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A former governor of North Cotabato province in Mindanao warned that
a Kosovo would spring up in the Philippines if President Gloria
Arroyo caused the signing of an agreement on ancestral domain with
Muslim rebels.
Emmanuel Piñol, now vice-governor of the
province, said Thursday that the agreement would result in the Moro
Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) declaring an independent state
similar to Kosovo in the former Yugoslavia.
”The government will give the MILF territory,
large share of resources in resource-sharing scheme and allow it to
maintain its own military force,” Piñol added. “These things
are enough for the MILF to secede and declare independence.”
Piñol said that based on a copy of the informal
draft agreement on ancestral domain that they have, the government
would allow the MILF to control half of North Cotabato’s
territory, give it a 7-percent share of the total wealth produced
and authorize it to maintain its own security forces.
The government will get 25 percent from the
resource-sharing, he added. Supposedly, North Cotabato would form
part of the ancestral domain, or the so-called Bangsamoro Juridical
Entity.
”With these things, concessions, from the
government, the MILF could go to the United Nations and say,
‘Look, we have territory, government, resources, and military,
recognize us as an independent state like Kosovo,’” Piñol said
during a press conference in Quezon City.
He added that the MILF could then pursue
independence even if the government failed to amend the Constitution
and hold a plebiscite after the signing of the agreement on
ancestral domain.
”After all, they [Muslim rebels] already got a
lot of concessions, and I believe they will disregard Charter change
and even a loss in the plebiscite,” Piñol said. The plebiscite
would be held in areas making up the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity
that supposedly has been created under the draft agreement.
Earlier this week, Piñol and other North Cotabato officials filed a
petition before the Supreme Court, asking it to compel the
government to release the formal draft agreement on ancestral
domain.
The petitioners said they want the government to
furnish them a copy of the agreement before the August 5 signing so
that they could have time to review it and possibly file another
case if they find that the document violated the law.
Also on Thursday, the MILF assailed the North
Cotabato officials for passing a resolution urging Manila to remove
the head of a government ceasefire committee for allegedly failing
to prevent rebel attacks.
More clashes feared
The provincial officials passed the resolution
after Piñol accused the MILF insurgents of assaulting government
militias and burning civilian houses in North Cotabato. Fighting
between militias and the rebels began escalating in the province
last week.
The resolution, Piñol said, called for the
immediate sacking of Army Brig. Gen. Reynaldo Sealana.
He expressed fears that more clashes between
soldiers and the rebels would erupt if the government pushed through
with the signing of the agreement.
Press Secretary Jesus Dureza clarified that
there is no connection between the scheduled August 5 signing and
the conduct of the August 11 elections in the Autonomous Region in
Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).
In calling for the removal of Sealana, Piñol at
the same time accused the general of ignoring calls by provincial
leaders to sanction the MILF for the attacks, which were a violation
of the truce. Sealana had said the fighting in the province was
triggered by a long-time feud between the rebels and the militias.
Politicians suggested that Sealana was siding
with the MILF.
The rebel group said the militias, which
supposedly are being used as private armies of politicians in North
Cotabato, were attacking rebel forces in the province, sparking
clashes that left many wounded from both sides the past weeks. It
added that the militias would often attack MILF areas with mortar.
The military said the clashes have forced
thousands of villagers to flee their homes for fear that they would
be trapped in the crossfire.
The rebel group also branded as unfair the
resolution passed by the North Cotabato Provincial Board.
“Gen. Sealana is not defending the MILF with
what is happening in Aleosan, North Cotabato in the past weeks. [He]
is merely doing his mandate, without any reservation, to protect and
sustain the ceasefire on the ground and to uphold the primacy of the
peace process,” said Toks Ebrahim, Sealana’s counterpart in the
MILF.
“My counterpart is doing very well and it is
so unfair that an ouster call was imputed on him,” Ebrahim added.
The MILF rebels also wanted the ARMM elections
postponed until after a peace agreement is signed between them and
the government. ARMM groups the provinces of Basilan, Lanao del Sur,
Maguindanao, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi, including Marawi City,
Piñol said the move to reset the regional polls
has dismayed soldiers, who believe that the government accommodated
the MILF when it granted a request of the rebels to defer the ARMM
elections.
“There is already a discomfort among military
men for the death of their comrades. I don’t have to say this but
the President must know this, soldiers in North Cotabato take off
their uniforms to join the civilians in their armed battle against
the rebels,” he added.
-- Angelo S. Samonte, Al Jacinto, Jomar Canlas and Maricel V.
Cruz
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