Espania ang kanilang kuta, tinawag nila itong cota del pilar. Dahil sa hindi nasakop nanatili (intact) ang kultura mga Bangsamoro (Moro ang tawag ng Espania sa mga tao na katulad ng kanilang nakalaban sa Morocco. At Bangsa ang ibig sabihin sa Malay ay nangangahulugan ng angkan- kaya angkan ng mga Moro=Bangsamoro) ang kanilang mga kultura at kaugalian. Ang mga ito ay hinango naman sa Islam, ang relihiyong kanilang pinaniniwalaan. Islam ay pagtalima at pagsuko sa nag-iisang Diyos. Ang tagasunod ng Islam ay tinatawag naman na Muslim na ang ibig sabihin ay naniniwala, mga taong tumalima sa kautusan ng Allah (ang tawag sa Poong Lumikha o Diyos). At dahil sa paniniwala sa Islam ang kanilang mga kultura at kaugalian ay nilimbag sa timplang Islam. Dumaan ang mga panahon, dumating ang Amerikano (tawag sa taga Amerika), natalo naman nila ang Espania at sila ay napaalis dito sa Pilipinas, bagamat ang kanilang kamandag ay nanatili nanalaytay pa rin sa dugo ng mga Pilipino. Nasakop na ng Amerika ang Pilipinas, hindi ito nagtagal, bakit ? dahil marahil wala na silang makakatas, dahil nasaid na maraahil ng Espania ang tamis nito, kaya iyon marahil ang dahilan na ibinigay na nila ang “pagsasarili” (independence) sa mga Pilipino. Ang masakit lang nito ay isinama nila ang mga kapatid na nasa Mindanao na hindi man lang nila kinunsulta, ong papayag ba sila o hindi. Sa kabila ng katotohanan na sila ay nagsisigaw na ibalik sa kanila ang kanilang dating pagsasarili. Nagplano ng mga programa ang bagong nagsasariling bansa (ang Pilipinas) kong papaano magkaisa sa paniniwala at kultura ang Pilipino at ang ayaw na matawag na Pilipino. Sila ay nakisalamuha, naging kapit bahay at ang iba naging kabiyak, at dito sa prosesong ito ay dahan-dahan, nabuo ang mga kultura at kaugalian na hindi ginagawa ng mga ninuno ng mga Bangsamoro at wala sa katuruan ng Islam. Ang tanong ano ang mga ito, na mga kultura at kaugalian na wala sa mga ninuno at hindi itinuturo ng relihiyong Islam? Narito ang ilan na makikita mo sa mga Bangsamoro : 1. Pagdiriwang sa araw ng kapanganakan (Birthday) Ang mga “assimilated” na Bangsamoro sa ngayon ay nagdiriwang na rin ng kaarawan ng kanilang mga anak katulad ng mga Pilipino o yaong ngayon ay tinatawag na “settlers”. Ang mga ninuno ng mga Bangsamoro ay may sarili silang pagdiriwang sa mga anak na bagong panganak, pagkapanganak ay tatawag sila ng Azan o bang sa tabi ng kanilang anak. Ilang araw o linggo ay magtatakda sila ng kaduli na tinatawag na “gunting” dito bibibigyan ng pormal ng pangalan ang bata. Sa ibang tribung Bangsamoro (Maguindanaon, Iranon) mayroon din silang tinatawag na “likat sa lantay” isa din itong uri ng kanduli (thasksgiving). Papaano nagdiriwang ang mga ibang Pilipino ng kaarawan? Kanilang hinalaw marahil sa kanluraning kultura. Ang pagdiriwang ng kaarawan ay bantog na bantog noon pa sa mga paganong Greko at Romano. Ito ay ipinagdiriwang sa pamamagitan ng pagdarasal, pag-aalay, masaganang kainan, at ang pagbibigay ng regalo sa may kaarawan. Diyan marahil nahango ang pagdiriwang sa kaarawan ng kapangakan ni Jesus o Iesa (kapayapaan ay sasakanaya). Tanong bakit kayong mga Bangsamoro ay ipinag diriwang ang Kaarawan ni Propeta Muhammad kong tawagin ninyo ay Maulidin Nabi Ito ay sadyang napakalungkot na nangyayari. Bagama’t ang mga Muslim ay may maliwanag na patnubay na nananatiling nasa orihinal na anyo hanggang sa ngayon, hindi pa rin maiwasan ng iba ang pagsagawa ng mga bagay na salungat sa itinuturo ng Islam. Ito ay dulot ng kamangmangan sa pananampalataya at sa pagnanais na tularan ang ginagawa ng iba. Si Propeta Muhammad ay nagsabi: “Anumang bagong bagay na isinasama sa ating pananampalatayang ito (Islam), ay hayaan itong itakwil.” Si Propeta Muhammad ay nagsabi: “Wala nang iba pang gawain na makapaglalapit sa inyo sa Allah maliban lamang sa mga naituro ko sa inyo.” Bilang pangwakas, tayong mga Muslim ay may dalawang batayan sa ating panuntunan ng buhay: ang Qur’an at ang Sunnah ni Propeta Muhammad. Ang ating pamumuhay at pagsamba ay nararapat lamang ayon sa Kanyang ipinahayag at sa pamamaraang itinuro ng Kanyang Propeta upang ito ay tanggapin ng Allah. Si Propeta Muhammad ay nagsabi: “May dalawang bagay akong iiwanan sa inyo na kung inyo itong panghahawakan ng mahigpit ay hindi kayo maliligaw: ang purong Salita ng Allah at ang aking Sunnah.” Mga karagdagang mga talata sa Qur’an at mga Hadith: “Katotohanan, nasa Sugo ng Allah ang pinakamahusay na halimbawa upang pamarisan - sa sinuman na may pag-asam sa (pagharap sa) Allah, sa Huling Araw at laging alaala ang Allah. [Surah Al Ahzab, 33:21] “…At anuman ang ibigay sa inyo ng Sugo ay kunin ito, at anumang kanyang ipagbawal sa inyo ay iwasan ito…” [Surah Hashr, 59:7] “… At hayaan ang mga sumasalungat sa mga ipinag-uutos ng Sugo na mag-ingat, kung hindi’y magkakaroon sila ng Fitnah (pagsubok, kahirapan, lindol, patayan, pang-aapi, etc) o isang napakasakit na parusa ang mapapasakanila.” [Surah An-Nur, 24:63] “O kayong nananampalataya! Sundin ang Allah at sundin ang Sugo), at yaong may otoridad. Kung kayo’y di-magkaunawaan sa anumang bagay sa isa’t isa, isangguni sa Allah at sa Kanyang Sugo (saws), kung kayo ay naniniwala sa Allah at sa Huling Araw. Iyon ay higit na mahusay at higit na karapat-dapat sa huling pagpapasiya.” [Surah An-Nisa, 4:59] “At kung inyong susundin ang karamihan dito sa daigdig, kanilang ililigaw kayo nang malayo sa landas ng Allah. Wala silang sinusunod maliban sa haka-haka, at wala silang ginawa kundi magsinungaling.” [Surah Al An-am, 6:116] Si Propeta Muhammad ay nagsabi: “Mag-ingat sa kalabisan tungkol sa relihiyon. Napahamak ang mga nauna sa inyo dahil sa kanilang pagmamalabis tungkol sa relihiyon.” Si Propeta Muhammad ay nagsabi: “Huwag magmalabis sa pagpuri sa akin kagaya ng ginawa ng mga Kristiyano sa anak ni Maria. Ako ay isang alipin, kaya’t inyo lamang sabihin: “Alipin ng Allah at Kanyang Sugo”. 2. Pagpapaputok sa araw ng Id Pagsapit ng Id (Hariya Puwasa at haj) ay nagpapaputok ang mga Bangsamoro, bilang pagsasaya, katulad ng pagdiriwang mga Intsik. Ang mga Intsik na kilalang mangangalakal sa mundo at dumating na sila ditto sa MINSUPA, at marahil ito ang impluwensa nila sa mga Talainged (native inahabitants). Noon ang pinapuputok ay rebentador at kanyon na gawang Tsino, di nagtagal ay ginaya ng mga mga Pilipinong taga Bulacan. Sa ngayon ay nawala ang mga iyon, at napalitan ng mga makabagong armas na pumuputok at ito na ang ginagamit. 3-Kalilang (ceremonial of marriage) Ang kasal ay sa mga restaurant o hotel ay isinasaayos ng mga “third generation” at kanila nila ito kinopya sa sa kultura ng settlers at dinagdagan ng kulturang Bangsamoro, lalo na yaong hindi pa tanggap ng mga katutubong Bangsamoro. Halimbawa ang Biblia ay pinalitan ng Qur’an. Nagsasabay ang babae at lalaki, at nagpaparada na ang babae kahit hindi pa sila kasal. Naglalagay din sila ng decoration na tinatawag na pandala. Ang mga Bangsamoro noon kong may ikakasal ay hiwalay ang lalaki at babae, pagkatapos ng Kutba Nikah (wedding sermon) ay sasamahan ang lalaki ng biyanan sa babaeng pinakakasalan. Ang kalilang ay ginagawa sa bahay ng babae, isa araw o higit pa bago ang kawing l o kasalan. 4- Pagdadamit Sa ngayon ay nakapantalon ang mga babae katulad ng mga lalake, at ang mga damit ay hakab na hakab ang porma ng katawan. Ang damit ng babae ay tinatawag na minoro ang pangitaas at malong ang pang-ibaba, ito ay kahantulad sa damit ng T’duray noon. Nagtetendong (bandana) ang mga babae. Naglalagay ng mga decoration ang babae sa kanyang damit ng mga ginto o pilak. Ang lalake naman ay gumagamit ng tubaw. At may nakasukbit na gurok sa tagiliran (maliit na punyal) at nakasabit na sundang o kampilan sa biwang at kong minsan may dala-dalang bangkaw (spears). 5-pag-inom ng alak na makalasing (kamer) Sa ngayon ay umiinom ng alak na makalasing ang mga Bangsamoro, katulad na rin mga Settlers na Pilipino, kahit ito ay patago sa mga kamag-anak o angkan, dahil sa isinusumpa o itinuturing noon ng mga ninuno na “kafir” (hindi naniniwala) ang uminom ng arak (alak na makalasing) ayon sa paniniwala ng ninuno o matatanda ay 40 na araw na walang matatanggap na amal (pagsamba sa Allah o Gawain para sa Allah ang matatanggap). Ang basehan ng mga Bangsamoro kong bakit hindi dapat inumin ng isang Naniniwala ang alak na makalasing ay base na rin sa Quran. “O kayong naniniwala o Nanampalataya! Ang mga nakalalasing na alak (lahat ng uri ng inuming may alkohol at i iba pa na nakapagbibigay ng lambong sa kaisipan tulad ng ipinagbabawal na gamot, droga, ), pagsusugal, Al Ansab at Al Aslam (mga gamit sa paghahanap ng suwerte at pasiya) ay kasuklam-suklam at mga paglalalang (pakana) ni Satanas. Kung kaya’t iwasan ito upang kayo ay mangagsipagtagumpay.” [Qur’an, Surah Al Maida: 90] Mga sakit na idinudulot ang alak, : Nagtutulak sa isang tao na gumawa ng mga kakaibang krimen at iba pang mga kasamaan.
September 14, 2008 QUEZON CITY (MindaNews/10 Sep) — The government has not only set aside the initialed but unsigned final draft of the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP)-Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD); it has also dissolved the GRP Peace Panel which negotiated the MOA. The way things work in this country, this can only mean that they (the panel) must have done something good. I therefore wish to give them some tribute. In the Harvard Negotiation Project’s now classic book Getting to Yes: Negotiating an Agreement Without Giving In by Roger Fisher and William Ury, the first of four main points of method here is to “Separate the People from the Problem” One of the notes under this is that “Negotiators are people first.” In negotiations, one is dealing not with abstract representatives of the “other side” but with human beings. They have emotions, deeply held values, and different backgrounds and viewpoints. That’s why one basic rule in negotiations is “Be hard on issues but be soft with people.” And who are these people whom many in the Filipino Christian mainstream are being so hard with now? The GRP Peace Panel Chairman was retired GEN. RODOLFO C. GARCIA from San Jose Del Monte, Bulacan. When he retired from the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in 2004, he was Vice Chief of Staff. His military service in Mindanao dates back to 1970, after graduating from the Philippine Military Academy (PMA). He was a Platoon Leader and later Executive Officer in the 26th Infantry Battalion, Philippine Army (PA), covering Lanao del Norte, North Cotabato and Zamboanga del Sur. He rose to become the Commander of the 6th Infantry Division, PA in Central Mindanao in 1999. His transition from man of war to man of peace was made in 2003 when, while still AFP Vice Chief of Staff, he concurrently become Chairman of the GRP ceasefire committee for the peace process with the MILF. After the military retirement, he joined the Office of the Presidential Adviser of the Peace Process (OPAPP) as an Undersecretary, was appointed a member of the GRP Peace Panel and later became its Vice-Chairman. He took over as Chairman only in July 2007 after the stint of Sec. Silvestre C. Afable, Jr. who oversaw most of the ancestral domain negotiations up to June 2007. The GRP Peace Panel Vice-Chairman was PROF. RUDY B. RODIL from Upi, Maguindanao and long-time resident of Iligan City. He is a Mindanao historian, author of several books on Mindanao, and a long-time now retired history professor at the Mindanao State University (MSU)-Iligan Institute of Technology (IIT). He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Philippine Studies at the University of the Philippines (UP) with a dissertation on ancestral domain, one of his lifelong fields of expertise. His active involvement in the government’s peace efforts started in 1988 as a Commissioner in the Regional Consultative Commission for drafting an Organic Act for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). He then became a member of the GRP Peace Panel for the third and final round of negotiations with the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) from 1992 to 1996. He was a special consultant to the GRP Peace Panel for talks with the MILF from 2001, becoming a panel member in 2004. A third member of the GRP Peace Panel was SEC. NASSER C. PANGANDAMAN, a Maranao from Marawi City. He is the incumbent Secretary of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) since 2005. His stint in public service started in 1993 as Chairman of the ARMM 2000 Technical Committee. His involvement with the GRP-MILF peace talks started in 2004 when he was designated to the GRP Technical Working Group (TWG) on Ancestral Domain in his capacity as DAR Undersecretary for Mindanao Affairs and Indigenous Peoples. He later headed the TWG team dealing with the Territory Strand of Ancestral Domain. He became a panel member only in September 2007. He has a Bachelor of Laws degree from the Colegio de San Jose Recoletos (CSJR) in Cebu City. A fourth member of the GRP Peace Panel was MS. SYLVIA OKINLAY-PARAGUYA, a Higaonon from Impasugong, Bukidnon. She is the Executive Director of the Mindanao Alliance of Self-Help Societies-Southern Philippines Educational Cooperative Center (MASS-SPEC) based in Cagayan de Oro City since 2000. She is also Chairperson of the Mindanao Coalition of Development NGO Networks (MINCODE), Commissioner-at-Large and Vice-Chair for Peace and Multi-Culturalism of the Mindanao Commission on Women, and Co-Chair of the Economic Development Committee of the Regional Development Council (RDC) of Region X. She is a Chemical Engineer by profession, graduating as National State Scholar and College Valedictorian at the Xavier University in Cagayan de Oro City in 1984. She also has a Master of Business Management degree from the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) as an AIM Scholar in 1990. A fifth and alternate member of the GRP Peace Panel was ATTY. LEAH TANODRA-ARMAMENTO from Sibalum, Antique. She is presently the Assistant Chief State Prosecutor at the Department of Justice (DOJ) since 2003. Her legal career started with the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) as a Trial Attorney in 1986. She then moved to the DOJ as a State Prosecutor in 1991. She was designated head of the GRP TWG on Ancestral Domain and, in such capacity, was appointed as an alternate member of the panel only in July 2007. She graduated Bachelor of Laws Second Honors at the Ateneo de Manila University (AdeMU) in 1985. She is connected by affinity to Mindanao through her husband and in-laws from Cotabato City. The first thing that has to be said about these people in the recently dissolved GRP Peace Panel is that it would have been completely out of character for them to commit any “grave abuse of discretion” in their negotiations with the MILF. They just are not the type. Thus, Cotabato Archbishop Orlando B. Quevedo, OMI, had been able to say: “At present, I give the MOA-AD and the two peace panels the benefit of the doubt. They have worked at the agreement for years, painstakingly hammering out every word and every phrase, every concept and its implications. I know that they have the interests of their respective constituencies always in mind.” Secondly, their credentials speak for themselves in terms of competence and loyalty. How can anyone doubt the loyalty of Gen. Garcia who did his part in “defending every inch of Philippine territory,” particularly from Moro rebels in Mindanao? How can anyone doubt the competence of Prof. Rodil when it comes to Mindanao history, the Moro Problem, the peace processes with the MNLF and MILF, ancestral domain, and the Lumads? He was practically the institutional memory between the successive peace negotiations with the MNLF and then with the MILF. Atty. Armamento is actually only one of several good Ateneo lawyers, all students of their constitutionalist guru Fr. Joaquin G. Bernas, S.J., who grappled with the legalities and constitutionalities of the ancestral domain negotiations. And Bernas himself has lent his constitutionalist expertise to this peace effort. An interesting sidelight to all these are some prominent UP lawyers tending to be on the other side of the MOA debate. (But let’s not forget the provincial or promdi lawyers on both sides.) Thirdly, all – yes, all — of the panel members have a connection to Mindanao, even Bulaqueño Gen. Garcia who had a long military stint in Mindanao, and Antiqueña Atty. Armamento who still visits her in-laws in Cotabato City. As for those Mindanao natives in the panel, there was a nice tri-people mix: Prof. Rodil who is of Christian settler family background, Sec. Pangandaman who is a Moro, and Ms. Paraguya who is a Lumad. She also represents NGOs and women. And still on the matter of mix or balance, there was good enough gender balance of three men and two women (at least better than the MILF’s all-men panel). I think it will be hard to find another good panel like this. We said earlier that negotiators are people first, human beings with families too. In the end, for them, as for any of us I suppose, the most important appraisal is that which comes from one’s loved ones, like one’s own children who will ask you in the future what you did for their peace when you had the historical chance to do something. Take Prof. Rodil. He has been declared persona non grata by the City Council of Iligan where he lives. But his grown-up daughter Amillah writes, with much maturity: “As of yesterday [Sept. 3], GMA has officially dissolved the government panel for peace talks with the MILF. (Disclosure to those who don’t know: my dad was part of the panel). I feel sad because I know how the panel has been working hard to achieve a deal. They were aiming to sign a final peace agreement by 2010. The controversial (and I think, misunderstood) Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain was part of the deal, and now it has also been scrapped along with the panel.” “Attributing the breakdown of the talks to the Memorandum of Agreement itself is not fair. It was an attempt at a solution, and not (as some people think) something that GMA just thought of to extend her term. It was the result of years of negotiation. I believe what contributed to the breakdown of the talks was the series of knee-jerk chain reactions of the people involved.” “For the good of all involved, I hope the ceasefire holds, and negotiations resume at some point. But the work to be done is not just with the negotiators. We should all be involved in creating a culture of peace, and it can be as simple as breathing deeply and thinking things through before opening your mouth, marching in the streets, attacking people, or ditching years of work down the drain.” One big group of Mindanao civil society peace advocates, the Mindanao Peoples Caucus (MPC), through its Chair Prof. Octavio A. Dinampo (remember him who was kidnapped with Ces Oreña-Drilon), for their part, sent out this text message: “All said and done, we still salute the courage and sincerity of Sec. Garcia and Sec. Esperon in pushing hard not only peace but the very Moro right to self-determination… we’ll remember that.” And then to Sec. Garcia: “We protest vehemently the insinuation of your mishandling the peace process. Forgive them for they know not what they are doing. And be assured of our solidarity with you and Sec. Esperon.” Finally, what about the “adversary,” the MILF Peace Panel, what does it have to say about its dissolved GRP counterpart? Sometimes, the ultimate compliment comes from the adversary. MILF Peace Panel Chairman Mohagher Iqbal formally wrote Sec. Garcia: “We were saddened by the news that the GRP Peace Panel has been dissolved effective September 3, 2008. We felt that, indeed, the peace process has lost people whom we personally know are competent, trustworthy and sincere in addressing the long struggle of the Bangsamoro people…” Iqbal went on to say: “We will always treasure the fruits of our hard work, sleepless nights and sometimes our constructive disagreements to thread together the two very far ends (very far when we started) of issues, particularly ancestral domain… This was not the end of the long journey to peace in Mindanao, but it initially showcased how far sovereignty and right to self-determination can harmonize and accommodate each other…” “On behalf of the MILF Peace Negotiating Panel, we bid farewell to our worthy partners in peace, as my honorable counterpart puts it. Let me thank the good Secretary Rodolfo Garcia, Prof. Rudy Rodil, Atty. Leah Armamento, Atty. Sedfrey Candelaria, Sec. Nasser Pangandaman, and the energetic head of your secretariat, Director Ryan Mark Sullivan. We will never forget you and your wonderful team and we hope that in some future time and occasion we meet and cross paths for the sake of peace and humanity.” Right now, it is the GRP and MILF themselves which should meet and cross paths for the sake of peace and humanity. [Soliman M. Santos, Jr. is a Bicolano human rights lawyer, peace advocate, legal scholar; A.B. History cum laude (UP), LL.B. (UNC), LL.M. (Melb); author of The Moro Islamic Challenge: Constitutional Rethinking for the Mindanao Peace Process (UP Press, 2001), Peace Advocate (DLSU Press, 2002), Dynamics and Directions of the GRP-MILF Peace Negotiations (Alternate Forum for Research in Mindanao, 2005), and Peace Zones in the Philippines (Gaston Z. Ortigas Peace Institute, 2005); and co-author of Philippine Human Development Report 2005: Peace, Human Security and Human Development in the Philippines (Human Development Network, 2005). You can reach him at gavroche23@gmail.com.]
Magandang umaga sa lahat ng mga mag-sasaka dahil masaya kayo dahil umulan kagabi pa at tiyak maganda ang tubig ng ating mga farm at maganda ang tubo ng ating mga pananim. Ang topics natin ngayon araw ng Lunes May 12, 2008 at ika 9 ng Jumadil Ula 1429, sa Hijri calendar ay sisimulan natin sa isang maikling kuwento. “Isang magsasaka ang nais manirahan sa ibang bayan kaya isang araw ay inipon niya ang kanyang mga gamit at inilulan sa kanyang alagang kabayo at kalabaw. Maaga pa ay sinimulan na nila ang mahabang paglalakbay. Makaraan ang ilang oras ay nakaramdam ng matinding pagod at pang- hihina ang kalabaw dahil sa bigat ng kanyang pasang gamit. “Kaibigang kabayo, di hamak na mas mabigat ang pasan kong gamit keysa sa iyo. Maaari bang tulungan mo ako at pasanin mo yung iba?” pakiusap ng kalabaw. “ “Parang awa mo na tulungan mo ako. Di ko na kakayanin ang bigat ng dala ko. Nanghihina ako. Alam mo namang kailangan kong magpalamig sa ilog kapag ganito katindi ang init ng araw dahil madaling mag-init angkatawan ko,” pakiusap pa rin ng kalabaw. “Bahala ka sa buhay mo,” naiinis na sagot ng kabayo. Makaraan pa ang isang oras at lalung tumindi ang init ng araw. Hindi nagtagal at ang kalabaw ay iginupo ng bigat ng kanyang dala at siya ay pumanaw. Nang makita ng magsasaka ang nagyari ay kinuha niya ang lahat ng gamit na pasan ng kalabaw at inilipat sa kabayo na bahagya namang makalakad dahil sa naging napakabigat ng kanyang mga dalahin. “Kung tinulungan ko anong nakuha nating aral sa ating kuwento? Ang suliranin ng kapwa ay maaaring maging suliranin mo rin kung hindi mo siya tutulungan. Ang makasariling pag-uugali ay may katapat na kaparusahan. Ang mga pasanin natin sa buhay ay gagaan kung tayo ay magtutulungan. Ang pag-sisi ay nasa bandang huli. Sa binigay natin na pabula o maikling kuwento, na tungkol sa kalabaw at kabayo ay pwede nating gamitin sa pag-araw araw na pamumuhay natin, halimbawa: Kong may mga programa, di ba SOP na natin ang magkakaroon tayo ng mga committee? Dito kong minsan ang napapansin natin ang chairman lang ng committee ang nagtratrabaho, wala ang kanyang mga kasama, ang rason ng iba, hindi naman ako sinabihan o kong sinabihan, (o talagang sadyang pabaya ka kaibigan). Ok, Sa una maaring totoo na hindi ka sinabihan o well inform, sa kasong ganyan, madali ang sulosyon. Ganito ang dapat gawin: ang Chairman naman ay i-coordinate o kausapin niya ang kanyang mga kasama, huwag presumed o inaakala na alam na ng mga membro ang kanilang gagawin, dahil ang sabi mo sa sarili ay nasabi o naisulat na, sila ay mga kasama sa nasabing committee. Kailangan ang proper planning, pag-isipan o planuhin ang mga gagawin , kailangan ang tasking o pagbibigay ng assignment o gagawin ng bawat membro at ikaw naman na membro dapat inaalam mo o alam mo ang iyong task o assignment. Sa mga committee ay parang larong basketball, na kailangan ang team up ng grupo, kundi hindi kayo mananalo sa laro kong mag-isa mong drible ang bola at hindi mo na ipapasa sa iba o hindi kayo magpasahan o wala kayong coordinated efforts para mai-shoot ang bola sa ring. May isa pang tayong kuwento: may isang malaking sasakyan pangtubig, na marami ang nakasakay at ang pagkuha sa tubig ay kailangan umakyat at lumabas bago ka makasalok ng tubig. Ang mga tao sa taas ng sasakyan madalai ang pagsalok nila ng tubig samantalang ang nasa ibaba ay kailangan pang umakyat sa taas bago makasalok ng tubig mula sa labas ng sasakyan. Kaya ag sabi ng nasa ibaba bakit pa tayo naghihirap sa pag-salok ng tubig na dito naman mlapit sa atin ang tubig ang kailangan lamang ay butasin natin ang tagiliran nitong sasakyan natin. Ngayon pag hindi pinigil ng nasa itaas ang gagawin ng nasa ibaba sila ay lulubog sa tubig at kapahamakan para sa kanilang lahat. Ang aral dito ay kailangan pigilan mo ang alam na hindi tama, para sa kabutihan ng lahat. (PLAY THE PLUG BY USTADZ LINAS- STOP BAD THINGS) Sa dalawang magkasunog na kuwento ay may kaugnayan sa isat isa, balikan natin ang halimbawa natin, sa mga programa, (closing ng mga paaralan o madraza, family reunion, organizational anniversary o extrta activities) marami ang mga gagawin, dito kailangan ng proper planning, kailangan ang mga committee, at hindi basta committee na nakasulat lamang sa papel kundi working committee, trabaho at kailangan dito ang well coordinated sa bawat grupo o bawat member ng committee. Halimbawa na kailangan na mag-coordinate at hall preparation at ang food committee papaano ang arrangement ng mga mesa, Kailangan din ang “centralized” ang activities. Sa committee, ito ang over-all-chairman o executive committee kailangan alam ng nasa over-all-all ang Ang napansin natin binuo ang committee for the sake of invitation program na ipapadala o kaya ay kinopya lamang sa nanga-unang programa. Kailangan dito na alamin mo o alam ng lahat, mangyayari lamang ito kong may meeting at nag-aatend ka rin ng meeting, dahil papaano mo malalaman kong walang meeting o hindi ka dumalo o inalam ang pinag-usapan sa meeting. Ang payo natin sa chairman ng committee pag-aralan papaano maging epektibo sa pag-sasagawa ng pulong (how to conduct effective meeting?).
PEACETALK (MindaNews/10 September) – The views expressed here aim to help in understanding the Agreed Text of the GRP-MILF MOA on Ancestral Domain strands and to some extent clarify wording which is unclear or ambiguous. 1. It is interesting to scrutinize the questions posed by the Justices of the Supreme Court at the oral arguments for the TRO on the MOA-AD. In this instance procedure is substance that entails international relations theory and practice. There is urgency to dispose of the confusion and frustration created by the case at bar to ensure that the petitioners, respondents, intervenors or individuals do not become the judges of their petitions. The MOA-AD firmly proffers a new modality to end the conflict in Mindanao. As an initialed Agreed Text, we rely on the good faith principle to honor what it embodies in a single instrument. Although not a common practice, an exchange of third-person diplomatic notes which are initialed but not signed are agreements. Consensus is a point of agreement and so in diplomacy a ‘non-paper’ is a very informal means of conveying written information. And there as those that institute frameworks to carry out the stipulations. The signing ceremony of the MOA-AD agreed text scheduled on August 5, 2008 at the Malaysian federal capital in Putra Jaya was set only to make it politically an important event. 2. The Court itself in restraining the signing of the MOA-AD has evoked American philosophic traditions in a constitutional legal system that includes both separation of powers and judicial review. Do they, therefore, have a duty to decide this case one way or the other? Is this Court willing to contemplate the discursive strategies of Moro public intellectuals that unfold contemporary Islamic political theories as well as indigenous scholarship that evolve globalizing justice to challenge the legitimizing ideologies of American-tutelage political thought? Finding the law, of course, includes the law of treaties and diplomatic practices which is in reality an empirical task that exercises powerful abstraction to argue humanitarian law instruments or invoke remedial rights only for constitutional arguments. Governing law of the MOA-AD 3. The search for some coherent legal underpinnings for judicial review the due process clause and the general welfare clause both function as guarantees to the powerless. In legal history, Lockean canon rests on the assertion that the authority of magistrates was only to be exercised for ‘the good, preservation and peace of men in that society’ derived from natural law function. From Marshall’s juristic model of ‘dependent nations’ to the exercise of juridical rights over ‘Indian territory’, the realist decisions legitimated the law of nations by which indigenous peoples were deemed to possess no ‘territorial rights’ that states or monarchs were bound to respect. The law’s construction of indigenous peoples as ‘populations’ to be governed and integrated or assimilated into mainstream society that lumped together the Moros and other native ‘inhabitants’ into “non-Christian tribes” prevailed over earlier natural law notions. Realist reductive idioms represented the Moro ruler’s treaties and compacts as ‘incapable of creating rights and obligations’ even if they had ‘treaty-making capacity’ that satisfied doctrinal structure embedded in the international legal frameworks, norms and discourses. What is today placed before this Court is not an abuse of authority or an act repugnant to the Constitution: The Memorandum of Agreement on the Ancestral Domain Aspect of the GRP-MILF Tripoli Agreement on Peace of 2001 is a new “elegant formula” of negotiability to balance between state sovereign authority and the right to self determination for freedom. The “vague” standards were adopted leading to compromises with facilitation to reconcile wide gaps and differences. 4. The analysis of interest is logically interwoven with the discourse on politics that constructs it as a conflict between politics and religion and the forces of secular statecraft. Political reality makes sovereignty and self determination perform the referents for statehood. Certainly the empiricist decisions of the Court can be criticized on the construction of the Philippine unitary state as the ‘signifier of modernity’ arising from nationalism and exhibiting positivist interpretation of international law that has concretized the unjust annexation of the Bangsamoro ancestral homeland. From Worcester the legal and political battle for termination policy shifted toward Carino over ownership of land under native title that was not part of the public domain. The politics of law move into a progressive direction when “the presumption is and ought to be against the government” and the Regalian doctrine was held “all theory and discourse”. 5. The effect of a divided Court in Cruz vs. NCIP [2000, in separate opinions] was to uphold the constitutionality of the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act of 1997. The land classification under the Constitution is irrelevant because the Regalian doctrine which vests in the State ownership of lands of the public domain does not cover ancestral lands and ancestral domains. Legal history supports the Carino doctrine in terms of priority rights. The IPRA speaks only of “surface rights.” But all of the justices hesitated to grant full “ownership” rights over all resources and so adverse possession law still demonstrates tension. This conflict pervades in the law of property and contract for which reason the MOA-AD proffers a nuanced bundling of certain rights: “It is essential to lay the foundation of the Bangsamoro homeland in order to address the Bangsamoro people’s humanitarian and economic needs as well as their political aspirations. Such territorial jurisdictions and geographic areas being the natural wealth and patrimony represent the social, cultural and political identity and pride of all Bangsamoro people. Ownership of the homeland is vested exclusively in them by virtue of their prior rights of occupation that had inhered in them as sizeable bodies of people, delimited by their ancestors since time immemorial, and being the first politically organized dominant occupants.” Workings of the Dualist Approach to MOA-AD 6. Local government officials are the main petitioners in G.R. No. 183591. The thrust of their argument is the lack of consultation. To rule on the original petition anchored on the right to information as constraint to Government would have been expedient because it was rendered moot after the distribution of copies of the MOA-AD. But the Court must wait until “litigious battle” casts up an issue of inclusion of barangays or any local government units in the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity (BJE). Pending MOA-AD’s status (or the Comprehensive Compact’s) being ‘incorporated’ into municipal law, the Local Government Code is inapplicable. The principle of ‘advice and consent’ by which treaties are not the supreme law is a function of the Philippine constitutional order that adopts the monist procedure. By ruling in Abbas vs, Comelect that the Tripoli Agreement of 1976 has having the same status only of a domestic law, the Court sustained the power of Congress to amend the Organic Act. That constitutional constraint is not an excuse for noncompliance with the duty to perform treaties enunciated in Bayan v. Executive Secretary is illustrative of the dualist approach to treaty ratification. The MOA-AD agreed text uses ‘juridical entity’ as signifiers of political status with an antecedent and a future so that its ‘object and purpose’ becomes a crucial factor be looked into closely. The workings of dualist system may be tested. The modality to accord an organically functioning BJE with entrenched associative arrangements (or asymmetrical federative ties) to exercise sovereign shared authority with the central authority (parent state) is an incremental step agreed under MOA-AD “to establish a system of life and governance suitable and acceptable to the Bangsamoro people.” This is because political institutions are necessary to resolve the totality of relationships with the rest of the Country. Modern constitutionalism leaves the justness of the original position open covenants of peace more than legal frameworks. 7. The Court, in practice, denies its own jurisdiction to pass on matters—such as foreign or military policy—under the doctrine “political question” unless there is no remedy available through the political processes. As a republican state entity, this Country is a political community yet difficult to define as a territorial state. This normative position holds that the borders inherited from the colonizers is and ought to be re-drawn to comply with the UNCLOS and thus resolve the internal territorial waters issue covered in the MOA-AD. For now it is a political question and the negotiation process is well established to arrange the success or failure of political settlement of a sovereignty-based armed conflict. Basic lines on policy debate have not been clearly drawn as a new formula without option to secede. This Court’s understanding of self-determination “as a right of political separation” was pronounced in Disumangcop v. Datuamong, but rather “as a complex net of legal-political relations between a certain people and the state authorities.” In the Court’s opinion the Moros’ struggle for RSD dating as far back as the Spanish conquest in the Philippines goes on even at present. “Their political struggle highlights their unique cultures and the unresponsiveness of the unitary system to their aspirations.” 8. Strategic use of procedural rules, however, weighs in consideration of whether the Court could rule on political questions besides constitutional issues. How does the MOA-AD agreed text meaningfully connect with the society of which it is part? It does so as a framework agreement because the operation of opinions of jurists and justices are often political, economic, and social events, as well as “legal events.” It is not the correctness of the Court decisions that concerns us here but instead the so-called ‘canons of judicial adjudication’ to avoid the realists security doctrinaire approach. The renunciation of war as “an instrument of policy” holds high the possibility for the application of “the generally accepted principles of international law as part of the law of the land.” The constitution makes agreements part of the law of the land for constitutional adherence to the policy of peace and justice. 9. Surely, the Justices of the Supreme Court know best why the Moro Islamic Liberation (MILF) was not impleaded in the TRO. The unstated premise is that the Court is a nonmajoritarian institution that can overstep it bounds, hence the accompanying plea for judicial restraint and less intrusive government under the contractual clause. Why, then, should procedure give way to permit debates over the substantive? Jurists and lawyers can read the MILF chief negotiator’s remark that “MOA-AD is a done deal” would become, sooner or later, the subject of judicial debate involving high stakes including issues of political morality. This reasoning does not hide the crucial fact that both Government and MILF negotiating panels may have plausible arguments for their positions. Jurisprudential growth areas such as theories resting the legitimacy of transformation in treaty law (and practice) and the malleability of the living constitution (and judicial activism) are not perplexing at all or a grave cause for alarm. 10. A former senate president and Senators with open presidential ambitions—and with roles in mind as precedent setting—have supplied arguments that put the blame on respondent Government peace negotiators for “endangering the country’s sovereignty”. There is a deep distrust prompting the Court to ask: Are the objections to MOA not based on “fear of the unknown” as many details will have to be further discussed for inclusion in the Comprehensive Compact? What is objectionable to the MOA when it appears to be conditioned on the amendment of the Constitution?” The embodiment of progressive counterargument does not foreclose “the re-conceptualization of sovereignty to include multiple loci of authority.” Despite the timely intervention of the Muslim Legal Assistance Foundation (MUSLAF), no Moro integral voice was heard from lawyer volunteers to argue how the ‘treaty device’ is shaped by and in turn could shape or open ‘new formulas’ and ‘free of any imposition’ because it remains to be concluded in the Comprehensive Compact. 11. The Department Justice’s Solicitor General has argued the case in which the State (GRP) is interested, but it has missed most of its fundamental point. This petition falls under the so-called “hard cases” and so hard cases are better settled out of the court. What is so curious about the Government chief counsel conceding not to sign the MOA-AD “in its present form” is that in the course of the last hearing it further repudiated the agreed text in “any other form.” As have been evident on manifestation, the phrase “any other means” seems to be avoided for it is possible for an agreement to be adopted, without signature. Has the Solicitor General found herself in an awkward position of adverse party opposite solons out to establish the ‘culpable violation of the constitution’ ground just to impeach the sitting President? Arguments among diplomats and commentators whether initialing the Agreed Text of the MOA-AD constituted signature or expressed ‘consent to be bound’ was lost on her ambivalent manifestations. Framework Status of the MOA-AD 12. Legal writers on the politics of law argue that to ascertain the logic inherent in a ‘framework treaty’ is pretending it is what the parties intended. Evidently, the advocates of the MOA-AD could still show how the working draft was drawn up to get going the peace talks to reach closure. To explain the necessary “background” for the GRP-MILF peace process, the preparatory work (or travaux) of the peace deal include: the text, its context, and the object and purpose of the treaty. The MILF negotiating panel is justified in concluding that initialing the Agreed Text constituted signature of the MOA-AD as the parties have so agreed [1969, Vienna Convention on the Law on Treaties, Article 12 (2) (a)]. Following that, the initialed instrument was delivered to the depositary, Malaysian Secretariat of the GRP-MILF peace process. 13. The adoption of the MOA-AD was done by initialing the Agreed Text prepared as of 27 July 2008 on the space below the testimonium. Government was represented by panel Chairman Rodolfo C. Garcia and Hermogenes Esperon, Presidential Assistant on the peace process, who affixed their initials on each and every page of the agreed text. On the part of the MILF, panel Chairman Mohagher Iqbal initialed the same copies of the agreed text. Likewise, Datu Othman bin Abd Razak, Special Adviser to the Prime Minister, initialed as witness the same copies of the agreed text after which the both sides exchange their initialed copies. Copies for the ceremonial signing scheduled on 5 August 2008 in Putra Jaya were prepared with the signature box reserved for endorsement by Ambassador Sayed Elmasry, Adviser to the OIC Secretary General and Special Envoy for Peace Process in Southern Philippine in the signature of Alberto G. Romulo, Secretary of Foreign Affairs of the Philippines, and Dato’ Seri Utama Dr. Rais bin Yatim, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Malaysia. 14. It is the initialing and the act of exchange which constitute consent to be bound. Of course, there are other ways to express it. Given the MILF position, what is the legal effect of the Government expressing its decision not to sign the MOA-AD “in its present form or any other form?” Here three points must be established. First, the content (subject matter) does not determine the status of the MOA on AD, which is an intermediate instrument but not a domestic contract. Secondly, there is a common misconception about acceptance (ratification) that it is a ‘constitutional process.’ This argument is definitional: it is an ‘international’ act so named to carry out on ‘international plane.” Thirdly, the title or form will not be determinative but taken on the basis of the substance of the arrangement. 15. When acceptance is in doubt, legitimacy should not be confused with justice but principles of obligation in revolutionary situation become crucial and much talked about. The use of the legal system coincident with influential politician’s manipulation of the law is illustrative of legal stratagems. In Catawba Indian Tribe claim for ancestral homeland the U.S. Supreme Court held that “the demands of justice do not cease simply because a wronged people grow less distinctive, or because the rights inherent third parties must be taken into account.” The case logic in this legal dynamic is that “real nations, like great men, should keep their word.” [Cited in 476 US, 513/1986] MILF as Non-State Actor 16. If the Court’s majority blinds itself to opinion editorials all they see is an MILF peril. Against this, one justice posed: You have to determine the status of the MILF to make sense to discover the law governing the MOA-AD? Does MILF have a personality under domestic law? What about in international law? The Geneva Convention and the Protocols [Cf. I, II and III and Statute of Rome] in regard to combatants and non-combatants have given status to national liberation fronts engaged in armed struggle. In the chronology of principal colonies and colonial territories the Philippines ranks first in the 1940s. A vital constitutional provision is adopting ‘the principles of international law as part of the law of the land’ and of paramount consideration is balancing sovereignty with the right to self-determination [See Sec. 2 and Sec. 7 of Art. II.] Yet the theory of sovereignty as the organizing juridical principle of the state and self-determination are contested sites to fit inter-subjective understandings of statehood. The legitimacy deficit test in pre-modern state has provided a base for non-state actors to become radicalized unless granted substantive collective right to self determination (RSD). 17. If it stays disengaged, the international community runs the risk of becoming complicit bystanders in massacre or ethnic cleansing according to a Report of the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty [ICISS 2001]. Traditional rebel movements and armed non-state actors have forced the debate about intervention for protection purposes. Sovereignty as a responsibility came to the forefront of Wesphalian understanding: the idea of strong state sovereignty. Nearly as significant has been Wilsonian political theorizing of RSD applied in the context of decolonization that emerged as a key strategy by Third World countries and national liberation movements. A decade into this twenty-first century, the new global governance ushered in humanitarian law and intervention for humanitarian protection purposes. It is not “self-evident truths” but the indivisible framework of human rights in deference to sovereignty or RSD that can develop a jurisprudence of “third-generation rights” encompassing collective rights and re-territorialization. In depth conceptualization of earned sovereignty to sovereignty as responsibility has seeped into the agreed text of the MOA-AD The Puno Court’s reputation for activist-footnotes approach may call now for more celebrated searching judicial inquiry. Withdrawal of consent to be bound 18. The law of treaties Convention’s definition of treaty does not mention ‘signature’ as the paper sometimes bearing a signatory party can still be ‘open for signature.’ The recent invention of ‘framework treaties’ allow provisions by which legal regime can develop being a treaty device. So it is not always necessary to determine the precise of status of an intermediate agreement or ad interim instrument as legally binding in domestic law. Moreover, the MOA-AD is normative in the sense that it attempts to influence future behavior. Paragraphs 7 and 8 of Governance read: “The Parties agree that the mechanisms and modalities for the actual implementation of this MOA-AD shall be spelt out in the Comprehensive Compact to mutually take such steps to enable it to occur effectively.” 19. Finally, for all the comments mentioned already, the intention to create legal obligations is a vital element in treaties and agreements. However, the MOA-AD may develop in other ways that do not involve the creation of legal rights and obligations. This is especially so to adopt procedures to meet changing needs for the technical map annexes by tacit agreement. Now it appears that the Government has withdrawn ‘its consent to be bound’ by the peace pact with MILF. Is the GRP trying to ‘defeat the object and purpose’ of the MOA-AD prior to its entry into force? Legal writers can observe current Government conduct akin to common law practice of “the doctrine of frustration” due to change of circumstances. 20. The legal effect of the outbreak of hostilities between the Government and MILF is abnormal. Besides, the MILF has made time leeway pending the resolution of the TRO in the Supreme Court. Certain ambiguity or some reason why a particular compromise formula was adopted may be difficult to establish. Or what it was intended to mean may result into contrario interpretation. As have taken place this week a unilateral declaration on September 3, 2008 as to the Government’s new general policy towards the peace process and the dissolution of the GRP negotiating panel to re-align or review all peace initiatives amount to reservations. Source: MindaNews >>>>opinion section of MindaNews. Datu Michael O. Mastura, lawyer, historian, political scientist, is a senior member of the MILF peace panel).
Teduray (Tirurai) is one of the major Indigenous Peoples of Southern Philippines. The tribe is composed of two distinct tribal groups — the Teduray and the Lambangian tribe. The word Teduray comes from the word Tew meaning man and Duray referring to a small bamboo with a hook and a line fishing instrument. The tribe are known for their distinct and unique culture, beliefs, customs and traditions. These people exhibits strong family ties but are too dependent on other members who are more influential and affluent in the community. The Teduray are honest, soft-spoken, shy, sensitive and soft-hearted people. They are also hospitable and peace-loving. A klakafan or a traveler who is still on the road by night fall, in a fenuwo where he does not know anybody, can knock at the nearest Teduray dwelling where he will be readily accepted and given the respect and hospitality extended to strangers and guests alike. Teduray are scattered in different provinces in Mindanao like Agusan, Bukidnon, Davao, Lanao and in the cities of Davao, Zamboanga and Manila, Cotabato Province is the main place of origin of the Teduray and Lambangian peoples with the estimated population 350, 925. In Central Mindanao-Region XII, Teduray used to have the highest number of population among the 21 ethnolinguistic groups with total population of 239,475, but due to the devolvement of Maguindanao Province to the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) the population was reduced to 67,745. The Teduray in Central Mindanao-Region XII are found in Cotabato City, Municipalities of Columbio, Isulan, Tacurong, Bagumbayan, Esperanza, Kalamansig and Lebak, Sultan Kudarat Province; Alamada, Carmen, Kabacan, Midsayap, Pikit, Antipas, Arakan, Kidapawan City, President Roxas and Tulunan, Cotabato Province. In the later part of 1889, Teduray are scattered all over the undivided Cotabato and concentrated in the Southwestern mountain of the province. Some Teduray leaders have classified and further named themselves after the place where they come from — the Tew Dage, Tew Dawa, Tew Dogot, and Tew Tudok. Although the Teduray belong to one tribal group, they differ in some ways like their dialect intonation, rituals, dress and color identities. The economy of the Teduray is basically agriculture. Their primary means of livelihood is farming. Their other sources of income are fishing, hunting and mini handicraft production. Majority of the farmers still practice slash-and-burn methods of farming. Thus, most of the farmers get marginal production which is very insufficient to serve the needs of their families. Teduray still observe and practice the following traditional ways of life: 1. The planting star is observed during the months of December to January — the period for upland farming. Farmers will only start to farm if the planting star is visible. To a fenuwo where the first rice field to be planted, the spiritual leader performs the ritual planting prayers assisted by four Fintailans at the bagong/tuda or center of the farm. After the rituals, the palay seeds are distributed to the women planters with a spokesman giving the signal to start planting. 2. In the courtship and marriage among the Teduray, the parental wish is obeyed. The mother of the man leads the search for the kenogon. Even the maternal grandparents help in this endeavor by calling on relatives to find a suitable wife. With a careful study of the woman’s background, the man’s party then sends out a spokesman to meet with the former’s parents and relatives and duly offers the tising, a contract for marriage. If the woman’s parents accepts the tising, within a week, they will then send their own spokesman with the bantingan over to the future groom’s house. The go-between will then state the amount of flasa for the marriage of the woman. 3. Tudon/sumbaken — (baptismal) — this is officiated by the Tribal Chieftain as assisted by two pairs of kefeduwans and Fintailans spokesmen for both grandparents. If the child is a boy, the maternal grandparents prepare the food. The paternal grandparents give a pair of dilek, sundang, and P100.00 pesos with other assorted valuables tamok items to the officiating chieftain through the spokesman for the child to sit on. If the child is a girl, the paternal grandparents give a pair of kemagi, gold necklace, dress, sutra muot, P100.00 place on a sinuratan and sukob ulew plates. The maternal grandparents give the food to the assisting fintailans to be eaten by the child first, and later, to be shared by everyone. After the rituals, the officiating chieftain turns over all the items to the maternal grandparents through the spokesman. This tamok is called ensaran which serve as the point of reference to the amount of flasa or bantingan being asked for the marriage of the child. 4. Burial — (Temlogon) — The Tedurays observe the seven days of prayers and offering before and until the internment. On the burial day before the cadaver is finally brought to the cemetery, the wife/husband and children pay the last respect to the dead by going around the coffin seven times. Then the wife/husband sits on one end of the coffin with the children gathered around it. The chieftain spokesman gives the fituwa and Togodon as part of the final parting ceremony for the dead. The political system among the Teduray is still the old type with the family as the basic unit of government and the father as the head. In the Fenuwo, composed of 10 to 30 families, the Kefeduwan is the leader of the council of elders and spokesman of the village. A kefeduwan is the person who is well-versed in Teduray customs and traditional laws. The kefeduwan is the model person in the community — honest, brave, and has the ability to influence the people witth the force of his personality and logic. Timuay is the highest rank and honor given to the leader or the tribal Chieftain. Today, it is, observed that the future and promising strong and powerful leader of the Teduray are the educated and spiritual leaders. The mobile lifestyle, poverty, and poor education limited the socio-economic and political stability of the Teduray people. Although the Tedurays have long recognized the Philippine government, such beliefs remain with them. Generally, Tedurays are honest people, they respect the right of ownership, of occupancy, and abide by the first claim rule. If a person puts up a mark on a forest patch for a prospective kaingin farm and to signify an intent to claim the area, no one would dare encroach and trespass the boundaries in keeping with the Teduray laws. Teduray Common Terms (source: http://www.ncca.gov.ph/) Republic of the Philippines Twelfth Congress
Begun and held in Metro Manila, on Monday, the twenty-second day of July, two thousand three. Republic Act No. 9257 AN ACT GRANTING ADDITIONAL BENEFITS AND PRIVILEGES TO SENIOR CITIZENS AMENDING FOR THE PURPOSE REPUBLIC ACT NO. 7432, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS “AN ACT TO MAXIMIZE THE CONTRIBUTION OF SENIOR CITIZENS TO NATION BUILDING, GRANT BENEFITS AND SPECIAL PRIVILEGES AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES” Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress assembled: SECTION 1. This Act shall be known as the “Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2003.” SECTION 2. Republic Act. No. 7432 is hereby amended to read as follows: “SECTION 1. Declaration of Policies and Objectives. � Pursuant to Article XV, Section 4 of the Constitution, it is the duty of the family to take care of its elderly members while the State may design programs of social security for them. In addition to this, Section 10 in the Declaration of Principles and State Policies provides: “The State shall provide social justice in all phases of national development.” Further, Article XIII, Section 11 provides: ” The State shall adopt an integrated and comprehensive approach to health and other social services available to all the people at affordable cost. There shall be priority for the needs of the underpriviledged, sick, elderly, disabled, women and children.” Consonant with these constitution principles the following are the declared policies of this Act: (a) To motivate and encourage the senior citizens to contribute to nation building; (b) To encourage their families and the communities they live with to reaffirm the valued Filipino tradition of caring for the senior citizens; (c) To give full support to the improvement of the total well-being of the elderly and their full participation in society considering that senior citizens are integral part of Philippine society; (d) To recognize the rights of senior citizens to take their proper place in society. This must be the concern of the family, community, and government; (e) To provide a comprehensive health care and rehabilitation system for disabled senior citizens to foster their capacity to attain a more meaningful and productive ageing; and (f) To recognize the important role of the private sector in the improvement of the welfare of senior citizens and to actively seek their partnership. In accordance with these policies, this Act aims to: (1) establish mechanism whereby the contribution of the senior citizens are maximized; (2) adopt measures whereby our senior citizens are assisted and appreciated by the community as a whole; (3) establish a program beneficial to the senior citizens, their families and the rest of the community that they serve; and (4) establish community-based health and rehabilitation programs in every political unit of society.” “SEC. 2. Definition of Terms. � For purposes of this Act, these terms are defined as follows: (a) “Senior citizen” or “elderly” shall mean any resident citizen of the Philippines at least sixty (60) years old; (b) “Benefactor” shall mean any person whether related to the senior citizens or not who takes care of him/her as a dependent; (c) “Head of the family” shall mean any person so defined in the National Internal Revenue Code, as amended; and (d) “Geriatrics” shall refer to the branch of medical science devoted to the study of the biological and physical changes and the diseases of old age.” “SEC. 3. Contribution to the Community. � Any qualified senior citizen as determined by the Office for Senior Citizens Affairs (OSCA) may render his/her services to the community which shall consist of, but not limited to, any of the following: (a) Tutorial and/or consultancy services; (b) Actual teaching and demonstration of hobbies and income generating skills; (c) Lectures on specialized fields like agriculture, health, environment protection and the like; (d) The transfer of new skills acquired by virtue of their training mentioned in Section 4, paragraph (d); and (e) Undertaking other appropriate services as determined by the Office for Senior Citizens Affairs (OSCA) such as school traffic guide, tourist aide, pre-school assistant, etc. In consideration of the services rendered by the qualified elderly, the Office for Senior Citizens Affairs (OSCA) may award or grant benefits or privileges to the elderly, in addition to the other privileges provided for under this Act.” “SEC. 4. Privileges for the Senior Citizens. � The senior citizens shall be entitled to the following: (a) the grant of twenty percent (20%) discount from all establishments relative to the utilization of services in hotels and similar lodging establishment, restaurants and recreation centers, and purchase of medicines in all establishments for the exclusive use or enjoyment of senior citizens, including funeral and burial services for the death of senior citizens; (b) a minimum of twenty percent (20%) discount on admission fees charged by theaters, cinema houses and concert halls, circuses, carnivals, and other similar places of culture, leisure and amusement for the exclusive use or enjoyment of senior citizens; (c. exemption from the payment of individual income taxes: Provided, That their annual taxable income does not exceed the poverty level as determined by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) for that year; (d) exemption from training fees for socioeconomic programs; (e) free medical and dental service, diagnostic and laboratory fees such as, but not limited to, x-rays, computerized tomography scans and blood tests, in all government facilities, subject to the guidelines to be issued by the Department of Health in coordination with the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PHILHEALTH); (f) the grant of twenty percent (20%) discount on medical and dental services, and diagnostic and laboratory fees provided under Section 4 (e) hereof, including professional fees of attending doctors in all private hospitals and medical facilities, in accordance with the rules and regulations to be issued by the Department of Health, in coordination with the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation; (g) the grant of twenty percent (20%) discount in fare for domestic air and sea travel for the exclusive use or enjoyment of senior citizens; (h) the grant of twenty percent (20%) discount in public railways, skyways and bus fare for the exclusive use and enjoyment of senior citizens; (i) educational assistance to senior citizens to pursue post secondary, tertiary, post tertiary, as well as vocational or technical education in both public and private schools through provision of scholarship, grants, financial aid subsidies and other incentives to qualified senior citizens, including support for books, learning materials, and uniform allowance, to the extent feasible: Provided, That senior citizens shall meet minimum admission requirement; (j) to the extent practicable and feasible, the continuance of the same benefits and privileges given by the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), Social Security System (SSS) and PAG-IBIG, as the case may be, as are enjoyed by those in actual service. (k) retirement benefits of retirees from both the government and private sector shall be regularly reviewed to ensure their continuing responsiveness and sustainability, and to the extent practicable and feasible, shall be upgraded to be at par with the current scale enjoyed by those in actual service. (l) to the extent possible, the government may grant special discounts in special programs for senior citizens on purchase of basic commodities, subject to the guidelines to be issued for the purpose by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Department of Agriculture (DA); and (m) provision of express lanes for senior citizens in all commercial and government establishments; in the absence thereof, priority shall be given to them. In the availment of the privileges mentioned above, the senior citizen or elderly person may submit as proof of his/her entitlement thereto any of the following: (a) an ID issued by the city or municipal mayor or of the barangay captain of the place where the senior citizen or the elderly resides; (b) the passport of the elderly person or senior citizen concerned; and (c) other documents that establish that the senior citizen or elderly person is a citizen of the Republic and is at least sixty (60) years of age. The establishment may claim the discounts granted under (a), (f), (g) and (h) as tax deduction based on the net cost of the goods sold or services rendered: Provided That the cost of the discount shall be allowed as deduction from gross income for the same taxable year that the discount is granted. Provided, further, That the total amount of the claimed tax deduction net of value added tax if applicable, shall be included in their gross sales receipts for tax purposes and shall be subject to proper documentation and to the provisions of the National Internal Revenue Code, as amended.” “SEC. 5. Government Assistance. � The Government shall provided the following: (a) Employment Senior citizens who have the capacity and desire to work, or be re-employed, shall be provided information and matching services to enable them to be productive members of society. Terms of employments shall conform with the provisions of the labor code, as amended, and other laws, rules and regulations. Private entities that will employ senior citizens as employees upon effectivity of this Act, shall be entitled to an additional deduction from their gross income, equivalent to fifteen percent (15%) of the total amount paid as salaries and wages to senior citizens subject to the provision of Section 34 of the National Internal Revenue Code, as amended: Provided, however, That such employment shall continue for a period of at least six (6) months: Provider, further, that the annual income of a senior citizen does not exceed he poverty level as determined by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) for that year. The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), in coordination with other government agencies such as, but not limited to, the Technology and Livelihood Resource Center (TLRC) and the Department and Trade and Industry (DTI), shall assess, design and implement training programs that will provide skills and welfare or livelihood support for senior citizens. (b) Education The Department of Education (DepEd), Technical Education and Skill Development Authority (TESDA) and the Commission and Higher Education (CHED), in consultation of non-government organizations (NGOs) and people’s organizations (Pos) for senior citizen, shall institute a program that will ensure access to formal and non-formal education. (c ) Health The Department of Health (DOH), in coordination with local government units (LGUs), non-government organizations (NGOs) and people’s organizations (Pos) for senior citizens, shall institute a national health program and shall provide an integrated health service for senior citizens. It shall train community-based health workers among senior citizens and health personnel to specialize in the geriatric care health problems of senior citizens. (d) Social Services The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), in cooperation with the Office for Senior Citizen affairs (OSCA) and the local government units, non-government organizations and peoples organizations for senior citizens, shall develop and implement programs on social services for senior citizens, the components of which are: (1) “self and social enhancement services” which provide senior citizens opportunities for socializing, organizing, creative expression, and improvement of self; (2)” after care and follow-up services” which provide senior citizen who are discharged from the home/institutions for the aged, especially those who have problems of reintegration with family and community, wherein both the senior citizens and their families are provided with counseling; (3)”neighborhood support services: wherein the community/family members provide care giving services to their frail, sick, or bedridden senior citizens; and (4) “substitute family care” in the form of residential care/group homes for the abandoned, neglected, unattached or homeless senior citizens and those incapable of self-care. The grant of at least fifty percent (50%) discount for the consumption of electricity, water and telephone by the senior citizens center and residential care/group homes that are non-stock, non-profit domestic corporation organized and operated exclusively for the purpose of promoting of well-being of abandoned, neglected, unattached, or homeless senior citizens. (e) Housing The national government shall include in its national shelter program the special housing needs of senior citizens, such as establishment of housing units for the elderly; (f) Access to Public Transport The Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) shall develop a program to assist senior citizens to fully gain access in the use of public transport facilities. Further, the government shall provide the following assistance to those caring for and living with the senior citizens: (a)The senior citizen shall be treated as dependents provided for in the National Inter Revenue Code, as amended, and as such, individual taxpayers caring for them, be they relatives or not shall be accorded the privileges granted by the Code insofar as having dependents are concerned. (b)Individuals or non-government institutions establishing homes, residential communities or retirement villages solely for the senior citizens shall be accorded the following: (1) realty tax holiday for the first five (5) years starting from the first year of operation; (2) priority in the building and/or maintenance of the provincial or municipal roads leading to the aforesaid home, residential community or retirement village.” “SEC. 6. The Office for Senior Citizens Affairs (OSCA). � There shall be established in all cities and municipalities an OSCA to be headed by a senior citizen who shall be appointed by the mayor for a term of three (3) years without reappointment from a list of three (3) nominees of the sangguniang panlungsod or the sangguniang bayan. The head of the OSCA shall be assisted by the City Social Welfare and Development Officer or the municipal social welfare and development officer, in coordination with the Social Welfare and Development Office. The Office of the Mayor shall exercise supervision over the OSCA relative to their plans, activities and programs for senior citizens. The OSCA shall work together and establish linkages with accredited NGOs, Pos, and the barangays in their respective areas. The office for senior citizens affairs shall have the following functions: (a) To plan, implement and monitor yearly work programs in pursuance of the objectives of this Act; (b) To draw up a list of available and required services which can provided by the senior citizens; (c) To maintain and regularly update on a quarterly basis the list of senior citizens and to issue nationally uniform individual identification cards, free of charge, which be valid anywhere in the country; (d) To service as a general information and liaison center to serve the needs of the senior citizens; (e) To monitor compliance of the provisions of this Act particularly the grant of special discounts and privileges to senior citizens; (f) To report to the mayor, establishment found violating any provision of this Act; and (g) To assist the senior citizens in filing complaints or charges against any establishment, institution, or agency refusing to comply with the privileges under this Act before the Department of Justice or the provincial, city or municipal trial court.” “SEC. 7. Municipal/ City Responsibility. � It shall be the responsibility of the municipal/city through the mayor to require all establishment covered by this Act to prominently display posters, stickers, and other notices that will generate public awareness of the right and privileges of senior citizens and to ensure that the provisions of this Act are implemented to its fullest.” “SEC. 8. Partnership of the National and Local Government Units. � The national government and local government units shall explore livelihood opportunities and other undertaking to enhance the well-being of senior citizens. The shall encourage the establishment of grassroots organizations for the elderly in their respective territorial jurisdictions.” “SEC. 9 Support for Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs). � Non-governmental organizations or private volunteer organizations dedicated to the promotions, enhancement and support of the welfare of senior citizens are hereby encouraged to become partners of government in the implementation of program and projects for the elderly. According, the government shall recognize the vital role of NGOs in complementing the government in the delivery of services to senior citizens. It shall likewise encourage NGOs for the senior citizens to develop innovative service models and pilots projects and to assist in the duplication of successful examples of these models elsewhere in the country. “SEC. 10. Penalties. � Any person who violates any provision of this Act shall suffer the following penalties: (1) For the first violation, a fine of not less than Fifty thousand pesos (P50,000.00) but not exceeding One hundred thousand pesos (P100,000.00) and imprisonment of not less than six (6) months but not more than two (2) years; and (2) For any subsequent violation, a fine of not less than One hundred thousand pesos (P100,000.00) but exceeding Two hundred thousand pesos (P200,000.00) and imprisonment for not less than two (2) years but not less than six (6) years. Any person who abuses the privileges granted herein shall be punished with a fine of not less than Five thousand pesos (P5,000.00) but not more than Fifty thousand pesos (P50,000.00), and imprisonment of not less than six (6) months. If the offender is a corporation, organization or any similar entity, the official thereof directly involved shall be liable therefore. If the offender is an alien or a foreigner, he shall be deported immediately after service of sentence without further deportation proceedings. Upon filling an appropriate complaint, and after due notice and hearing, the proper authorities may also cause the cancellation or revocation of the business permit, permit to operate, franchise and other similar privileges granted to any business entity that fails to abide by the provisions of this Act.” “SEC. 11. Monitoring and Coordinating Mechanism. � A monitoring and coordinating mechanism shall be established to be chaired by the DSWD, with the assistance of the Department of Justice (DOJ), Department of Health (DOH), Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), and five (5) accredited NGOs representing but not limited to, women, urban poor, rural poor, and the veterans.” “SEC. 12. Implementing Rules and Regulations. � The Secretary of Social Welfare and Development, within sixty (60) days from the approval of this Act, shall promulgate the implementing, rules and regulations for the effective implementation of the provisions of this Act. In consultation and coordination with the following agencies and offices: (a) Department of Health; (b) Department of Labor and Employment; (c) Department of Education; (d) Depart of Transportation and Communications; (e) Department of Justice; (f) Department of Interior and Local Government; (g) Department of Trade and Industry; (h) Department of Finance; (i) Commission of Higher Education; (j) Technical Education and Skills Development Authority; (k) National Economic and Development Authority; (l) Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council; and (m) Five (5) non-governmental organizations of people’s organizations for the senior citizens duly accredited by the DSWD.” SEC. 13. Appropriation. � The necessary appropriation for the operation and maintenance of the OSCA shall be appropriated and approved by the local government units concerned. The amount necessary to carry out the provisions of this Act upon its effectivity shall be charged out of the funds of the Office of the President. Thereafter, any such sum as shall be needed for the regular implementation of this Act shall be included in subsequent General Appropriations Act following its enactment into law.” SECTION 3. All laws, presidential decrees, executive orders and rules and regulations or part thereof, contrary to, or inconsistent with the provisions of this Act, are hereby repealed or modified accordingly. SECTION 4. Should any provision of this Act be found unconstitutional by a court of law, such provision shall be severed from the remainder of this Act, and such action shall not affect the enforceability of the remaining provisions of this Act. SECTION 5. This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its complete publication in any two (2) national newspapers of general circulation. Approved, FRANKLIN DRILON JOSE DE VENECIA JR. This Act, which is a consolidation of Senate Bill No. 2395 and House Bill No. 5987, was finally passed by the Senate and the House of Representatives on December 16, 2003. OSCAR G. YABES ROBERTO P. NAZARENO Approved: February 26, 2004 GLORIA MACAPAGAL-ARROYO (Part ng Script na sinulat ni Kaka Alih para sa programang Kapayapaan 5:30-6:30 ng Umaga- mAY 2, 2008)
Isang di matapos tapos na debate kong ang pag-uusapan ay ang alak na makalasing, dahil iba iba ang pagtingin dito ng ibang relihiyon, ngunit sa Islam ay kanya itong tandisang o specific na tinukoy na Haram ang Khamer o alak na makalasing. “O kayong naniniwala o Nanampalataya! Ang mga nakalalasing na alak (lahat ng uri ng inuming may alkohol at i iba pa na nakapagbibigay ng lambong sa kaisipan tulad ng ipinagbabawal na gamot, droga, ), pagsusugal, Al Ansab at Al Aslam (mga gamit sa paghahanap ng suwerte at pasiya) ay kasuklam-suklam at mga paglalalang (pakana) ni Satanas. Kung kaya’t iwasan ito upang kayo ay mangagsipagtagumpay.” [Qur’an, Surah Al Maida: 90] ”Huwag kang tumingin sa alak pagka mapula, Pagka nagbibigay ng kaniyang kulay sa saro,” Biblia-Mga Kawikaan 23:31 Tinanong ko ang aking mga kasamahan dito sa station, ang ATBCI ay bawal din sa kanila ang Alak, ang relihiyong kinaaniban ni Donald Good News Fellowship Christian, ay bawal din. Generally speaking, ang alak na makalasing ay ipinagbabawal ng lahat ng relihiyon, ang iba ay huwag lang maglasing, ang iba naman ay kahit tikim ay hindi pwede. Sabi ng ating kaibigan,: ”Kaka Alih kahit ang COMELEC ay bawal din ang alak” (papaano napasok ang COMELEC?)….”di Kaka pag election day mahigpit na pinababawal ang alak” ( ok tama ka, upu tell the truth, 5 points ka… dagdagan ko ang goberno natin, bawal din ) ”Kaka diyan naman ako hindi sang-ayun, may permit ang alak na binigay ang goberno” ( eh bakit kong panahon ng mahal na araw di ba bawal?) Bago tayo magdebate… paalaala muna ng ating himpilan: ( READ: ARMM SOCIAL FUND PLUGS) Ang pag-inom ng alak na makalasing sa ating bansa o sa ibang parte ng mundo, kong ating mapapansin sa mga lugar na hindi umiiral ang katuruan ng Islam ay Naging pangkaraniwan na lamang ang pagbebenta at pag-inom ng alak, inaakalang isang uri ng libangan o pampalipas ng oras. Kadalasan’y ginagamit sa pag-iistima ng mga importanteng tao o mga kaibigan, o di kaya ay ipinamimigay bilang pangregalo sa mga espesyal na kaibigan. Kung napag-ukulan lamang natin ng malaking pansin ang pinsala na ibinibigay ng alak sa katawan ng tao, sa pamilya at kapaligiran tiyak na tayo mismo ang kusang lalayo rito at tuluyan na itong iiwasan ang alak! Batid natin sa ating mga sarili, na karamihan sa mga krimen at aksidenteng nagaganap sa ating kapaligiran ay sanhi ng mga nakainom ng nakalalasing na inumin na tulad ng alak, bawal na gamot at iba pa na mga katulad nito. Nagiging sanhi ito ng kaguluhan sa pamilya, ng di pagkakaunawaan, pagkamuhi ng mga anak at asawa sa ama ng pamilya, at minsan’y humanhantong sa paghihiwalay ng mag-asawa — ang resulta: ‘Broken Family.’ Dito sa ating likod ay may bilangguan at di minsan lang natin napatunayan na marami ng naipasok dito dahil sa nakainom ng alak na nakakalasing. Isama mo pa rito ang iba’t ibang uri ng sakit, na ang sanhi ay mula sa pag-inom ng mga nakalalasaing na inumin. Ayon sa mga dalubhasa o maalam, at hindi lang base sa observation natin sa paligid, napakaraming sakit na idinudulot ang alak, halimbawa: Ang lahat ng ating halimbawa ay maliwanag na nakikita natin ngunit sa kabila ng lahat ng ito, matigas pa rin ang puso natin, hindi poa rin tayo naniniwala. Ang sabi nga ng ating kaibigan na Pastor: ”Sadyang Mapagsamba sa sarili ang tao! At saka pa lamang nagigising kapag huli na ang lahat at wala nang saysay!” Mga kaibigan na nakikinig, pangalagaan natin ang ating mga sarili mula sa mapaminsalang bagay na ito — ang nakamamatay na inumin. Ito lamang ang uri ng lason na pinahihintulutan ng ibang mga bansa sa kani-kanilang lipunan, gayong batid naman nila ang dinudulot nitong masamang epekto. ILAN SA MGA TEXT NA NATANGGAP NG PROGRAMANG KAPAYAPAAN: (binuo o dinagdagan ng vowels, para madali mabasa) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
