Can we trust the MILF?

My take on the rage and the fears over the BBL

By Raïssa Robles

It looks like the Philippine government is about to arrive at a momentous peace settlement and agreement with the rebel Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

Congress is likely to pass the the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) which will put in place a new regional autonomous government with expanded revenue-making powers, a bigger purse and more say in running its own affairs.

It’s a major stepping stone on the road to peace in Mindanao, which has been torn by war for decades.

The BBL has met bitter opposition from some quarters. Opinion surveys show that many Filipinos are against the BBL. But what’s interesting is that recent Social Weather Stations (SWS) surveys indicate that the opposition seems to be based on ignorance. Those respondents who knew nothing at all about the BBL are the ones most opposed to it.

In fact, it seems most of the critics of the BBL have not bothered to read the BBL at all.

I would guess that at the heart of a lot of opposition to the BBL is prejudice and mistrust.

Can we really trust the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to do right by this peace deal which they are about to receive and not use it as a stepping stone to secession?

This piece will try to answer that question as well as  the following questions:

• Is the proposed BBL  unconstitutional because it calls itself the “Basic Law”; and it sets up a sub-state governed by a Parliament with a Chief Minister?
• Is the MILF a terrorist group?
• Will the BBL turn Muslim Mindanao into a terrorist playground?
• Should the head of the Bangsamoro government be given police control despite the deaths of the 44 police commandos partly in the hands of MILF rebels?
• Will women’s rights be protected in the Bangsamoro regional autonomy?

To make this piece easier to understand and to follow, I will answer these questions while discussing SIXTEEN key points about the MILF and the BBL.

One. Critics warn that the MILF cannot be trusted.

If you ask me, my frank reply would be – Not completely.

My reply is based on the initial BBL draft that was submitted to Congress and on my personal knowledge of the rebel movement,

But hear me out on why we should still pass the BBL.

Muslim separatists have been fighting for “independence” from the Philippines for decades. It would be probably too much to expect all of these separatists to simply extinguish that cause abruptly..

What you CAN do is hold them to a contract. And in this case that contract is called the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL).

If they break that contract, that’s the time you bomb them to smithereens.

The BBL is the contract between the MILF – acting on behalf of residents of the Bangsamoro region – and the rest of us. In the draft contract submitted to Congress, the MILF made a promise to adhere to autonomy and abandon rebellion and secession as the means to achieving the Muslim Filipinos’ right to self-determination.

Readers will probably remind me that the rebels killed the #SAF44 (or Special Action Force police commandos) with impunity. How can they now be trusted with the powers spelled out in the BBL?

I agree there was impunity. The MILF leadership should have reined in their men the moment they realized that police commandos were involved. The fact that it took the MILF nearly a day to command their men to stop shooting is one of the most tragic mistakes the rebels have made during their 18 years of off-and-on negotiations with the government.

And they are paying dearly for it with the delayed passage of the BBL and the threat of having it scrapped altogether.

The death of the #SAF44 is being pointed to as the proof that the MILF cannot be trusted with political power. This is reflected in a recent Social Weather Stations survey. After the #SAF44 died, the MILF’s trust ratings plummeted, the SWS found.

 

But it is precisely for this very reason that the BBL is urgently needed.

The deaths of the #SAF44 are part of the never-ending cycle of violence tormenting parts of Mindanao for the last half-century. After the #SAF44 deaths, one of the questions I asked my Mindanao sources was – didn’t the MILF rebels know they were police commandos? And if they knew, why kill them instead of taking them prisoners?

One of the answers I got was that the rebels did recognize they were policemen and not soldiers by their uniforms. And that was why they were killed.

I was told by a highly reliable source in central Mindanao who knew the situation in the area that villagers were angry at policemen because they were previously used by by certain political kingpins for land-grabbing.

We can only begin to stop the cycle of violence in Mindanao if we squarely address the root causes of Muslim rebellion.

It is NOT poverty nor government neglect and underdevelopment, as Senator Grace Poe’s final “Committee Report on the Mamasapano Incident” would like us to believe.

It is injustice. (The Poe report is totally silent on this aspect even though MILF chief negotiator Mohagher Iqbal raised this point in his testimony during the senator’s probe on the #SAF44. While Poe mentions the Jabidah massacre, she does not explain what it is and who was to blame for it.)

Unlike previous Senate probes on deaths of government troops, the Poe committee never left the air-conditioned halls of the Senate to bring the #SAF44 probe into the Muslim Mindanao heartland. This is what deeply bothers me. If the committee members had gone to Maguindanao, they would have found a different explanation for the roots of the Mindanao conflict. They would have been told that for years, the rebels and their communities had snubbed government funding because they viewed it as tantamount to colonization and surrender. They wanted a political solution and admission of the injustice first before agreeing to accept state aid. In central Mindanao, injustice has been aggravated by rampant land-grabbing.

If government neglect is the only reason for the Muslim rebellion, as Sen. Poe would want us to think, then their rebellion has no leg to stand on since government neglect can be felt in so many non-Muslim areas outside Manila. That is the implication of Poe’s report.

Look at page three of the Poe report yourself, attributing the problem of Muslim Mindanao mainly to government neglect:

II. BACKDROP/FRAMEWORK
A. Mindanao and the Bangsamoro Peace Process.

Maguindanao is one of the poorest provinces in the Philippines. Poverty incidence in the province is pegged at 54.5% (as of December 2013), which is more than twice the national average of 19.7%.1 Other social development indicators for Maguindanao have consistently been dismal: literacy rate is very low (66.27%); maternal and child mortality rates are very high; and life expectancy (62 years for males and 64 years for females) are among the lowest in the country.2

It has been argued that the underdevelopment of Mindanao has been largely due to neglect by the national government. This has spurred the separatist movement to continue their struggle for self-determination. The conflict and violence have, in turn, become obstacles to development. The Moro secessionist movement traces its beginnings in 1969 when Nur Misuari, together with other Muslim dissidents like Hashim Salamat, formed the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) in the aftermath of the Jabidah Massacre. What followed was a long period of intermittent war in Mindanao, broken only by periodic cessation of hostilities and peace initiatives like the 1976 GPH-MNLF Peace Agreement. This agreement, also known as the Tripoli Agreement, was entered into during the term of President Ferdinand Marcos (“President Marcos”).

I know that by writing this I am bound to anger a lot of people, including some of those who read my blog or are my Facebook friends.

But it is time to make a stand.

I have refrained from writing what I really thought out of respect for the fallen police commandos. But now it is time to put their deaths in the context of the long, bloody history of Mindanao.

Almost 34 years before the Mamasapano bloodbath, another Pope came to visit Manila. It was around the time of that papal visit that a massacre of 118 Philippine army soldiers occurred on the island of Pata, Sulu on February 12, 1981.

The military calls it the “Pata Island Massacre” and remembers it to this day as the “most recorded [soldiers’ deaths] in a single encounter” with Muslim rebels.

The army contingent had found itself surrounded by the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) rebels, who ordered them to lay down their arms.

The soldiers complied.

A hail of bullets mowed down 118 of them.

What the army hardly mentions is what happened to the island residents when the navy and air force bombed and shelled Pata for weeks. Several thousand civilians, including women and children, died.

The Muslims also call this the “Pata Island Massacre”.

The soldiers’ version of the events was reported in the Marcos-controlled press.

But it was the MNLF version that reached the Islamic foreign ministers’ meeting of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC). The massacre angered the Arab nations into continuing OIC support for the Muslim rebellion.

Do we really want this violent cycle to continue?

Senator Miriam Santiago has criticized the peace deal with the rebels. A press statement released by her office May 21 Thursday said:

“In Santiago’s view, this [BBL] is a peculiar situation because, ordinarily, peace is discussed between the sovereign and the rebels only after the former has militarily imposed its will on the latter. “Peace negotiations are not a substitute for military success,” she said.

So it seems Sen. Santiago would like the military to defeat the rebels first. (Something they’ve been trying to do since 1972, with a singular lack of success.) And she also frowns on the 1996 peace deal with the MNLF. Her approach would assume a willingness on the part of government to commit massive human rights abuses for a prolonged period.

But such abuses could give the rebels the very reason to accuse government of genocide and petition the United Nations for independence. Is this the outcome that Senator Santiago wants?

TWO. Some critics are urging an all-out war instead of the BBL as the solution. 

Those who want to scrap the BBL say it is forcing the rest of the nation to agree to rebel demands under the barrel of a gun.

They also say the government is negotiating from a position of weakness.

Lost in all these arguments is the fact that Muslims ARE Filipinos. The war in Mindanao isn’t a rebellion, it’s a civil war. Even if they are citizens, Muslims for decades have been treated as second-class citizens, mainly because of the religious and racial bias that Christian Filipinos inherited from their Spanish colonizers.

Sen. Santiago perhaps forgot that Congress already enacted a law a decade ago that in effect legitimized the demands of the Muslim rebels and called these the “just aspirations of the Bangsa Moro.”

This is Republic Act 9054 which expanded the law governing the Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

THREE. Senator Santiago, who chairs the Senate committee on constitutional amendments and revision of laws, says the BBL is unconstitutional because its uses the words “basic law”. She said this “is a synonym for ‘constitutional law’ and ‘organic law’.”

To Santiago,

…the use of “the name [’basic law’] is intended to have the same effect as ‘constitution’ or ‘constitutional law’ of the Bangsamoro territory, in the same manner that the 1987 Constitution is supreme in the territory of the Republic of the Philippines.”

“It goes without saying that two different constitutional instruments cannot have legal effect at the same time and in the same territory. The proposed BBL must be consistent with the provisions of the Constitution of the Philippines,” she said.

My observation regarding Sen. Santiago’s position – In her press release which can be accessed here, she equated “basic law” with “constitutional law” and “organic law.” In other words,

basic law=constitutional law=organic law

RA 9054 or the present ARMM Law already uses the words “Organic Act” and the word “Act” is also synonymous with the word “law”.

Would this then make RA 9054 also constitutionally infirm? It seems not because Article X, Section 18 of the 1987 Constitution states that “The Congress shall enact an organic act for each autonomous region.”

Sen. Santiago perhaps needs to clarify whether she equates the word “Act” with the word “law”. If she does, then it follows that since she believes  the “basic law” is the same as “organic law”, then “basic law” can interchangeably be used with the word “organic act” – which is provided for by the 1987 Constitution.

FOUR. Senator Santiago also objects to the use of the phrase “Bangsamoro territory”. She says it implies “that although it is under the jurisdiction of the Philippines, it is a separate part.”

However, the draft BBL clearly stipulates the following [underlining mine]:

Article III
TERRITORY
Section 1. Definition of Territory – Territory refers to the land mass as well as the maritime, terrestrial, fluvial and alluvial domains, and the aerial domain above it. The Bangsamoro territory shall remain a part of the Philippines.

Earlier, other critics also slammed the use of the word Bangsamoro because they said it meant “Moro Nation” which was but a step to secession and becoming a separate nation. The word “bangsa” means “nation.”

My observation – The present ARMM Law [RA 9054] is the first Congress-enacted law to use the term but as two words – Bangsa Moro.

Article 3, Section 6 of RA 9054 talks about the “just aspirations of the Bangsa Moro” while Article 10, Section 3 defines the Bangsa Moro people as “citizens who are believers in Islam…”

The main amendment of the BBL to RA9054 is that it expands the word “Bangsamoro” to mean not just Muslims but

“Those who at the time of conquest and colonization were considered natives or original inhabitants of Mindanao and the Sulu archipelago and its adjacent islands including Palawan, and their descendants, whether of mixed or of full blood, shall have the right to identify themselves as Bangsamoro by ascription or self-ascription. Spouses and their descendants are classified as Bangsamoro.”

In other words, the term embraces even the indigenous people (IP) who are neither Muslims nor Christians.

In an exclusive interview with MILF chief negotiator Mohagher Iqbal, he agreed with my observation that the term “Bangsamoro” in the draft BBL does not pertain only to Muslim residents.

“It’s not…It’s not about religion. It’s a political term rather than a religious term,” Iqbal told me.

FIVE. Critics of the BBL have raised alarm bells that once Muslim Mindanao is under the MILF, it will turn extremist and become a fertile breeding ground for the terrorist international group ISIS

And so I decided to take the bull by the horn and ask Iqbal about this. His instant reaction was laughter.

“No, do not laugh, please,” I told Iqbal.

“No, I’m serious,” he replied.

Now Iqbal is used to my frank questions as I am used to his blunt answers after having interviewed him countless times for over a decade.

He then explained to me why he had laughed:

“To me that’s a funny apprehension. If we follow our imagination nothing will limit us. It can even reach the outer space. So there has to be – yung mga wishful thinking. Palagay ko hindi yan very educational.”

Tingan natin kung konkreto situation. Hindi mag-iimagine tayo. Let us look at the concrete situation. Let us not imagine things.) Fears are unending. With the BBL, the government tatakbo (will run) on the basis of the Bangsamoro basic law, I don’t think that would happen.”

I would like to share with you all the rest of my interview with Iqbal on the subject of the MILF and extremism:

RAISSA: One of the things that has stumped me. They call you (MILF) extremists, and they link you to ISIS and ISIL. Can you explain to me sir, how different are you compared to ISIS and Isil ?

MOHAGHER IQBAL: Well, they don’t have a clear political agenda. And their brand of Islam is extremist

RAISSA: How do you define extremist when it comes to Islam?

MOHAGHER IQBAL: Well, even civilians are fair targets. Women, children, old men, they don’t discriminate. They persecute people on the basis of religion. That’s not how we view Islam. Islam views religion as something private to people. Meaning there is no compulsion in religion.

RAISSA: But then – the (BBL) form of government will have Muslim characteristics.

MOHAGHER IQBAL: Are you talking about the BM (Bangsamoro) government? Well, The BBL speaks of that.

It did not say the head of state will be Muslim. Everybody can qualify, even Christians, even IPs (Indigenous people). But of course there will be more Muslims in the BM. Then necessarily, the consequence will be that in all probability the head or the Chief Minister will be Muslim because most of the people there are Muslims.

RAISSA: Under the BBL is it possible a Christian could become the Chief Minister?

MOHAGHER IQBAL: Yes, Yes, Yes, because it is the party in power that selects the Chief Minister. Although the election would be done by Parliament.

RAISSA: And also a member of the IP could become Chief Minister?

MOHAGHER IQBAL: Yes, Yes. They can qualify. They are qualified.

RAISSA: I was wondering. I was looking at the definition of BM. Your definition of Bangsamoro is not Muslim, ah.

MOHAGHER IQBAL: It’s not. It’s an identity. A self-ascription.

RAISSA: Those who live there

MOHAGHER IQBAL: Yes, since time immemorial.

RAISSA: So It’s not Muslim

MOHAGHER IQBAL: Yes, It’s not. Because by freedom of choice, if the IPs choose to become Bangsamoro then they can qualify. And IPs are mostly non-Muslims and non-Christians. It’s not about religion. Although Moro is equated to Muslims during the time of the Spaniards. But it’s a political term rather than a religious term.

RAISSA: I see. That’s the difference between your law and the present ARMM (Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao) law (or RA 9054).

MOHAGHER IQBAL: That’s it, that’s it. Because The ARMM law is more religious in character. Bangsamoro is is more political.

RAISSA: That’s what I do not understand, Sir. You are Islamic, you are more Islamic than secular compared to MNLF. And yet the political group that you are proposing is not Islamic in character.

MOHAGHER IQBAL: I think that, modesty aside, that’s where our maturity lies compared to other groups.

My personal observation on this matter – The fact that the MILF is negotiating with a Christian government and is willing to form a political party already demonstrates its non-ISIS character because ISIS does not negotiate with infidels (non-believers). To the ISIS, only the Koran is the law. But the MILF is willing to abide by the Philippine Constitution and the BBL over and above the Koran when it comes to political behavior.

To further test the Islamic nature of the political structure being proposed by the MILF under the BBL, I asked Iqbal four other questions –

First, will female Muslims be forced to wear the hijab or veil, because I noticed that some don’t?

Second, will women’s rights be protected?

Third, might there come a time when there would be a segregation of men and women in restaurants and shops similar to that in Saudi Arabia?

Fourth, will movie houses and cinemas be allowed in the autonomous region, because the Abu Sayyaf dislikes movie houses and likes bombing them.

Here are Iqbal’s answers:

First, will female Muslims be forced to wear the hijab or veil, because I noticed that some don’t?

MOHAGHER IQBAL: Well, that’s a religious obligation. And as a Muslim you should do that without coercion from external force. As a Muslim it’s part of belief na kailangan talaga magwear ng hijab 9wearing the hijab is necessary) As a Muslim it’s obligatory on them to do that. Pero (But) administratively I don’t think we will pass an administrative code that would punish those people not wearing the hijab.

Second, will women’s rights be protected?

MOHAGHER IQBAL: Certainly.

My personal observation – Iqbal is right. Section 10 guarantees the right of women to engage in lawful employment [and] be protected from exploitation, abuse or discrimination.” Women have a reserved seat in the legislative assembly and a Cabinet post.

Third, might there come a time when there would be a segregation of men and women in restaurants and shops as what happens in Saudi Arabia?

MOHAGHER IQBAL: “No, that’s too much. There would be no free mixing. They can mix – anything can be done by both people (men and women) but no free mixing. That’s what we do not like. But we cannot support segregation.”

Fourth, will movie houses and cinemas be allowed in the autonomous region?

MOHAGHER IQBAL: “It depends. If the film is about nothing but crimes, sex, I think its not good to watch that. Maybe in private people can watch that. But in public, I don’t think that would be recommended.

SIX. I wasn’t done yet. I needed to ask Iqbal about the hisbah – a new office to be created under the BBL

One of the “exclusive powers” proposed in the BBL is the creation of the “Hisbah office for accountability as part of the Shari’ah justice system.”

I was curious about the “hisbah” since I never heard it mentioned before by my Muslim rebel sources. An online search turned up the following:

In medieval times, the hisbah was the market supervisor or person in charge of ensuring that goods in public markets were sold at approved prices, and in proper weight and measure; that wine was not sold and gambling not allowed.

In Pakistan, however, the Northwest Frontier Province passed the “Hisbah” or accountability law in 2005 which would have greatly expanded its role beyond the economic. The law, among others, would have discouraged the playing of music and  videos and businesses from operating on Fridays. It would have set up a watchdog body with “sweeping powers to reform society in accordance with ‘Islamic values’ and enforce the observance of such values in public places.”

In Solo, Indonesia, a group calling itself the Hisbah Team (Tim Hisbah) evolved from carrying out anti-vice operations into vigilante-style actions.

In the autonomous region of Aceh, Indonesia, the hisbah has been cracking down on women they consider wearing “tight pants”. 

In Nigeria, the hisbah in Kano State evolved from a volunteer patrol group into some kind of religious police. In 2005, Hisbah volunteers seized 2,000 motorcycles found to have carried lone women passengers on board because under Shariah law, women can only travel in public transport with male relatives.

For a longer discussion on this, please go to this link.

And here’s a mention of the hisbah in a study by global security.

Because of all these reports on the hisbah, I decided to ask Mohagher Iqbal about it.

Here is our discussion about it.

RAISSA: What is the hisbah office in the BBL? Is that native to Mindanao?

MOHAGHER IQBAL: Hindi (No.) It’s borrowed from Islamic practice noon (then) . Ang hisbah. Kung baga kung may market. Yung hindi tataas ang presyo ng market. Parang superintendent yan. Ang tumitingin wala bang, halimbawa, yung scale hindi tinataas. Yung presyo ng bilihin hindi tinataas. Not justified na pagtaas. (The hisbah. If there’s a market. It’s meant to control the price in the market. That’s like a market superintendent. For example, the scale would be correct. The prices of goods will not be manipulated upwards. When the rise is not justified.)

RAISSA: You’re saying its purely economic.

MOHAGHER IQBAL: Purely economic in the sense that it started as a superintendent of the market. Parang ganoon yan. (It’s like that).

RAISSA: Let me explain my apprehension about the use of the word hisbah.

MOHAGHER IQBAL: O bakit? (Why?)

RAISSA: If you google it, you come up with a definition. In Africa, shariah police ang lumalabas (it’s tantamount to a Shariah police).

Yung sa (In) aceh – there is such a thing as tom hisbah – that is also the youth volunteers who go out and they make sure that a – parang, well, they have been accused of going on rampages sa (in) Aceh at saka (and) I think sa (in) Kenya. So I’m very apprehensive that the use f the word – you know there are a lot of people on Facebook that are trying to link the BBL and your group the MILF with the extremism that is happening in the Middle East and Africa.

MOHAGHER IQBAL: That is an undue apprehension. Kasi alam mo – lahat na malagay yan sa BBL gagawan yan ng ng administrative rules. Hindi naman puwede discretion lang yan ng tao. Merong administrative guidelines yan. (Because you know everything that’s placed in the BBL will have administrative rules. That cannot be left to the people’s discretion. They will have administrative guidelines.)

RAISSA: But is it possible to put the definition of words that are not – right now – parang (it’s like) you are now negotiating with the Filipino Christians, to put it straight. A lot of people have misconceptions.

MOHAGHER IQBAL: Yung nga ang problema natin. Kasi idefine natin lahat ang mga terms, baka hindi na basic law ang lalabas diyan. Administrative law na. Code na. (That’s the problem. Because if we define all the terms, maybe that’s no longer the basic law but the Administrative law. A Code.)

Huwag na muna diyan sa BBL. Ang BBL parang Constitution yan. Hayaan na lang natin yan ilagay sa Administrative Code. (Let us not put it in the BBL. Because the BBL is like a Constitution. Let us just put it in an Administrative Code.)

RAISSA: I will quote you as saying this has something to do with economy. This has nothing to do with religious practice?

MOHAGHER IQBAL: In Islam you cannot separate economics from politics to religious practice. They are all packaged into one. Ibig sabihin (It means) you cannot do something purely in economic terms without necessarily relating that to the religious. Originally it was mainly an economic approach or economic arrangement. Yung (the) Superintendent titingnan nila yung (they will look at the) market. Kamukha ng sinabi ko kanina. (Like what I said earlier) That is how hisbah originated.

RAISSA: Do you foresee for instance in the BM, having a religious police, looking specifically at how people are observing Islam.

MOHAGHER IQBAL: Not in the sense of religious beliefs. But administratively, the hisbah can be organized and can be controlled by the administrative code. That’s how it would move forward.

My personal observation on this matter – Administrative guidelines can always be changed. Because of this, it would better for the hisbah office contemplated in the BBL  to be defined to avoid any undue expansion of its powers.

SEVEN. Because of the #SAF44 tragedy, critics of the BBL do not want the leader of the autonomous region to exercise police control.

My personal observation – The present ARMM Law RA 9054, enacted in 2001, already gave the ARMM regional governor extensive powers over the regional police force, including the power “to exercise operational control and general supervision and disciplinary powers over the Regional Police force.”

If the removal of such a power is meant to punish the MILF, it’s a step backward in governance. The MILF will not always be there at the helm. Whoever heads the region would need police powers to govern effectively.

Besides, the military will take care of national security concerns of the region.

EIGHT. If enacted into law, the BBL will be the first-ever piece of legislation backed by a Muslim rebel group.

I’m not kidding.

It is for this reason that I find the brief history of negotiations included in Sen. Poe’s report misleading and filled with factual errors. Sen. Poe stated in her committee report on the #SAF44 deaths that:

In 1986 President Corazon Aquino (“President Cory”) met with Nur Misuari and resurrected the peace talks. Congress enacted Republic Act (R.A.) No. 6734, the Organic Act of the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and by 1990, the first-ever ARMM elections were held in the 4 provinces that opted for ARMM inclusion, namely; Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.

In 1996, President Fidel Ramos (“President Ramos”) signed the Final Peace Agreement (FPA) with the MNLF. The peace pact with the MNLF, however, resulted to the birth of the MILF. Led by Hashim Salamat, the break-away MILF faction asserted that the peace agreement deviated from the framework of the original Tripoli Agreement and thus rejected the FPA. Despite this, the Ramos government succeeded in negotiating a General Cessation of Hostilities Agreement with the MILF in 1997.

The first paragraph gives the impression that RA 6734 was the result of the Misuari-Aquino peace talks. The truth of the matter is that the peace talks broke down almost as soon as it started because Mrs Aquino could only offer a Regional Consultative Commission to the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF).

However, Mrs. Aquino’s chief government negotiator Emmanuel Pelaez averted  hostilities by throwing a farewell dinner party for the MNLF negotiators – led by Habib Mujahab Hashim and Misuari’s late wife Desdemona Tan. It made the parting amicable.

Hashim later told me he could not sign the peace deal “with the blood” of his slain brothers.

In 1989, Congress unilaterally enacted RA 6734 creating the Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) in order to meet the the constitutionally-imposed deadline of 18 months. Misuari protested and rejected RA 6734.

However, in 1996 when Misuari signed a peace deal with Ramos, he agreed to recognize RA 6734 on the condition that it would be amended according to their agreed terms.

Before Ramos could fulfill his promise, his term expired. It was only in 2001 during the first months of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s presidency that RA 9054 amending RA 6734 lapsed into law. Misuari denounced the changes which he said were done without the participation of the MNLF and fell short of Ramos’ promises. Arroyo refused to endorse Misuari’s candidacy for ARMM governor that year due to growing criticism over his frequent absences in Mindanao, delayed teachers’ salaries and his lack of governance skills. Misuari’s men staged an armed attack in Zamboanga City in November 2001. They held hostage 118 civilians and killed over 100 people. Misuari fled through the southern backdoor but was arrested in Malaysia, deported back to Manila and detained by Mrs Arroyo.

Later, however, the court threw out his rebellion case due to lack of witnesses.

Misuari was never charged for corruption by the Arroyo government.

Senator Poe’s report asserts that “the peace pact with the MNLF, however, resulted to the birth of the MILF.” She was clearly referring to the 1996 peace pact  because her next sentences stated:

“Led by Hashim Salamat, the break-away MILF faction asserted that the peace agreement deviated from the framework of the original Tripoli Agreement and thus rejected the FPA. Despite this, the Ramos government succeeded in negotiating a General Cessation of Hostilities Agreement with the MILF in 1997.”

Contrary to what Poe wrote, the break-up between Misuari and Salamat occurred over 20 years before Misuari signed the 1996 peace deal. Sen. Poe is right, though, when she said that Salamat also rejected Misuari’s 1996 peace deal with Ramos. However, to use the connective phrase “despite this” places the chain of events in an erroneous context.

The main reason that Salamat objected was that the Ramos government totally ignored the MILF and concentrated on a peace deal solely with the MNLF for two reasons. First, the MNLF was viewed as the more important entity since it was officially recognized by the OIC as a “permanent observer.” And second, the MNLF would have been pissed off if the government had negotiated with the MILF at the same time.

To summarize, in the 31-year history of negotiations between the Philippine government and the Muslim rebels (the MNLF and the breakaway MILF), all three laws granting Muslim autonomy – including President Ferdinand Marcos’ decree creating two autonomous regions – were unilaterally passed by the central government without the support or agreement of either the MNLF and MILF.

In short, although the Muslim rebels negotiated a peace deal thrice, the end result in the form of a decree and two enacted laws were done without their consent and fell short of their expectations.

This is the flip side of the question whether we can trust the MILF. From their viewpoint, the question is, can they trust the government or is this just another Moro-Moro?

NINE. Critics say the parliament proposed under the BBL violates the presidential character of government stipulated in the Philippine Constitution.

Senator Santiago further elaborated in her recent press release:

“Proof that the BBL would create a sub-state is the proposal for a parliamentary form of government despite the constitutional provision on Mindanao autonomy which limits the regional government to an executive department and a legislative assembly, she said.”

Personally, I don’t agree with her conclusion.

Based on my personal experience and my coverage of local governments, I believe our national government is presidential in character but a hybrid of the presidential and parliamentary forms of government at the local level.

The main characteristic of a presidential form of government is the check and balance system and the separation of judicial, executive and legislative powers through the three branches of government.

That is not the case at the local government level. The provincial vice-governor and city vice-mayor – who are both with the executive arm – act as the presiding officer of the legislative council and cast a vote in case of a tie.

At the barangay or village level, the Barangay Captain not only heads the executive arm but also acts as the “village judge” in local disputes. In concrete terms, if you happen to be in a restaurant and someone punches your nose, you cannot bring your lawsuit to the fiscal’s office. You have to file the complaint in the barangay that has jurisdiction over the restaurant. The Barangay Captain hears both sides and renders a decision.

From this example, it is clear that local governments have the characteristics of both the presidential and parliamentary forms of governments.

And frankly, I do not understand the outcry against creating a sub-state because that is what the Constitution in fact creates – a sub (meaning ‘under’) state.

The Constitution only allows two such sub-states – in “Muslim Mindanao” and in the Cordilleras – to which it gave more powers than a province or city.

TEN. Critics of the BBL say the MILF will have a lock on power

Critics of the Bangsamoro have this mistaken notion that the MILF will always control the autonomous region.

It is also for this reason that Muslims in the MNLF-controlled areas remain UNDECIDED whether or not to support the BBL.

I asked Mohagher Iqbal whether the MILF would have a lock on political power in the Bangsamoro territory and whether MNLF chair Nur Misuari could head the Bangsamoro.

Iqbal instantly replied:

“Yes, if he (Misuari) forms a political party and if his political party wins majority seat in (the Bangsamoro) government, then he can form the government in the Bangsamoro.”

But will the MILF have a lock on power?, I persisted.

“No, we don’t,” Iqbal said. “It’s not an exclusive right of the MILF to form the Bangsamoro government. We are only up to the Bangsamoro transitional authority.”

And how long will that take?, I asked.

“That’s only one year or even less than one year (because) there has to be election in 2016,” Iqbal told me.

In short, what Iqbal is saying is that the MILF will lay the ground structure for the BBL, but there is no guarantee built into the proposed BBL law that the MILF will control that structure for a long time.

In fact, the MILF will have to submit itself to an election in order to continue running the Bangsamoro after the transition period.

Because of elections, a Christian or an IP or even Misuari can end up heading the government there. The only condition, Iqbal said, is “if he (Misuari) forms a political party and if his political party wins majority seat in government, then he can form the government in the Bangsamoro.”

Some critics might say that’s not going to happen.

My reply is that this has already happened.

In 2001 or five years after Misuari’s 1996 peace deal, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo refused to back Misuari’s election as governor of ARMM.

Mrs. Arroyo instead fielded Parouk Hussin, leader of a new breakaway faction against Misuari and his long-time “foreign minister”. In 2005, Arroyo dropped Hussin for Zaldy Ampatuan even though the Ampatuan clan had sided with the strongman Ferdinand Marcos in his war against the Muslim rebels.

This precedent shows that the proponent of a peace deal does not have a lock on power.

ELEVEN. At least one retired Supreme Court justice has warned that the BBL will not bring peace to Mindanao.

He’s right. Not at once.

In fact the situation might get worse before it gets better as those opposed to the BBL stage armed protests and kidnappings. And as those who think the BBL grants them leave to get back the land that was grabbed from them try to drive away the occupants in that land.

However, I believe that in the medium term the BBL can lay the framework for lasting peace.

The important thing is to prepare for extreme possibilities in the near term.

I will put the problem of peace this way. If someone had warned us in advance that staging the 1986 Edsa people power uprising would not bring peace to the country, would you have joined? In fact, the last 20 years have been chaotic in varying degrees for the country.

In the same manner, the passage of the BBL will not bring peace AT ONCE to Mindanao because of all the other smaller armed groups still operating in the area.

Still, I believe that at no other time in the last 30 years is peace more attainable than today because many, many more people are engaged in the peace process.

When the MNLF forged a peace deal in 1996, its partners for peace could be counted on one hand – there was the national government, the Organization of Islamic Conference (now called Organisation of Islamic Cooperation or OIC) and the United Nations. That was it.

In the last five years of the MILF negotiations, the MILF has managed to gather an impressive array of international and local peace partners. Aside from the Catholic Church and NGOs like the Mindanao Peaceweavers and the Young Moro Professionals, there are other countries deeply involved like the United States, Japan, Canada, Malaysia, even Libya, Brunei, Norway, the European Union and lately the OIC and the UN.

One notable proof that the MILF’s multinational partnership is working is that despite the frequent travels of top foreign diplomats to and from central Mindanao – which is otherwise known as kidnap country – not one foreigner working for these peace partners has been kidnapped. Not one American soldier has been injured by an armed rebel.

That is because US President George W. Bush himself promised MILF chair Salamat in writing that the US government would help in the peace process.

TWELVE. Critics of the BBL have warned that Malaysia will ask the Philippine government to drop Sabah in exchange for aiding the peace process.

The critics demand that Sabah be inserted in the BBL, when Misuari’s 1976 Tripoli Agreement and his 1996 peace deal never mentioned Sabah at all.

Iqbal himself said in a recent forum at the University of the Philippines that “whoever drops the Sabah claim, magkakaroon ng (will suffer from) karma.” He also said that “Organizationally, we would not agree to the dropping of the Sabah claim.”

You can read more about this in my previous post entitled “I will not drop Sabah claim, President Aquino told me.”

My personal observation – While the nation is deeply grateful to Malaysia, the claim cannot be dropped because that is part of the ancestral homeland of the Tausug.

Personally, I would suggest that the post-monitoring of the BBL implementation be headed by a country with no conflict of interest in the situation.

THIRTEEN. Critics of the BBL claim Malaysia paid President Benigno Aquino’s government US$750 million for the approval of the BBL

My personal observation – This has got to be one of the most trollish, fantastic claims made on this issue.

FOURTEEN. Critics of the BBL claim the government will hand P75 billion to the MILF once the BBL is passed.

They warned the money would be stolen, or worse, diverted to buy arms with which to mount a secessionist bid.

It took a certified public accountant (CPA), businessman and former agriculture secretary to knock down this piece of propaganda and set the matter straight. Senen Bacani denied that the MILF would get P75 billion.

He said the Bangsamoro government would get the usual yearly national government allotment intended for the ARMM, which would be replaced by the Bangsamoro (BM) government.  This year the allotment is P25.2 billion. Next year, this will be raised to P26.8 billion in order to include a P900 million pension fund.

He said the only fresh money the BM would get amounts to P18 billion broken down as follows: A one-time Bangsamoro Transition Authority Fund of P1 billion: and a P17 billion Special Development Fund of which P7 billion will be released in the first year and P2 billion every year for the next five years.

To summarize, the BM will get P34.8 billion in the first year of operation, not P75 billion.

Critics of the BBL, however, who include senators have pointed out that the math does not take into account the internal revenue allotments (IRA) from the national government to the provinces, cities and towns comprising the Bangsamoro region.

They conveniently don’t tell the public that all of that goes directly to the LGUs and not to the BM government.

As for the spending of national agencies like the police, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (for the Conditional Cash Transfer) and the Department of Public Works and Highway (DPWH) for roads and other infra projects, Bacani pointed out that these activities have not been “devolved” to the BM; therefore the budget and the spending stays with these national agencies.

My personal observation. Those who say the national government is spending too much in Muslim Mindanao have obviously never gone there. There are very few roads and bridges there.  There is hardly any water piped into individual homes like what we have in Metro Manila. THERE ARE NO MALLS THERE, PEOPLE.

There is no insurance company in the Philippines that would routinely insure people and their homes in that area, unless you pay a vast premium. I’m not kidding.

And if you look at the latest United Nations Human Development Index on the Philippines, many of the poorest live there. This means, poverty in the country will be greatly eased if you bring development to that area.

If the MILF, as the head of the BM fails to deliver, then it will suffer the same fate that Misuari did.

FIFTEEN. Personally, I believe the BBL needs a fail-safe mechanism to cope with an extreme event – for instance, if the leadership of the autonomous region turns rogue and declares an independent state.

Perhaps this was overlooked. The BBL provides that the President exercises “general supervision over the Bangsamoro Government to ensure that laws are faithfully executed.” The Bangsamoro is after all still a local government unit.

The present ARMM law or RA 9054 provides that “The President may suspend the Regional Governor for a period not exceeding six (6) months for willful violation of the Constitution, this Organic Act or any existing law that applies to the autonomous region.”

This provision has been dropped in the BBL. In fact, there seems to be no way to suspend the “Chief Minister”. He can be replaced, but only by Parliament.

But what if Parliament backs the Chief Minister’s actions?

Surely, a fail-safe mechanism could be found that would maintain regional autonomy while protecting the integrity of the entire system from a rogue leadership and assembly.

SIXTEEN. Critics say the BBL will throw out the MNLF peace deal, which is recognized by the UN. 

My personal observation. The BBL will amend the MNLF peace deal drastically, but for the better.

This is why I believe due recognition should be given to the leaders of both the MNLF and the MILF as well as to President Fidel Ramos for their role in the peace process.  The negotiations form a continuum, with each one building on the other. 

Finally, I am ending this piece with the hope that the BBL will pass with amendments that will not water down the enhanced powers but will refine sections that need some clarifications.

I am hoping that the Bangsamoro government will succeed. Because then, it will plant the seed of federalism.

I hope one day the Philippines will amend its Constitution to subdivide the country further politically into three large federal states consisting of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

This is why to me, the BBL is a bold experiment worth trying.