Cha-cha for Mindanao peace?
There's a gathering storm of protests over the MOA on Muslim ancestral domain crafted by GRP and MILF. The provisions are so blatantly onerous on the part of the government that a print medium calls the agreement something designed to fail from the start.
Using the ARMM as the base area, the peace panel agreed to expand the territorial coverage of what can be declared as a Bangsamoro homeland. But more than demography, the agreement also expands the region's governance giving it ample authority to manage its own affairs: With these ARMM could then function like a federal state.
But how can this happen when to push through with the agreement would be a violation of the Constitution?
The answer is Cha-cha. The peace process adviser himself, retired general Hermogenes Esperon Jr., commented publicly that Charter change is needed for a lasting peace in
These statements point to one direction: Cha-cha. But Cha-cha under the current dispensation is a dirty word to PGMA's critics. A few years ago Charter change through the so-called people's initiative championed by former Speaker Jose de Venecia, a PGMA cohort then, was attempted. But the Supreme Court shot it down as unconstitutional. There was a menu of proposed changes including federalism itself, but the reception was cold. Even among the administration lawmakers advocacy was lukewarm. The suspicion was that it was nothing but a veiled attempt to extend GMA's stay at the Pasig Office.
Now against the backdrop of the
Malacañang is of course upbeat about the resolution. Its rationale: Creation of federal states including one for Bangsamoro homeland. The trouble is that with Pasig Office's enthusiastic support of the Pimentel resolution, suspicion has cropped up in the minds of many senators and congressmen on the motives behind such support. Many of them are convinced that once the Constituent Assembly is convened - for this is the planned approach - the door would be open for the administration to use that forum to extend PGMA's term.
The presidential hopefuls, more than any other groups, are particularly vocal about their objections. Timing is the butt of their argument. Federalism is ok for them but not before 2010. Many have aired their dismay that the President is linking the federalism measure to the
Ambition, ambition - in these trying times ambition ought to give way to what is good for the country. Suspicion should be tempered with a willing disregard of party or individual interests. Unity of purpose is needed if the country is to survive. Burgeoning oil prices, shortage of food, and now the war in Mindanao - these call for concerted efforts of all Filipinos, the power wielding ones especially, to find ways to minimize the adverse effects of these upon our national life.
Suspicion has been the goblin in the minds of the opposition. Abetted by critical media, this viewpoint has defined their stand on major issues even to the extent of obstructing development-oriented projects, including those designed to help the poor. The call to federalize is an urgent call. To speed up economic development and to dissipate unrests especially in
The President is suspected to have a hidden agenda. But that's only a suspicion, and a culture of suspicion cannot make this country go forward. She may be unpopular, but this does not mean she has lost her sense of duty to God and country. On this particular issue, why not trust her just for once? In her remaining days in office, she may yet redeem herself for posterity.
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