MINDAVIEWS COMMENT: Pat Diaz on "EXCUSE, PLEASE. CORRECTION!"

m16diaz

MINDAVIEWS
COMMENT:   Excuse, Please.  Correction!
By Patricio P. Diaz / MindaNews

www.mindanews.com

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews / November 16) -- A report of
AgenceFrance-Presse posted by INQUIRER.net last November 14 stated:
"Under the 1996 deal (Final Peace Agreement), the MNLF agreed to end
its bloody separatist campaign against the government in exchange for
the creation of a Muslim autonomous area in the southern Philippines."

AFP was not the first to report this half-truth.  Many other national
and local papers had made the same error.  The FPA ceded the
Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao to the MNLF but it did not create
the ARMM which was created under Republic Act No. 6734 in 1989 and was
inaugurated in 1990.

The Agreement, in its Paragraph 153 – its second to the last –
states
that "this Peace Agreement … is the full implementation of the 1976
Tripoli Agreement …." That's correct.  But that does not mean that it
created the ARMM.  RA 6734 was, in fact, the full implementation of
the 1976 Tripoli Agreement that the 1996 FPA affirmed by adoption with
few additions.

LOOKING BACK

The 1976 Tripoli Agreement provided for the creation of Autonomy for
the Muslims.  Because the agreement signed on December 23, 1976 left
much to "be discussed later", the negotiating panels agreed to meet in
March 1977 to flesh out the agreement in principle.

Since the March 1977 meeting ended in an impasse, President Ferdinand
E. Marcos -- after a sort of a summit by wire with Libyan president
Moamar Khadaffy-- created by decree Region IX and Region XII into two
regional autonomous governments, RAG IX and RAG XII. The MNLF rejected
this.

In 1987, after the failure of the 90-day GRP-MNLF peace talk to flesh
the Tripoli Agreement, President Aquino formed the Mindanao
Consultative Commission to draft a law to be submitted to Congress for
the creation of Muslim Autonomy. The MNLF rejected the invitation to
join the Commission and for Chairman Nur Misuari to chair it.

The MNLF rejected RA 6754 and the ARMM since they had no participation
in its creation. In the Jakarta talk, 1993-1996, Misuari rejected the
GRP proposal to have RA 6734 as among the references of the
negotiation.  Nevertheless, the GRP adopted it.  In the end, however,
the 1996 Final Peace Agreement was virtually a rehash of RA 6734.

PATTERN

In Chapter VII of the book (What Ails Muslim Autonomy?) that I
published in 1998, I did a close comparison of the 1996 FPA and RA
6734. The following are just two of my findings:
In fleshing out Provision (Paragraph) 9 of the Tripoli Agreement
(Legislative Assembly and Executive Council), Support Committee No. 4
of the Jakarta Peace Negotiation adopted all the provisions, except
four, of Article VII and Article VIII of RA 6734 either in toto or
with slight modifications.

Of the 39 provisions or paragraphs of the FPA covering the Legislative
Assembly (Pars. 23 to 61), two are entirely new; 22 are from Article
VII, on Legislative Department, of RA 6734; 14, from Article VIII, on
Executive Department, and one from Article V, on Powers of Government.
Four Sections of Article VII were left out.

In adopting the provisions of RA 6734, the Support Committees followed
a pattern: (1) most were adopted in toto; few others were with (2)
deletion; (3) addition; (4) addition or deletion; and (5) any of the
four modes then split. For instance, 17 of the 22 FPA provisions from
15 sections with sub-sections of Article VII were adopted in toto.

OBSERVATIONS

Most of the provisions of the Final Peace Agreement on the Legislative
and Executive branches of the Regional Autonomous Government as well
as on the Administrative System were adopted in toto from RA 6734.
Many legislative, executive and administrative matters provided in RA
6734 were not addressed in the Final Pace Agreement.

On the establishment of the regional educational system, the Final
Peace Agreement reiterates, complements or supplements the educational
principles, policies and other concerns provided in RA 6734.  In a few
instances, the Final Peace Agreement shows more attachment to the
national educational system.

Republic Act 6734 more adequately covers the socio-economic concerns
of the Autonomous Region and its people than does the Final Peace
Agreement.  The latter, while focusing on the financial and economic
concerns, does not provide for the social component of the economy
including the welfare of the indigenous cultural communities like
ancestral domain.

THE FPA PROVIDES

The FPA strictly followed the Tripoli Agreement which did not
adequately address the social and economic welfare of the Muslims and
the Lumads.  RA 6734 as framed by the Mindanao Consultative Commission
and Congress provided for concerns not addressed by the Tripoli
Agreement.  It appeared that the MNLF was aware of this inadequacy.

Paragraph 2(a) of the Final Peace Agreement partly states: "The bill
(amending RA 6734) shall include the pertinent provisions of the Final
Peace Agreement and the expansion of the present ARMM area of
autonomy…." (Bold italics supplied)

NOTE VERY WELL: As provided, the FPA was not intended to supplant RA
6734 but just to amend it. Only "pertinent provisions" will be used in
amending RA 6734 to expand an already created "ARMM area of autonomy".

Paragraph 153 partly provides: "Any conflict in the interpretation of
this Agreement shall be resolved in the light of the Philippine
Constitution and existing laws." This also anticipated the rejection
by Congress of provisions it deemed contrary to the Constitution and
existing laws.

MANILA, NOT JEDDAH

The above-quoted last sentence of Paragraph 153 implies that any
question on the inclusion or exclusion of the provisions the FPA in
the enactment of RA 9054 or on the implementation of Agreement as
embodied in RA 9054 should be resolved by Manila, not Jeddah,
according to our Constitution and our laws.

The Agreement in its Section or Paragraph 12 provides for the
intervention of the Organization of Islamic Conference but limits it
to the transitional period "until the regular autonomous government is
firmly established" – meaning until the first regional election under
RA 9054.

The trouble is this:  Despite the 1996 FPA, the MNLF do not trust the
Manila government. Whenever, they are disappointed or dissatisfied
with Manila, they complain to the OIC which never fails to intercede.
And Manila doesn't seem to mind.

("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.)