A transformation council for Bangsamoro?

Yesterday I had lunch with my fellow STAR columnist Ma’am Chit Pedrosa and we had so many issues that we discussed on the table and her favorite topics: crowd sourcing constitutional change, the National Transformation Council (NTC) and the issue of the Bangsamoro Peace Pact. Speaking of the Bangsamoro peace deal, I was bewildered by that STAR report that came out last April 21, Monday wherein the chief government peace negotiator Miriam Coronel-Ferrer asked the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) before Holy Week to “stop the kidnappings?”

That news item instantly gives the reader the idea that the Philippine Government signed a peace deal with kidnappers. In my book that news report was a revelation that not all is well in the Peace Process front. Listening to radio over 792 kHz, we heard reports that some 20,000 Muslim and Christian residents in Wao, Lanao del Sur signed a petition to Pres. Benigno Aquino III to tell him that they don’t agree with the Peace pact. A couple of weeks ago, while I was in Manila for the Globe Telecom annual stockholders meeting, we were with the media from the Visayas and Mindanao and none of the journalists with us were happy with the Peace pact.

So clearly, despite all efforts to forge some kind of peace for Mindanao, it is not the reality on the ground. We’ve already written the numerous reasons why we just can see Peace in Mindanao with this Peace deal. Incidentally during lunch, we were joined by a Muslim friend of ours from Mindanao who gave us a report specific to Chit Pedrosa’s columns on the creation of a National Transformation Council (NTC).

He told us that there is now what he calls Transformation Council for Bangsamoro and we were told that this was an offshoot from the Bangsamoro Federal Statehood movement. This friend of mine told us clearly, “We support the Bangsamoro Gov’t, but we oppose the Government of the Philippines’ political deception in this peace process.”

I also learned that the Sultan of Sulu and of Sabah intends to join the TC-Bangsamoro. What does all this tell you? That things do not augur well for Mindanao as promised by the Peace Pact with the MILF. That National Transformation Councils (NTCs) are now being formed in Davao, Monkayo, Compostela Valley and in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) gives you and idea that some form of rebellion against our current centralized system government is now in the offing. I further learned that the NTC is supported by the Mindanao Bishops-Ulama Conference, a group that Pres. Aquino snubbed and wasn’t invited to the meetings for the Peace Pact.

When I asked Ma’am Chit who started the National Transformation Council (NTC), she was still tight-lipped about it. But with the Peace Pact that the Aquino regime signed with the MILF and forced into the throats of the people in Mindanao who were not consulted about this process…what did you expect to happen? That these people like sheep would simply follow into the path of destruction? No, they are preparing for worst times.

There is no doubt that there’s so much to grumble about the “Awful” management style of P-Noy. Sure, the Social Weather Station (SWS) and Pulse Asia are still trying to prop up his image but to no avail. Even the international news media like Al Jazeera have taken notice about the still growing tensions in Hacienda Luisita because 10 years later, injustice is still happening in that land, which is owned by the Aquino family. So Chit Pedrosa was correct… it is really time to form your respective NTCs.

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Finally, the Megawide-GMR consortium that won the bid for the Mactan Cebu International Airport (MCIA) new terminal project paid the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) the P14.4 billion up front premium that they promised to pay and with this payment, the DOTC led by Undersecretary for Legal Affairs and Bids and Awards Committee Chair, Jose Perpetuo Lotilla signed its 25-year concession agreement with the Megawide-GMR. 

While I should be elated that finally this project can now proceed, however there is still that dark cloud… a sword of Damocles if you want to call it that… of the petition by Sen. Serge Osmeña, III to the Supreme Court (SC) seeking to put a stop to this airport deal. In my book, this is the only thing left hanging that prevents this project from proceeding. I’m sure that the DOTC wants Megawide-GMR to proceed… and take it from me, we in Cebu want this project to proceed… however the ball is in the Supreme Court whether it would issue a temporary restraining order (TRO) requested by Sen. Serge Osmeña or will the SC throw out his petition into the cold??

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