Photos released by the Suara Bangsamoro and the Kawagib Moro Human Rights Organization show political activists during a protest rally Tuesday, July 22, 2008 in Mindanao island during President Gloria Arroyo's visit to Maguindanao and Cotabato City. Philippine leader Gloria Arroyo urged Congress on Tuesday to postpone next month’s elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao to pave way for the peace talks with Muslim rebels. (Text by Mindanao Examiner)
COTABATO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / July 22, 2008) – Philippine leader Gloria Arroyo urged Congress on Tuesday to postpone next month’s elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao to pave way for the peace talks with Muslim rebels.
The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) earlier asked President Arroyo to delay the August 11 polls so as not to affect the seven-year old peace talks. The President’s endorsement came after a meeting with ARMM officials in Mindanao.
The MILF said the polls in the five-provinces under the ARMM will have a serious effect on the talks. The rebels said Manila should postpone the elections until after both sides sign a peace agreement.
Peace negotiators reached an agreement on the issue of ancestral domain and both sides are discussing talks aimed at putting an end to more than four decades of hostilities in the southern region.
Ancestral domain is the single most important issue in the peace negotiations before the rebel group can reach a political settlement with the Philippine government.
The ancestral domain covers the whole of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and other areas in Zamboanga del Norte, Zamboanga del Sur, Zamboanga Sibugay, North Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat and Sarangani provinces where there are large communities of Muslims and indigenous tribes. And even Palawan Island in central Philippines.
Manila has offered to hold a plebiscite in at least 712 villages covered by the Muslim ancestral domain and a shift to Federal system of government before the term of President Gloria Arroyo ends in 2010.
The MILF welcomes President Arroyo’s endorsement to postpone the polls. “We thank the Philippine government, especially the President, for heeding our request to postpone the ARMM elections. This postponement is good to the peace process,” Mohagher Iqbal, the chief MILF peace negotiator, told the Mindanao Examiner.
President Arroyo’s allies in the Congress are expected to file a bill that will seek to postpone the polls when Congress resumes on July 28.
The Commission on Elections (COMELEC) last week said neither the poll body or government peace negotiators can postpone the ARMM elections. It said there is no reason to delay the elections.
“We cannot postpone the ARMM elections. It would be up solely to the Congress to postpone the elections, but it is too late now because there is no more time. We will go through this elections because we mandated by law,” said COMELEC Commissioner Jose Melo, who is in-charge of the ARMM polls.
Melo said the ARMM polls will not be a hindrance to the peace talks. “It will not be, in any way, a roadblock to any peace talks,” he said.
President Gloria Arroyo's peace adviser Secretary Hermogenes Esperon said both panels will meet on July 24 to formally sign the deal on ancestral domain and plebiscite would follow after six months in the villages that will be included in the so-called Bangsamoro Juridical Entity.
The President opened peace talks with the rebels in 2001 and vowed to forge a peace agreement with the MILF before her term ends on 2010. The MILF is fighting for a separate homeland in Mindanao Island, whose 16 million populations include about four million Muslims.
Manila previously offered the MILF the Muslim autonomous region, which is composed of Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi which are among the poorest in the country and torn by strife and clan wars since its creation in 1989. The MILF flatly rejected the offer and insisted on self-determination.
Peace talks were stalled last year after both sides failed to sign any agreement on ancestral domain, which refers to the rebel demand for territory that will constitute a Muslim homeland.
While in Mindanao, President Arroyo inspected areas in Maguindanao and Cotabato City which were worst hit by flash floods during a recent typhoon. A medical mission was also held in those areas.
But political activists and militant groups held a rally and accused President Arroyo of failing to uplift the poor living standards of Muslims in the ARMM.
Amirah Ali Lidasan, national president of Suara Bangsamoro, said President Arroyo’s visit raises more doubts among Muslims because it was timed after the release of the latest survey by the Social Weather Station which showed an all-time record low of -38 in her popularity rating.
“It is disheartening to learn that the Moro people are once again being used to lift President Arroyo's sagging personality ratings, when we all know that her one-day visit here will not erase the fact that under her administration the Moro people have felt the most miserable living conditions because of the high cost of prices,” Lidasan said.
Lidasan said many Muslims would feel more secure if the President could stop the incessant oil price hikes and rising prices of basic commodities that has added to their already difficult life because of the flood.
”The communities do not need a one-shot deal of relief, rather a life-time security if the government will do something to uplift their living conditions by giving them food security, employment and salary especially for the employees and teachers of the ARMM,” she said.
Lidasan said that security for the Muslims also meant that the peace negotiations between the government and the MILF will not be derailed or the right to self-determination compromised just so President Arroyo can present a peace package.
”Given the weaknesses of the ARMM in providing good living conditions for the Moro people and limitations on their right to govern and decide as shown in the issue of issuing laws such as creating provinces, it is therefore not right to confine the peace negotiation to a constitutionally agreed autonomy.”
“The ARMM should not be used as a substitute for the Moro people's aspiration for the right to self-determination because it is limiting and not reflective of the rights of the Moro people,” Lidasan said.
The Kawagib Moro Human Rights Organization and the militant Liga ng Kabataang Moro also joined the rally. (Mindanao Examiner)
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