Peace advocates back new law for Muslim Mindanao

BOL SUPPORT --- Representatives from civil society groups and non-government organizations flank Office of the Presidential Assistant on the Peace Process Undersecretary Nabil Tan (in striped shirt) during the formal presentation of the signed Bangsamoro Organic Law before Bangsamoro communities in Cotabato City. Also in  photo are ARMM Governor Mujiv Hataman (4th from left) and MILF implementing peace panel chair Mohagher Iqbal (3rd from left). (PHOTO BY BPI-ARMM / MINDANAO EXPOSE’)

COTABATO CITY --- Civil society organizations (CSOs) and non-government organizations (NGOs) advocating for peace in Mindanao have expressed unity in pushing for the implementation of RA 11054 or the Organic Law for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (OLBARMM).

The groups that followed the Mindanao peace process between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) until the signing of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro, expressed their satisfaction and all-out support to the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL).

Normalization process up

THE PUSH FOR PEACE --- Keeping track with the peace process, among them, are (L-R) Senators Riza Hontiveros , Sherwin Gatchalian,  and Juan Miguel Zubiri, ARMM Governor Mujiv Hataman, MILF Chairman Ibrahim Murad,  Lt. Gen. Carlito Galvez, Jr., Senator JV Ejercito, and 1^st MILF Vice Chairman Ghadzali Jaafar. (PHOTO SUPPLIED / MINDANAO EXPOSE’)

MANILA --- The implementing panels of the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) met last August 8 with members of the different peace mechanisms as part of preparations for the normalization track, a key process in the implementation of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) between the two parties.

Nabil Tan, deputy presidential peace adviser and chairman of the Government Implementing Panel for the Bangsamoro accords, said the meeting focused on implementing cease-fire mechanisms and the normalization process. 

“The preparations for the normalization are complex; security concerns are serious matters. We also have the bigger audience to address and showcase that in this partnership, we can maintain our peaceful co-existence on the ground,” Tan said.

Mohagher Iqbal, chair of the MILF Implementing Panel, emphasized the need for all parties to be steadfast, saying the implementation process is more difficult than the negotiations.

“Implementation is more difficult than the theoretical side of it. We need to be very creative. There are situations on the ground that we haven’t foreseen which we need to navigate,” Iqbal said.

“The journey is not yet over. We have to travel some distance. The road is full of twists and turns, humps and bumps,” he added.

The meeting in Cotabato City was held following the ceremonial presentation of the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) at the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) main office last August 8. 

Iqbal said the BOL signifies the closure of armed conflict between the government and the MILF.

“Now that we have the BOL, more than anything else, this is for the youth, for the future generations of the Bangsamoro. They will be the ones who will reap all these benefits,” he said.

Dato Kamaruddin bin Mustafa, the Malaysian facilitator, lauded the government and the MILF for their role in the peace process in Mindanao.

“I’m pleased to be here today to listen to the many groups that are involved in the peace process,” Mustafa said.

The cease-fire mechanisms – International Monitoring Team, Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities, and Ad Hoc Joint Action Group – were created during the early stages of peace negotiations by both sides as their commitment to the cease-fire agreement and to create an environment of peace while the parties are negotiating. 

The joint bodies under the Annex on Normalization were established following the parties’ pledge to transform the lives of the MILF combatants into productive members of the community and to pursue sustainable livelihood free from fear of violence and crime, while their camps will also transform into peaceful communities.

              

The bodies under the normalization process are Joint Normalization Committee, Joint Peace and Security Committee, Independent Decommissioning Body, Joint Task Forces on Camps Transformation and Task Force for Decommissioning Combatants and their Communities.  

(JOSE RODEL CLAPANO WITH EDITH REGALADO, THE PHILIPPINE STAR / GOOGLE NEWS PH / MINDANAO EXPOSE’

Fr. Soganub: I was born and baptized in Cotabato

Fr. Eliseo Mercado of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, OMI  with Fr. Teresito “Chito” Soganub  (right) last August 10 at the Immaculate Conception Cathedral in Cotabato City. (MINDANAO EXPOSE’)

COTABATO CITY --- Fr. Teresito "Chito" Soganub, the Roman Catholic priest taken hostage by local terror groups that laid a five-month siege to Marawi City last year, was in town to get his birth and baptismal certificates.

Soganub, speaking over a local radio station last Friday (August 10), said he was set to go to the local Civil Registry Office and Immaculate Conception Cathedral for his authenticated certificate of live birth and baptismal documents, respectively.

“Yes, I was born and baptized in Cotabato City,” Soganub said to the surprise of many Cotabateños. He said he needed the documents for upcoming speaking engagements abroad.

The cleric was quick to add though that shortly after his baptism here, the Soganubs moved to Norala, South Cotabato, where he and his siblings grew up.

“We have distant relatives here but I could hardly recall them,” he said. 

Soganub noted that he remains under treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder following his ordeal in Marawi.

“I am currently undergoing psychiatric and psychological healing,” he said. Due to his current condition, Soganub said he has no assigned parish at the moment, although he manages to officiate mass in places he visits.

Soganub caught national public attention when he was taken as one of many hostages by the Islamic State-linked Maute and Abu Sayyaf terror groups at the start of the Marawi siege on May 23, 2017.

After being held captive for 117 days, he was rescued by government forces near a mosque in the war zone on September 16 last year, towards the end of the battle to retake Marawi.

Shortly after the death of militant leaders Omar Maute and Isnilon Hapilon, the city was declared by President Rodrigo Duterte as liberated from the hands of terrorist influence on October 17, 2017.

Soganub was parish priest at the St. Mary’s Cathedral in Marawi City when the siege broke out. (NOEL PUNZALAN, PNA – COTABATO / MINDANAO EXPOSE’)

A man with “seeing hands”

BLIND COULD SEE --- After leaning the braille system for the blind and determination to pursue a vocation, Brian Aubrey Serrano does on-line job like a normal person who sees. (RMT / MINDANAO EXPOSE’) 

“Know me for my abilities, not my disability (Robert M. Hensel).” 

This is the inspiration of 24-year old Brian Aubrey C. Serrano who has a “Difficulty in Seeing.”

Brian is a graduate of Notre Dame Village National High School - Grade 12 where he earned the TVL (Technical Vocational and Livelihood) – Computer Hardware Servicing NC II. He completed this course in March, 2016.

He became blind when he was in 3rd year high school due to retina detachment cataract.

With the help of the Almighty and his family, he was able to go back to a regular school under the Special Education (SPED) Program of the Department of Education and learned the Braille system of reading and writing.

Different non-government organizations have a big role in his success. These are:  The RBI - Resources for the Blind, Inc., ATRIEV - Adaptive Technology for Rehabilitation, Integration and Empowerment of the Visually Impaired, ICEVI, The Nippon Foundation, and ON-NET.

He was able to attend several computer trainings in Manila in which he was awarded a Trainers Methodology Certificate I by the Technical Education for Skills Development Authority.

He is a model to other persons with disabilities (PWDs), now Learners with Special Educational Needs. 

He considers his difficulty not a hindrance to success.  He could manipulate the gadgets as if he could see it.

For now, he is doing an on-line job that makes him more productive and he is still waiting for a college institution to open its doors for the LSENs, particularly those who has a Difficulty in Seeing, in order for him to earn a college degree. (MARILOU C. BICERA / MINDANAO EXPOSE’)

Editorial

Educative citizenry in BOL and federalism

Scholarly discussion on the different forms of government is associated with academics as in the unitary and federal states and the parliamentary system. What our compatriots know in our political setting is the existence of the central and local governments as well as administrative regions such as the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and Region XII.

        People have heard about the Bangsamoro Basic Law but with certain skepticism by some sectors or ethnic groupings. And now, to what extent do many know about the Bangsamoro Organic Law that will replace the ARMM under parliamentary-democratic form to be called Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao? Under the BOL, the chief minister is elected from among the members of the regional legislative assembly and not elected at large by the people, except for legislative representatives, who shall lead regional governance. Still, the constituents have to know the extent of the powers of the BARMM whose definitive territories shall be determined through a plebiscite which will be called by January 2019. There is a lot to learn about the provisions in the BOL.

        Another political push is federalism espoused by President Duterte whose model has been crafted by the Constitutional Committee and now under scrutiny in both chambers of the Congress. Under the proposal, the vote for the presidency is also a vote for the vice president of the same political party fashioned after the United States of America which has several states such as California and Texas and what have they. There is no prime minister post in the proposed federal state. The proposed federalism is now a heated debate. Should the people ratify federalism through a plebiscite, the BARMM could be one of these regional states in Mindanao if such is established under the BOL.  Each regional state will have its respective elected senator(s), hence, the number will increase in the Senate from the original 24 elected nation-wide.

        The BOL and the BARMM affect the tri-people in south of Mindanao and the push for federalism as well. We are the stakeholders here. Politics is not all about government but affects also our economic and social dimensions.

While social institutions have their respective functions and places in a society, they are interactive as politics would affect the economic sphere such as sharing of revenues between the central and local governments. Each federal state has to seek its own revenues for its own sustainability and progress..

        So these two political issues have to be learned by the stakeholders --- the constituents. How? Schedules of series of forum or assemblies for presentation of political issues are insufficient since not many are attendees to these gatherings. Information dissemination have to be massive. We have the social media but not many households have internets, except for televisions or radios. Information campaign have to be both extensive and intensive so we could develop an educated political citizenry.

        We want a citizenry that is well learned and knowledgeable, at most the basic political concepts, before they exercise their political empowerment through a plebiscite. Say, if the BOL and BARMM are for peace and development, people, the stakeholders, have to be convinced that these will work or we go back to square one. Information and educational campaign starts now and it has to be penetrative like schoolers in attendance to absorb the academic lessons. So be it!