By Carlos H. Conde
International Herald Tribune
Published: August 14, 2008
MANILA: For more than three decades, Filipino Muslims have been demanding greater autonomy in a country dominated by Christians. It is a dream that has fueled Islamic separatism in the Philippines, and embroiled Mindanao, the southern region where most Muslims live, in a cycle of violence and conflict.
Two weeks ago, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the main separatist group, and the administration of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo thought they had finally achieved a pact that would make that dream of autonomy come true and end the violence.
The agreement, which has been championed by Arroyo, would grant Filipino Muslims, in the words of one government negotiator, a Muslim “state within a state.”
The problem was that the document was not made public until two days before it was to be signed in Kuala Lumpur on Aug. 6. Once its contents were disclosed, a storm of protest brought the peace process to a halt and helped set off renewed violence in Mindanao.
Many critics felt the document gave too many concessions to the Muslims of Mindanao. Others from the region were angry that they had not been consulted.
The plan also became a lightning rod for critics of Arroyo, who see the deal as a Trojan horse designed to keep the president in power beyond her term.
Critics says the agreement violates the Constitution because it would divide the republic, in effect ceding a large chunk of Mindanao to Muslims. It seeks to give Muslims the final say in how their natural resources will be exploited, promises to expand an existing Muslim territory and, much like an independent state, would allow the Muslim government to enter into international agreements.
To make this plan work, however, the Constitution would have to be amended to transform the Philippines into a federal republic, officials said. In a speech Monday, Arroyo confirmed that her administration would now work for this shift. “I advocate federalism as a way to gain lasting peace in Mindanao,” she said.
Her press secretary, Jesus Dureza, said the administration supported a resolution in the Senate that could pave the way for this shift to federalism. Under the proposal, the Philippines would be divided into 11 federal states, each empowered to chart its development. At present, provinces and regions have to defer to the central government in Manila on major decisions, particularly those involving natural resources.
“This concentration of such enormous powers in Manila has created only one center of finance and development in the country, resulting in a highly centralized system of government,” the resolution said. Dureza said Tuesday that it was now “all systems go” for federalism - the only way, he said, that the agreement with the Muslims could be implemented.
Fearful that the agreement would make the Islamic front more powerful than it already is, several officials from the provinces that were to be included in the expanded territory denounced the pact, particularly a clause that says an existing region being run by Muslims would be expanded. One of the officials appealed to the Supreme Court, which stopped the scheduled signing of the agreement.
The aborted signing was a major embarrassment for Manila. Dignitaries, including the U.S. ambassador to the Philippines, Kristie Kenney, had gone to Kuala Lumpur to witness the ceremony. It also caught the Moro Islamic Liberation Front by surprise.
In response, Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels occupied several villages in one province, even burning down Catholic chapels, by some accounts, and refused to leave when government troops arrived.
The confrontation triggered a conflict last week that killed several rebels and displaced more than 160,000 residents.
Anger over the deal came from a wide spectrum of Filipinos. Some critics complained that it was negotiated without transparency or without input from other players in the region.
Father Eliseo Mercado Jr., a Catholic priest who has mediated in the negotiations in the past, wrote in a column on the GmaNews.tv Web site last week that “the paramount flaw” in the agreement “is the absence or utter lack of consultation of stakeholders, including Christian leaders, indigenous peoples in Mindanao, and peace advocates themselves.” This flaw, he added, “contravenes the very essence of any peace process which is participative of the stakeholders.”
Adding fuel to the fire are accusations leveled by opponents of Arroyo that the president is planning to use the agreement with the Muslims to sneak a proposal to extend her rule into the deliberations on amending the Constitution.
The president is co-opting the peace process with the Muslims for her political ends, said Ramon Casiple, the executive director of the Institute for Political and Electoral Reform, based in Manila.
Renato Reyes, secretary general of Bayan, a leftist group that has led numerous anti-Arroyo protests in the past, adds that “there is nothing in the track record of this government that says it can be trusted with amending the Constitution.”
When asked Wednesday whether there was anything that could stop Arroyo’s allies from proposing a term extension for the president during the deliberations, Representative Victor Ortega, chairman of the House committee on constitutional amendments, replied: “Nothing. It can be proposed in the committee, in the plenary.” Under the present Constitution, a president is only allowed one term, and Arroyo is due to step down in 2010.
Arroyo’s advisers deny she is seeking to extend her presidency.
“We must disassociate the principle of federalism from any rumors of term extension for the president,” Anthony Golez, an Arroyo spokesman, said Wednesday.
While many are opposed to the agreement, others believe it is a step in the right direction.
Mercado, the Catholic priest, said the deal represents a “paradigm shift” in dealing with Muslim autonomy. For example, he said, the agreement could pave the way for “shared sovereignty” between Manila and the new Muslim territory.
He said it was unfortunate that the government’s failure to keep the public informed about the agreement, coupled with Arroyo’s unpopularity, now threatened to scuttle the agreement altogether.
Analysts say Filipino Muslims’ wish for a separate state may have been set back. While the Supreme Court could still allow the signing of the agreement later this month, it might be politically costly for Arroyo, they say.
