1st of a series
GENERAL SANTOS CITY — Opponents of the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain pinned it down on the question of constitutionality. At the Supreme Court hearing, the respondents led by the solicitor general admitted that the MOA-AD could not be implemented without amending the Constitution. That sealed the question.
The admission elicits the […]

GENERAL SANTOS CITY  — By its latest shift of negotiating position with the MILF (Moro Islamic Liberation Front), the AGRP (Arroyo Government of the Philippines) has put itself in tighter bind. Mired now in lost credibility, how can it extricate itself? Malaysia, the Organization of Islamic Conference, and others in the international community may be […]

GENERAL SANTOS CITY — Last Tuesday, August 26, The Philippine Star carried President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s declaration: “We’ll remove all obstacles to peace.” Just like her recent policy statements on the Mindanao crisis, she did so as guest in a public ceremony.
The Star reported: “President Arroyo maintained yesterday that the government is determined to remove ‘all […]

GENERAL SANTOS CITY — The Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain of the Government with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front can be the ultimate solution to the centuries-old Moro problem – to write finis to the protracted peace process. Unfortunately, the GRP and MILF peace panels ignored essential realities, turning the solution into the […]

GENERAL SANTOS CITY  — The plebiscite for Category A(B) municipalities and barangays to be included in BJE in 2009 will generate conflicts that will block the road toward the peace process unless the GRP and MILF panels could correct the faults on time. Consensus 2(d) on Territory states: “Without derogating from the requirements of […]

GENERAL SANTOS CITY — What an irony! The Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain that the Government of the Philippines and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front crafted for four years and seven months to bring about lasting peace, as of the moment, is imperiling the peace process. It has roused a storm of protests and […]

GENERAL SANTOS CITY — Now it is settled: Submitting HB 4832 to the plenary is a desperate act of the House defying a looming impossibility to pass a law postponing the August 11 ARMM election in order to remove a perceived stumbling block – which in reality is not — to the peace process. The […]

GENERAL SANTOS CITY — This is the continuation of the previous Comment: “Why Postpone the ARMM Election?” The change of the title is in anticipation that Congress cannot pass the necessary law to postpone the election due to the lack of time or the opposition of the Senate. In fact, by the latest report, House […]

GENERAL SANTOS CITY  — How many in Mindanao had expected President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to devote space in her State of the Nation Address yesterday (Monday, July 28) to the 11-year negotiation of the Philippine government with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front – seven years under her watch? The GRP-MILF talks on the ancestral domain and […]

PRESIDENT Arroyo endorsed last July 22 the request of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the appeal of some peace groups to postpone the regional election of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao set on August 11. Congress is the only body that can postpone elections. Despite his earlier opposition to clamors for the postponement of […]