This is an article repost.
THERE is nothing to fear from the proposed Moro substate in Mindanao because it is not an independent state and the national government will have jurisdiction over four important aspects of governance, Mohagher Iqbal, chief negotiator of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), said on Tuesday.
“It’s basically a substate. It is not an independent state from the Philippines. The proposed formula has four layers of power and authority and that the reserved powers for the central [national] government are foreign relations, national defense, currency and postal service. There will also be power sharing in certain aspects of governance between the central government and the sub-state government,” said Iqbal in a telephone interview. He did not elaborate.
Aside from independent and joint powers, Iqbal said the substate has also the right to exercise “residual powers” or exclusive jurisdiction over legislative matters, the courts, the police and security, among others.
Substate will have no army
THE MILF said on its web site on Tuesday that an MILF substate “has no army, except police and internal security forces, tasked to do policing.”
It said the formula can solve the Moro conflict, which is anchored in the concept of self-determination and not dictation of the national government.
In other words, as MILF Vice Chairman for Political Affairs Jaafar Ghadzali earlier said, the creation of the substate will automatically result in the dissolution of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and will pave way for the introduction of a federal system of government in the Philippines.
“The ARMM, contrary to its name, is not autonomous. A province or city is more powerful than the ARMM. The recent postponement of the ARMM elections speaks loudly why this entity is not autonomous; it is controlled, nay dictated, by Manila,” Jaafar added.
Iqbal said these were among the talking points in the Tokyo meeting between President Aquino and MILF Chairman Al Haj Murad Ibrahim.
He said Mr. Aquino just “listened” to Murad during the meeting as Murad explained the substate proposal.
Meeting, not negotiation
IQBAL said the meeting was “not in the form of a negotiation” as it was merely “more of a discussion on how the two parties would proceed with the negotiation.”
“On the part of the President, he explained the program of government, starting from Mindanao to all over the Philippines. He told the MILF the need to render basic services to the people. On the part of the MILF, we just listened and we just explained our view on how to proceed with the negotiation and the President listened intently,” he said.
Murad, he said, was elated after the meeting because it was the first time that the rebel leader met with the head of a state.
Iqbal said the front is now looking forward for the fast-tracking of the negotiation
No need for public disclosure—Opapp
THE Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (Opapp), meanwhile, said that since there was no agreement signed nor concessions made in the President’s meeting with Murad, there was no need for Mr. Aquino to make any public disclosure on what transpired during the meeting.
“It was just an informal meeting where the President only made known his personal advocacy to have peace and personal crusade against corruption in government,” Secretary Teresita Deles, Opapp chief, told a news briefing on Tuesday at the Marco Polo Hotel in Davao City.
“He just wanted to show where his heart was on the peace process,” she added. Despite the personal desire of senators and congressmen for the Palace to reveal what transpired during the meeting, Deles said that there was no compelling reason to make a public announcement.
She said it was a “pleasant” two-hour meeting, “and gauging from the reaction of the stakeholders, I believe the President was successful in building the trust in the negotiations.”
“You can’t belittle trust,” she said.
Deles disclosed that “it was the President who wished the meeting to happen,” corroborating the observation of the Mindanao People’s Caucus (MPC) that there was no way to say that the President “was ill-advised in meeting with Murad.”
‘Aquino wanted to meet Murad’
“IN the first place, it was the President who wanted to meet with Murad, not the way the reports would interpret that the President was forced to face Murad,” said Mary Ann Arnado, MPC chairman. MPC is the organization that formed the independent cease-fire monitor, Bantay Cease-fire, and which was granted the observer status in the negotiations.
Arnado said the formal invitation from Malacañang came after the government panel failed to submit its draft counterproposal on the MILF draft for a comprehensive peace agreement, which was supposed to be submitted on June 27 and 28.
Deles said, however, that the idea to meet Murad came up “way before June,” and added that the presidential invitation was not intended to cover up the failure to submit its counterproposal. “No, it was not. The President only wanted to personally relay his wish for the talks to come to a conclusive end.”
Deles said the government draft was still being crafted upon instruction of the President that it should be “pragmatic and culturally, economically and politically acceptable.”
It was not immediately known when the government draft would be submitted by the panel.
Asked on renegade MILF commander Amiril Umbra Kato, Deles said the MILF has assured the government panel that it has continued to rein in the issue within its own domain.
Kato has assured the two panels that his personally formed Bangsamoro Islamic Fighting Force would not hinder the continuation of the talks but expressed his disdain that the talks seemed endless.
But Deles warned that once Kato and his armed unit would break out from the bounds of the assurance of the MILF, “then this would be already an issue outside the terms of the ceasefire, and therefore the government has to make its necessary move to ensure law and order”
==============================================================================
By: Zaff Solmerin (With M. Cayon)
Source: Business Mirror, Aug. 9, 2011
To view the original article, click here.
Comment here