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By Efren L. Danao, Senior Reporter
A Muslim tribal leader warned on Thursday that
there would be a “holy war” or jihad if a memorandum of
agreement on ancestral domain between the government and the Moro
Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) was scrapped.
Hadji Abdullah Daliding, a Maranao, issued the
warning at the Senate inquiry into the memorandum of agreement
conducted by the Committee on Peace and Reconciliation headed by
Sen. Jamby Madrigal and the Committee on National Defense headed by
Sen. Rodolfo Biazon.
Hermogenes Esperon Jr., the presidential adviser
on the peace process, Gen. Rodolfo Garcia, head of the Philippine
peace panel, and Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro did not attend
the hearing.
Daliding’s warning came as Mayor Lawrence Cruz
of Iligan City and Mayor Celso Lobregat of Zamboanga City said they
had received death threats. Both, along with Vice Gov. Emmanuel Piñol
of North Cotabato province, are the staunchest opponents of the
memorandum, which seeks to take away a number of their barangay
units (villages) and place them under the supervision of the
Bangsamoro Juridical Entity.
Cruz said the death threats came from the MILF,
while Lobregat refused to elaborate. They said Piñol had also been
receiving death threats.
Daliding said the MILF occupation of some areas
in North Cotabato would not have happened had the August 5 signing
of the memorandum of agreement in Kuala Lumpur happened. The
Philippine Supreme Court issued a temporary restraining order
against the signing. It is slated to hear oral arguments today.
Agreement for peace
The Maranao leader insisted that the memorandum
of agreement is for peace, and appealed to the senators to help
“avert a war.” He charged that local officials are opposing the
memorandum because they have selfish interests.
A Muslim leader in Basilan province, however,
told the joint hearing that the agreement is not acceptable in the
province. Mayor Cherrylin Santos-Akbar of Isabela City, Basilan,
said her city and the entire province of Basilan are opposed to the
memorandum. She added that the memorandum seeks to place all 45
villages of Isabela City under the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity
without consulting local leaders. This was the same complaint of Piñol,
Lobregat and Cruz.
“Isabela is now very peaceful and is starting
to grow. Our growth will be disrupted and violence would erupt if
the memorandum of agreement pushes through. We do not want a new
governance,” Akbar said.
Cruz said about 80 percent of Iligan City,
including the most progressive areas, would be torn away from the
local government and transferred to the juridical entity under the
memorandum.
He added that relations between Christians and
Muslims in Iligan City, the capital of Lanao del Norte province, were
“excellent and harmonious” but the memorandum could change this.
“The memorandum of agreement is supposed to be
an instrument of peace. Instead, it is an instrument of tension, of
divisiveness,” said Lobregat, who also boasted of peaceful
co-existence between Christians and Muslims in Zamboanga City.
Professor Octavio Dinampo, the guide of
broadcast journalist Ces Drilon and her television crew when they
were kidnapped by the Abu Sayyaf in Sulu province, also spoke of a
“bleak future” for peace if there is no memorandum.
Dinampo contested the claim of Cruz, Lobregat
and Piñol that there were no consultations on the memorandum. He
said that the government and the MILF panels had been discussing the
issue of ancestral domain for 11 years and six months.
The local officials said the consultations were
on general terms and they did not know the specific terms with the
refusal of the government peace panel to give them copies of the
memorandum of agreement.
Copies already given
These officials, particularly those from North
Cotabato, should not expect to get new copies of the memorandum of
agreement because they already received a copy of the memorandum,
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said.
”The Solicitor General told us that they
already filed a reply in
connection with the order of the Supreme Court to come up with a
reply and documents for the [oral arguments today on the
memorandum],” Ermita added.
-- Angelo S. Samonte and AFP
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