The Mindanao Peace Talk

When the Philippine government’s chief negotiator welcomed the latest announcement of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, a rebel group that is negotiating on behalf of the Filipino Muslims in Mindanao, that it is no longer seeking independence from the Philippines and is instead seeking a status similar to a US state, one can’t help but think that this peace talk is off to a bad start. Just the day before this announcement, the rebel group was seeking a sub-state status. The chief negotiator, Dean Marvic Leonen of the University of the Philippines Law School, was quick to add, however, that the rebel announcement Wednesday "will definitely pave the way to finding an understanding for a politically feasible arrangement that maintains the territorial integrity and the fundamental premise of people's sovereignty in one republic.”

How so, I wonder? The fundamental premise of the solution is that a change in structure will pave the way for the redistribution of the political and economic resources of the country, with Mindanao getting its fair share this time around. Hence, the idea of a sub-state, and now a federal arrangement that will afford the Mindanao Muslim leadership "state jurisdiction" over parts of Mindanao while leaving the bigger issues (foreign policy, national defense, etc.) to the national government.

If that is indeed the correct solution, then all regions of the Philippines should be subjected to the same federal arrangement, lest a region, like Bicol, for instance, be made to feel neglected (as what will surely happen if all resources are poured into Mindanao). If the intent of this approach is to correct alleged neglect and past injustices committed against the people of Mindanao, how could the solution lie in structures, in bureaucratic arrangements? ARMM has not worked out, so why would this one work? (ARMM stands for Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao which has its own government. Its leadership has been accused of committing massive graft and corruption.)

For this peace talk to succeed, the Philippine government must lay down the proper foundation for genuine peace. And this entails the surrender and disarmament of the MILF and other insurgent groups. Disarmament is first and foremost a necessary condition upon which genuine negotiations can proceed.

A structural solution will only institutionalize and legitimize secession. No matter how the rebels sugarcoat secession through structural solutions, everyone knows that the separation they are seeking for will only benefit themselves and the Muslim ruling elite, at the expense, of course, of the general Muslim population.

The republican solution is always there, for anyone to employ. An understanding of the duties and obligations of leaders and citizens that makes possible a government that rules by consent and that rules for the common good of all while recognizing the rights of each and every individual eliminates tribalism and elitist politics that are too common in Mindanao politics.