Combined search for peace and identity

Of the many things said about the unfortunate Supreme Court decision on the MOA-AD, my favorites come from two sources: one from a Muslim, Jamal Ashley Yahya Abbas and the other from Lourdes Mastura, a Christian, married to Muslim Mike Mastura who was part of the panel in the KL meetings.

I like what both of them said and would like them to know that I have followed their suggestions. From Jamal Abbas I have embarked on a reading program on Filipino identity. My bedtime reading is the Looking for the Prehispanic Filipino by William Henry Scott and Filipino Prehistory by E. Landa Jocano. I confess that my convent education did not include this search. It is his thesis that our search for identity and peace settlement with the Bangsamoro can only be achieved if both Christians and Muslims discover their commonality when they fought colonialism.

Lourdes, I know personally, and take her cue that the Mindanao problem should be more widely known and understood. And may I add especially among media.

One reader of my column in the Internet reminded me that when Apolinario Mabini wrote those words of wisdom (placing more importance to principles than to constitutions) circumstances then were different. Oh? I will argue against that but it will take a book. The primacy of fundamental principles over a constitution especially a flawed one was true then as it is true now and it has nothing to do with 2010.

Another asked why we need to change the Constitution to accommodate a peace settlement. He ought to read up on the history of the peace process and answer his own question.

By the way, I have also taken up the seven volume The Philippine Insurrection against the United States by John R. M. Taylor to complement my search for Filipino identity. It may interest you to know that the documents compiled in the book give a good portrayal of Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo and his role in the history of our nation building.

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I can understand the delicate relations between fathers and sons. Speaking of Rep. Jose de Venecia and his son, I would suggest that son — Joey should also be reminded to think of his father and the legacy he will leave behind as a four-time speaker. This brings me to the role that JDV should play in helping peace efforts in Mindanao. After all, it is he who understood their aspirations at the time when they had asked his help. “I reminded them that this desire for federalism as a way out of ethnic conflict was not just in Mindanao but in many parts of the world. It is now seen as the response to bring about unity among diverse peoples as well as was to govern effectively especially huge populations in modern times.

“The essence of a federal system of government is simply the division of political power between a central or national authority and smaller, locally autonomous units such as provinces or states under the terms of a constitution.” Well said.

He can expound on the concept of a genuinely autonomous Muslim region in the Philippines and this was not a strange or merely local issue. The same federal principle is practiced in many countries such as Belgium, Switzerland and Canada or even a regional grouping such as the European Union.

He can explain to his less informed colleagues that “federalism would be a safeguard against separatism because it will protect the identities of our diverse communities and empower them to take their future in their own hands.” Even then rebel leaders had assured him many times in back channel negotiations that federalism would satisfy their demands for a state of their own. Senator Aquilino Pimentel Jr, as leader of the Opposition, was also in the Forum on Federation conference in Brussels and there was every hope that the two would cobble a multi-party effort. It isn’t too late, JDV. It would be a fitting legacy if you were now to lend your name to a burgeoning movement to bring peace in Mindanao. Forget the politics of 2010.

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All eyes and ears will be on Beijing when ASEAN leaders have their own regional summit under the tutelage of the Chinese hegemon. Whatever close relations we have with the US should not cloud our efforts to be a principal player in the region. Asian and European leaders will also meet as ASEM (Asia Europe Meeting). This group has been in existence since the early nineties and was widely discussed when my late husband, Alberto A. Pedrosa was ambassador to Brussels in 1992.

This is a timely meeting between the two regions with the developing financial crisis looking to European and Asian nations to formulate new economic models after the US sub-prime mortgage crash.

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Finally the issue of bankers’ bonus bonanza is getting center stage notice. Nick Clark writing for the Independent says “The issue of bonuses has become a huge political issue this year, with investors furious over bankers taking rewards in a year that many banks have declined or even collapsed.”

Ordinary British are hopping mad that these bonuses should continue even after the Government’s £37bn rescue package for Royal Bank of Scotland, HBOS and Lloyds TSB this month. Prime Minister Gordon Brown assuaged angry constituent that he wanted to “bring an end to rewards for failure”. He said: “The guiding idea is fair reward for hard work, effort and enterprise, not incentives for irresponsibility or excessive risk-taking for which the rest of us have paid.”

Politicians and union officials complained about large bonuses still being paid even when the financial markets were clearly deteriorating. The irresponsible bonus culture was said to have been one of the major reasons for the crisis.

On the other side, in New York, executives of Lehman Brothers were served with subpoenas to answer questions in three grand jury investigations. Tom Bawden in New York said the criminal investigations will focus on “whether the senior Lehman Brothers executives had sought to mislead the markets by making claims about the brokerage’s financial health that they knew to be false.”

Also to be called in apart from the Lehman executives are Ernst & Young, the group’s auditor, BlackRock, a Lehman creditor, and American International Group (AIG), the insurer, federal.