Peace advocates worried about SPDA scrapping

COTABATO CITY — Peace advocates in many parts of Mindanao are apprehensive of an "irreversible backlash" in the peace process as a result of Malacañang’s deactivation of the Southern Philippines Development Authority (SPDA), which has many socio-economic projects in war-torn areas in the South.

Last Thursday, President Arroyo issued Executive Order 149 deactivating the SPDA, citing duplication and overlapping of functions of the agency with other government bodies.

The Palace order came as the SPDA administrator, Habib Mujahab Hashim, and board of directors, led by Cotabato City Mayor Muslimin Sema, secretary-general of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), were embroiled in administrative and fiscal squabbles.

Worse, according to observers, the SPDA was deactivated even before the President could act on the clamor by the agency’s board for an extensive investigation into the alleged mishandling of huge amounts of state funds earmarked for socio-economic projects in impoverished areas covered by the Sept. 2, 1996 government-MNLF peace pact.

"Chances are those involved in the embezzling of SPDA funds can just go scot-free because the SPDA has been abolished, and there is no reason to run after them now," said Ustadz Malik Hamsiradji, an Egyptian-trained missionary.

Hashim and the Sema-led board have accused each other of mismanaging the agency. Their bickering worsened last month when the board directors unseated Hashim as administrator for allegedly costly transactions, including the procurement of a brand-new service vehicle without their clearance.

Hashim, on the other hand, accused the board of overspending in its regular conferences, travel and honoraria. He dismissed as "baseless" the board’s Nov. 4 resolution clipping his powers as SPDA administrator.

Being a presidential appointee, Hashim argued that only Mrs. Arroyo could remove him from office.

With the SPDA and the Southern Philippines Council for Peace and Development (SPCPD) both gone, a key leader of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), who requested anonymity, said there is no agency now that can deal directly with needy Muslim communities covered by the 1996 peace agreement.

The SPCPD served only as an interim transitory mechanism for the expansion of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. It was deactivated after the regional polls in November last year.

A special task force, led by Presidential Assistant for Mindanao Jesus Dureza, will oversee the gradual phaseout of the SPDA until June 30 next year.

Dureza has assured the SPDA’s regular employees that they would receive their benefits and allowable termination benefits.