Newsstand
Arguments
on the framework
By John
Nery
I
must disagree with two esteemed colleagues of mine in these opinion
pages, who have written skeptically or adversely on the Framework
Agreement on the Bangsamoro. Like many of the newspaper’s readers,
I share the Inquirer’s own view that the preliminary peace pact
represents the best chance of lasting peace in Mindanao in our time.
But
first, an ungrudging acknowledgment: That ex-ambassador Bobi Tiglao
and the new Inquirer publisher, Dean Raul Pangalangan (and even
constitutionalist Fr. Joaquin Bernas, SJ), all have serious concerns
about the agreement signed last week in Malacañang tells me that the
criticism against it does not always follow predictable patterns—and
that I must remain open to the possibility that my own views may be
mistaken.
Bobi
and Dean have written a total of three columns on the new agreement;
it isn’t possible to respond to every single point they raised, so
I will focus on one characteristic argument they have each made. I
hope to prove that, in each case, the argument is erroneous.
Let
me start with Bobi, who wrote on Oct. 18 that the framework agreement
was “clearly a roadmap for the republic’s dismemberment.” As I
understand it, his central argument flows through three stages: the
“crucial concept” is the use in the agreement of the term
Bangsamoro without qualifications; this entity “has all the
attributes of a nation-state”; it is defined “not as an entity
under the republic.” I too am somewhat vexed by the agreement’s
use of “asymmetric” to describe the “relationship” between
the national government and the Bangsamoro government. (It was the
first question I asked chief government negotiator Marvic Leonen when
I had the chance.) But I think Bobi misreads the evidence on the
attributes of a nation-state. (I will get back to this point at the
end.)
In
my view, however, the argument most characteristic of Bobi’s
perspective on the agreement is the one he makes in his first
paragraph: “The pact calls for the creation of an MILF-controlled
state within a state—precisely its main aim in the past decades.
Bannered by the Islamic invocation ‘In the Name of God, the
Beneficent, the Merciful,’ the document even reads not as a pact
between a sovereign secular state and a rebel group but as an MILF
manifesto.”
But
in fact every single text produced through the peace negotiations
with both the Moro National Liberation Front and the Moro Islamic
Liberation Front begins with an Islamic invocation—including the
Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain put together by the
Arroyo administration he served. (The MNLF texts, including the 1996
Final Peace Agreement with the MNLF, bear a slightly different
prayer: “In the name of God, the Omnipotent, the Merciful.”) This
use is standard diplomatic practice, but Bobi turns it into a scare
tactic. Having forged the frame of an “MILF manifesto,” he then
proceeds to read the agreement as such.
I
would not describe Dean’s position on the framework agreement as
hostile; perhaps actively skeptical would be the best approximation.
I would sum up Dean’s concerns as a series of related arguments
about language and power. In his Oct. 12 column, he warned against
Orwellian motives pulsing through the language of the agreement. “The
so-called Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro uses words to conceal
rather than reveal.” In his Oct. 19 column, he expands on his
concerns. “The Framework says little but the public has been
conditioned to believe it says everything.” “Most importantly,
the key Framework provisions each refer to an “Annex” that does
not exist.” “This language is so slippery.”
In
my view, however, the argument most characteristic of Dean’s
perspective on the agreement is where he senses the most danger:
“Even more sinister, notice a strange clause that appears not once
but twice in the Framework: the Bangsamoro rulers may ‘block grants
and subsidies from the Central Government.’”
But
in fact the word “block” is not used as a verb, but as an
attributive noun. The first of the two appearances Dean notes is in
Section IV, Item 3: “The Bangsamoro will have the authority to
receive grants and donations from domestic and foreign sources, and
block grants and subsidies from the Central Government.” That use
is truly head-scratching. But Item 7 clarifies things: “Fiscal
autonomy shall mean generation and budgeting of the Bangsamoro’s
own sources of revenue, its share of the internal revenue taxes and
block grants and subsidies remitted to it by the central government
or any donor.” In other words, and as a recourse to a good-sized
dictionary shows, a block grant is an unrestricted grant of funds
from the national government. Dean’s skepticism leads him,
unfortunately, into a language trap.
Back
to reading the evidence. Bobi seizes on ambivalent phrasing in the
agreement, in Section VIII, Item 6, and reads it as full of meaning.
“In phased and gradual manner, all law enforcement functions shall
be transferred from the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to the
police force for the Bangsamoro.” In Bobi’s view, this means
Bangsamoro is a nation-state because it will have “its own armed
force, disguised as a ‘police force.’”
But
he sees a similar ambiguity in the “decommissioning” clause
(Section VIII, Item 5) and reads it as meaningless: “The MILF shall
undertake a graduated program for decommissioning of its forces so
that they are put beyond use.” He concludes: “There is no such
provision for disarmament in the Aquino-MILF pact, merely a vague
statement.”
I
guess vague is what we make of it.
jnery@inquirer.com.ph/johnnery.wordpress.com
Misuari
to plead before UN, OIC
By Francisco Tuyay
By Francisco Tuyay
Former MNLF Chairman Nur Misuari had no options left but to appeal for independence in Mindanao before the United Nations, his lawyer said on Monday.
Rexie
Fontanilla, quoting Misuari, said the United Nations would be the
MNLF’s final alternative to seek independence in Mindanao in view
of the unconstitutional signing of the framework agreement between
the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, a rebel group
that broke away from the MNLF.
He
said Misuari was also planning to attend the Organization of Islamic
Cooperation’s general assembly in November to consult Islamic
leaders on the stature of the Philippines.
“Misuari
will be consulting with the OIC leaders on what solutions are best
for the country,” Fontanilla said.
“The
framework agreement is beyond the bounds of the constitutional
process when it expanded the authority of autonomy in Mindanao,” he
said of Misuari’s comments on the treaty.
Misuari
has said the MNLF was betrayed when it was left out of the
negotiations for peace between the government and the MILF. He said
the deal signed by the government and the MILF was a conspiracy among
the Philippine government, the MILF and Malaysia.
Misuari
had led the MNLF when it signed a peace agreement with the government
in 1996. He is also a former governor of the Autonomous Region in
Muslim Mindanao that President Benigno Aquino III has called “a
failed experiment.”
In
November 2001 Misuari accused the government of reneging on its peace
agreement with the MNLF and attacked in Sulu and Zamboanga City,
where more than 100 people were killed. He then escaped to Malaysia
but was later arrested and deported to the Philippines.
In
Malacañang, presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said the
administration was confident that the government had the full support
of the OIC despite Misuari’s plan to appeal before it.
“I
think the visit of the secretary general of the OIC here was a clear
signal that the Organization of Islamic Cooperation was a signal of
support,” he said.
“It
is [Misuari’s] right to [appeal], but as far as we are
concerned…the [OIC] secretary general expressed keen interest when
we were about to have a framework agreement signed.”
Fontanilla
said the crafting of the framework agreement between the government
and the MILF overlapped the MNLF’s 1996 peace agreement with the
government. He suggested that the government should have
polished the 1996 peace deal to iron out whatever its differences
were with the MILF.
Misuari
on Saturday and Sunday hosted a summit at the Crocodile Farm in
Davao City, where he spoke of non-violence over the problems
confronting the people of Mindanao.
Fontanilla
said the summit was jampacked, and that it was attended by ARMM
officials and leaders from Sulu province.
Fontanilla
said Misuari asked his followers not to resort to violence, although
they were reported to be contemplating engaging the MILF for
betraying their aspirations for lasting peace in Mindanao.
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