Part 1

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/07 October) – The Arroyo government abandoned the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain, announced it would not sign it in its “present or in any other form”, dissolved its negotiating panel and changed its peace process policy. The popular conclusion was the MOA-AD is dead.

But at the same time, in officially informing the Malaysian government about its decisions, President Arroyo said the peace negotiation would continue with the MOA-AD as among the references. One commentator asked: Is the MOA-AD dead or just comatose?

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front is firm: “The MOA-AD is a done deal.  We will never renegotiate,” said MILF Chairman Al Haj Murad Ebrahim. (MindaNews, September 15, 2008.) The resumption of the peace talks starts from the MOA-AD. To the MILF, the MOA-AD is alive.

Will there be resumption of the peace talks? There is a call for it in Mindanao.  There is a call for it from foreign governments, organizations and agencies involved in the reconstruction of Mindanao. Only the peace talks, not the present war or the new Arroyo peace policy around disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR), can bring lasting, just peace.

Hence, the MOA-AD must live, not just be alive. To be alive is only to have life; to live means much more — making life work and enjoy its blessings. Of what good is the MOA-AD alive if its vision doesn’t flourish?

No Better Proof

What better proof is there for the urgent need for peace than the present war? For three decades until 2003, frequent evacuation, dislocation and destruction had been “normal” in Muslim Mindanao.  With the five-year ceasefire until August 2008, normalcy – peace with relative economic progress – fired up the hope hinged on the peace talks that war would never return.     

But fate is unkind. Since the middle of last August, because of the renewed war, more than 500,000 refugees – mostly from Muslim areas – have left their homes, their farms uncertain when to return.  The last five years of peace and relative progress are now memories they are hoping to return as they yearn for the resumption of the peace talks.  They may not know fully what the MOA-AD is but they are joining the call for its resurrection.

With the new Arroyo peace policy, is there a need to make the MOA-AD live to bring renewed hope to the Bangsamoro refugees for peace and progress to return? What can the MOA-AD do that the new policy cannot?

New Peace Policy

The new policy appears multi-faceted and hastily formulated in response to the opposition from the Senate, the affected local governments in Mindanao, the majority opinions in and by the national media.  The MOA-AD has been severely criticized for evident unconstitutionality and the lack of consultation.  The new policy avoids these faults.

First:  The peace process will continue. In the resumption of the negotiation with the MILF, the MOA-AD will only be one of the references.  More sectors will be consulted and represented in the GRP peace panel.

Second: The core of the new policy is the DDR – that is, the disarmament and demobilization of the MILF Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces and their reintegration in mainstream society.

Third: Negotiations will also be conducted with the affected communities.

Fourth: The peace negotiation with the MILF will resume only after the surrender of the three wanted MILF base commanders in three areas: Ameril Ombra Kato (Maguindanao), Abdullah Macapaar alias Bravo (Lanao) and Aleem Sulaiman Pangalian (Sarangani).

Will the new policy address effectively the Mindanao problem so deeply rooted in the Moro demand for their ancestral domain – the core of their political, economic, cultural and social aspirations?

                                                         Big Gap

A big gap lies between the Government’s and the MILF’s views of the Mindanao problem. To the Government, the Mindanao problem is rooted in the poverty of the Moros, their ignorance and their culture. These handicaps cause them to lag behind the Christian Filipino majority in political, social and economic progress. Assistance to pull them abreast is the solution.

To the MILF, poverty and ignorance and all the ills they bring are only contributory causes of the Mindanao problem.  The real root is the divestment of the Moros of their political authority and economic resources – two necessary means to uplift the Moros’ economic, social, cultural and spiritual well-being.  Assistance is only palliative, not the ultimate cure.

There has long been assistance. This, however, has not narrowed the socio-economic gap between the Muslim and the Christian communities – according to surveys and as seen in Mindanao.  While foreign aids are concentrated in Muslim communities, these are inadequate to make miracles. Assistance of the government is limited and restricted – dependent on political influence and bias.

This Government’s view has been deeply ingrained in government policies for decades – a view as traditional as datuism is to the Moros. This view – enhanced in the prejudiced minds of the majority in the country and biased leaders that the Muslims are incapable of good government – precludes the proper understanding of the MILF view.  The gap remains big.

How Realistic?

How realistic is the MILF’s view? 

Correct! Poverty and ignorance have caused the Moros and their communities to lag behind their Christian neighbors and the rest of the country. Why are they poor and ignorant?

The big majority of them have been deprived of lands. Their leaders have lost the authority to manage their ancestral lands and economic resources. The state’s land laws and policies are biased against them while favoring Christian settlers and big investors. These underscore deprivation of the Moros of their ancestral domain as the root of their poverty, ignorance and all the ills that have brought about the Mindanao problem.

The government will be unconvinced.  The Christian majority, especially the opponents and critics of the MOA-AD, will scoff at this view. However, common sense may bear it out: One cannot have what he has no means to have; more so, if the means has been taken away from him.

How could a people without lands, with low literacy – eking out a living as squatters, slum dwellers, low-income laborers or craftsmen, roadside vendors, crude fishers of diminishing freshwater fish, etc. – escape from the vicious poverty-illiteracy cycle? The farther they will lag behind their propertied and educated neighbors – Christians and a few of the ruling and educated class of their tribe.

How could a people, divested of the authority to control their ancestral lands and other natural resources, use these to uplift their socio-economic and cultural life? They have to depend on the Manila government for whatever assistance it will allow to trickle down to them out of the revenue from these ancestral natural resources.

How can a people whose political leaders have been reduced to puppetry hope to get redress for the historic injustices done upon them? Only leaders handpicked by Manila win elections; only those appointed by Manila enjoy high offices.  In return, their leaders use them as pawns to win elections for their Manila masters. They are mere assets in perpetual puppetry.

In 1977, the autonomous government for the Muslims was created to entrust political power in Muslim leaders.  Today this autonomy is what Manila has always wanted it to be – having a   strictly controlled government and use of the region’s natural and other economic resources to confine the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao to a mendicant autonomy.

Deprivation of their ancestral domain has condemned the Moros to dependency. The MILF has visualized in the MOA-AD the way to liberate the Moros from political and economic dependency and through self-government raise their economic, social and cultural life. They were able to make the GRP peace panel see and support the realism of the vision or view.

                                                        The Puzzle

Unfortunately, the GRP panel found itself forsaken – accused of treason, of selling out the country’s sovereignty together with the Arroyo government.  Unable to withstand the heat, President Arroyo disowned the MOA-AD and dissolved the GRP peace panel. 

Did the Arroyo government sincerely forge an agreement over the MILF’s envisioned Ancestral Domain on seeing its realism or did it do just to advance its political interest?

If the Arroyo government had sincerely seen the realism of the envisioned AD, did it renege on its agreement with the MILF just to pacify its opponents and critics and to salvage that political interest it had wanted to advance — whether for national interest or not? Is its new policy designed to satisfy the ends of the AD minus the MOA and at the same time promote its political interest?

This puzzle brings back the question:  Will the new policy address effectively the Mindanao problem deeply rooted in the Moro demand for their ancestral domain?

(“Comment” is Mr. Patricio P. Diaz’ column for MindaViews, the opinion section of MindaNews. Mr. Diaz is the recipient of a “Lifetime Achievement Award” from the Titus Brandsma for his “commitment to education and public information to Mindanawons as Journalist, Educator and Peace Advocate.” You may e-mail your comments to patpdiaz@mindanews.comThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ).