Losing Sight Of Peace For Mindanao

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo finally went out and said it. Federalism, the President said Monday, is “the way to move forward.”

But instead clearing up issues, the admission that her administration is once again seeking charter change to accommodate a peace pact with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) has only resurrected old and nagging fears that she wants to stay beyond 2010. And the President has only herself to blame if people are suspicious.

A constitutional amendment is needed before any peace deal with the MILF can be consummated, that much is obvious. By all intents and purposes, the proposed Bangsamoro Juridical Entity (BJE) is federal in nature, thus the need for, to use Secretary Jesus Dureza’s term, a “surgical amendment.”

But there lies the problem. Instead of coming out and saying unequivocally just what it wants, the President is giving the impression that everything is still up in the air. Instead of laying all her cards on the table, the President is giving the impression that she is keeping an ace up her sullied sleeve.

Secretary Dureza was quoted in The Daily Tribune as saying that “the best way in resolving the conflict in Mindanao is to go through a Constituent Assembly.” He went on to clarify the statement saying this “is not yet the official position of government.”

But of all people, Secretary Dureza must know that everything he says reflects, if not official policy, at least what is in the mind of the President. He is afterall, the alter ego of the President. The concept of convening Congress into a Constituent Assembly to amend the Constitution ran into stiff opposition two years ago because, among other things, politicians can not be trusted to forego vested interests. Just imagine, if you were a congressman into your last term and, by a sudden stroke of luck, you were allowed to change the Constitution, wouldn’t you lift term limits so you can again run for office? Turning Congress into a Constituent Assembly was discredited then as it is now. So why is Secretary Dureza again sounding out the concept?

To make matters worse, Secretary Dureza seems to be enlisting support for Charter change by implying that government has the backing of noted constitutionalist Fr. Joaquin Bernas, SJ. Secretary Dureza said government negotiators had sought the advice of Fr. Bernas on how to implement the initialed memorandum of agreement on ancestral domain (MOA-AD) with the MILF.

True, Fr. Bernas had said publicly that there is nothing to worry about with regard to the MOA-AD. But what the good Secretary failed to mention is that Fr. Bernas has been consistent in saying that the way to Charter change is through a Constitutional Convention in which delegates are elected.

Critics of the MOA-AD between the government and the MILF therefore can not be faulted for suspecting that something sinister must be in the works especially since government seems determined to ink a deal with the MILF, even with the use of discredited methods, before 2010.

But we must also put these criticisms into perspective. The MOA-AD is by itself a breakthrough document in that it recognizes the aspirations of the Bangsamoro and at the same time attempts to rectify past wrongs done to the Bangsamoro people.

Listening, however, to politicians such as Senators Mar Roxas, Chiz Escudero, and the rest of the United Opposition, you get the drift that the be all, end all of the document is Charter change and not the crafting of a lasting peace in Mindanao. Which is painting a skewed picture. Let us remember that these politicians all have designs for higher office in 2010 and it seems they are rabidly opposing charter change now because, let’s face it, charter change will put all their political plans into disarray.

So now, what? Fighting has again flared between the government and the MILF; local politicians are again fanning the flames of conflict; thousands and thousands of internal refugees are again streaming into areas as yet unaffected by war.

Meanwhile, our politicians can not rise above their selfish interests and look beyond their parochial concerns. Shame, shame.