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.This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it )