by ANGELO L. GUTIERREZ
abs-cbnNEWS.com

"Spoilers" of long-lasting peace in Mindanao are leaving the "minoritized" Bangsamoro people no other option but war to reclaim their ancestral land, a government peace negotiator with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) said Wednesday.

"We should remember the Memorandum Of Agreement on Ancestral Domain is a minority versus majority issue. And if it would always be the tyranny of the majority that would be imposed, the aspirations of the minority would never be realized," Ret. Gen. Rodolfo Garcia, chair of the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) peace panel with the MILF, said at a forum at the University of the Philippines in Quezon City.

Garcia said if the MILF fails to reclaim their ancestral land in Mindanao through peaceful means, the minority Muslims may be forced to go again go to war with the Christian majority.

"If the peaceful means to achieve that aspiration fail, what are the options? War and conflict come as possible options," he said. "Why can't we accommodate these aspirations if nothing of sovereign value is lost anyway?"

No comment

As Garcia spoke in front of the UP College of Law students and faculty, Malacañang announced that it will no longer sign the MOA-AD and will review the accord with the MILF leadership.

Garcia, who looked surprised about the announcement, declined to comment on the development when asked by abs-cbnNEWS.com.

In his presentation, Garcia said the security situation in Mindanao has deteriorated following the Supreme Court's decision to issue a temporary restraining order on the MOA-AD last August 4, the day before the scheduled signing in Malaysia.

"The situation on the ground has become volatile. Violence has been inflicted in five municipalities of Lanao del Norte, and before that, in North Cotabato. The fighting has developed and has reached Shariff Aguak in Maguindanao," Garcia said.

Unsigned MOA-AD reversed peaceful intention

Garcia said the GRP agreed to the MOA-AD with the MILF solely for the purpose of "addressing the Bangsamoro problem" and bringing "long lasting peace in Mindanao."

However, with the strong opposition to the accord and the eventual issuance of the TRO, he said it has spawned "some dynamics that are contrary to what it originally set out to do."

Garcia said the violence that has erupted is caused by "misunderstanding" and "misperception."

"I don’t mean misperception by those here in Manila, but also misperception about the same MOA among the members of the MILF. And then some incidents of violence came up," he said.

Musib Buat, a lawyer and member of the MILF negotiation panel, said one of the reasons for the reemergence of violence in Mindanao is lack of knowledge of some rebel commanders on the definition of legal terms, like the Supreme Court's TRO.

"Some people do not understand what is a TRO, which is to maintain a status quo," Buat said.

He claimed MILF Commanders Ameril Umbra Kato and Abdurahman Macapaar alias Commander Bravo don’t know what a TRO means in legal terms.

"Some people on the ground, like Commander Ameril Umbra Kato, did not understand the TRO. He went ahead and tried to engage the CVOs [civilian volunteer organizations] and the military in a gunfight," the lawyer added.

Garcia, for his part, said acts of Kato and Commander Bravo could be traced to their "impatience on the pace of the talks."

Understanding Bangsamoro problem

Professor Marvic Leonen, dean of the UP College of Law, praised Garcia for defending the interests of the Muslims.

"We thought we’d never see that a government of the Republic of the Philippines’ representative would be the one arguing for a Bangsamoro
homeland," he said.

"I think one of the things we achieved in the peace process is that the panel of the GRP seems to have a more sophisticated and intricate understanding of what is happening in Mindanao," he added.

Garcia earlier said the reason the Mindanao conflict remains unsolved is because of deep-seated historical biases and prejudice.

He said Filipinos, Christians and Muslims alike, should have a better understanding of the Bangsamoro problem.

Unconquered Moros

Garcia also discussed how Mindanao natives became victims of "minoritization and marginalization."

He said the Bangsamoro people already had a "sovereign state" before the Spaniards and Americans came to conquer the Philippines.

The Spaniards came first and conquered the country, but they failed to take Mindanao from its Muslim ancestors.

"At the end of the Spanish colonial period, when the Spaniards were defeated by the Americans, the Moros remained unconquered," he said.

However, when the Spaniards yielded the Philippines to the Americans, they included the Bangsamoro homeland as part of the territory that they conquered.

As a result, the Bangsamoros struggle for their homeland started. The Muslims, who used to be the majority in Mindanao, were slowly "minoritized" during the American colonial rule, Garcia said.

"By the 1970s, the demographics in Mindanao was drastically reversed. They (Moros) now constitute only 20 percent the population of Mindanao," he said.

Garcia said the MILF, plus another separatist Muslim group, the Moro National Liberation Front, are simply struggling to get back their ancestors’ land.

Hear Moros’ constitutional demands

In his explanation on ancestral domain law, Leonen said Moros’ demands of amending the 1987 Constitution should be considered by the "majority."

He said some "demands to change the constitution" have been granted by the judiciary.

Leonen cited the Mabanag vs Lopez-Vito cases, which was about giving parity rights to the Americans with respect to the use of the Philippines’ natural resources.

"That Supreme Court case legitimized a process where there were less than three-fourths votes on the part of the Senate… and the House of Representatives said yes, so the constitution of the republic was properly amended," he said.

He said the charter has a provision on how amendments may be done. Thus, he said proposals to change the charter should be given a chance.

Leonen wondered why a proposal to amend the charter is seen to be part of the democratic process, but when a minority group wants to change the charter, it is deemed "unconstitutional."

"If, for the Americans, we have changed our constitution; if, for mining companies, we are open to changing provisions in our constitution, why is it that at some point, we are not open to changing our constitution when some of our peoples want their histories corrected?"