Senate vows to block efforts to defer ARMM polls

Lawmakers from the Senate on Tuesday decried the moves to postpone elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, saying there is no logic why the regional polls should be postponed when there was no peace agreement yet between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

Senate President Manuel Villar Jr. led opposition and administration senators in questioning President Arroyo for supporting calls to postpone the ARMM elections and he vowed to block all efforts to reset the August 11 ARMM elections.

"The Senate would definitely block all proposed legislation deferring the regional polls to 2010 unless there is a justifiable and urgent need to do so," Villar said.

Senators Francis Pangilinan, Aquilino Pimentel Jr., Richard Gordon, Francis Escudero, Juan Ponce Enrile, Manuel Roxas II, Rodolfo Biazon and Pia Cayetano crossed party lines in supporting Villar against postponing the elections.

Mrs. Arroyo declared her support for calls of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and other sectors to defer the ARMM elections until after a final peace agreement is reached with the Moro rebels.

"We are wondering why such call for postponement has to be done. We cannot allow this to happen and we have to find out where this is coming from and its end goal. The people are getting confused and it's a pity because the candidates have campaigned," Villar pointed out.

Villar said Congress would have to deliberate first on the proposal while the people would have to see the peace agreement with the MILF.

Enrile said the ARMM elections should not be tied to the ongoing peace talks with the MILF. "Suppose they will not be able to finish the agreement, are we going to postpone it forever?" he asked.

He said holding the ARMM elections simultaneously with the national elections in 2010 would not be acceptable and that the law authorizing the conduct of the ARMM elections on Aug. 11 should be respected.

Administration Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri, who earlier supported the call for postponement of the ARMM polls, said he backed out after failing to get the support of other lawmakers.

Zubiri said the move to postpone the election is "dead in the water in the Senate." He said that with only five session days left it is "logistically impossible" to amend the law setting the date of the ARMM elections.

In the House of Representatives, a measure seeking the postponement of the election also suffered a setback after Mindanao lawmakers failed to agree to support the bill.

A two-hour, closed-door caucus by the Mindanao bloc led by Speaker Prospero Nograles failed to resolve the issue after only 14 lawmakers voted in favor of the postponement while 14 disagreed and five abstained.

The so-called Mindanao bloc in the House of Representatives has 57 members.

Nograles, however, said he would ask President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to certify the bill. After the caucus of the Mindanao bloc Tuesday afternoon Nograles met with congressmen from ARMM who agreed to move for the postponement.

For his part, Rep. Simeon Datumanong, deputy speaker for Mindanao who co-authored the bill, admitted that time is running out to pass the measure.

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. said Zubiri's backtracking was an apparent realization that the Palace cannot force the issue.

Pimentel, who had allied himself with those against the postponement of the election, said the plan to postpone the ARMM polls could be a ploy to extend the terms of those who are abusing their office and the good ones who want to serve will be prevented from being elected because there will be no elections.

Senator Gordon said the move to postpone the ARMM elections virtually dictates on the turf of the Commission on Elections (Comelec). He said Comelec is ready for the ARMM elections that will showcase the efforts to computerize the elections in 2010.

Pangilinan, on the other hand, said postponing the ARMM polls would show a government that was inutile and lacking in political will.

For her part, Cayetano said the proposal came too late in the day. She said the elections are 20 days away and preparations are in full swing.

Comelec said they would continue its preparation even after Mrs. Arroyo made an open declaration supporting the postponement of the regional polls.

Comelec Chairman Jose Melo said the poll body would abide by Congress should it decide to defer the regional elections.

But if Congress fails to enact a law postponing the ARMM polls, Melo said Comelec has to abide by the law setting the regional elections on Aug. 11.

Melo though admitted he personally wanted the elections in the ARMM to proceed since it would showcase the efforts of modernizing the electoral process for the 2010 polls.

Meanwhile, the MILF said Congress' failure to pass a law postponing the regional elections will not derail the signing of a pact with the government on ancestral domain.

MILF chief negotiator Mohagher Iqbal said that barring any sudden major development, the signing will push through in Putra Jaya in Malaysia on August 5.

"On the signing I don't think it (failure to postpone ARMM polls) will affect the signing at Putra Jaya, Malaysia on Aug. 5," Iqbal said.

Negotiating panels of the government and MILF reached an agreement Sunday night on ancestral domain, after the MILF panel walked out of the negotiations last Friday.

Iqbal, however, reiterated his warning that if the Aug. 11 ARMM elections are not postponed, it will give the MILF an impression the government is not determined to talk peace.

Otherwise, Iqbal said the MILF "recognizes" the "internal dynamics" of the Philippine government, including procedures in Congress.

"What is important to us is that we have sent our official word to them, that as far as the MILF is concerned it is better to postpone the ARMM elections," he said. (HG)

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US travel warning vs Zamboanga remains active

Top photo: US Ambassador to the Philippines Kristie Kenney cuts the ribbon during the EQuALLS2 Book Donation, Reading Corner and Skills Training for out-of school children and youth at Social Development Center in Santa Barbara, Zamboanga City, last Thursday.

The United States (US) government travel warnings to its citizens who want to visit Zamboanga City and other parts in Mindanao still stand.

"Our travel advisory is still in active," US Ambassador to the Philippines Kristie Kenney said yesterday in an interview at Cabaluay National High School.

Kenney did not elaborate, but said that there's no more place for those people who continue to disrupt ordinary peaceful citizens in the region.

Meanwhile, Kenney said that US is absolutely ready to support the peace agreement between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front with some quick disbursing assistance.

"Good luck and good will go to Secretary Esperon but also with our good friends in the MILF. I think there are a lot of people who want peace," she added.

Kenney was in the city along with other high ranking officials of the US and Philippine governments, including former Armed Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Hermogenes Esperon, now the new peace process adviser.

While in the city, Kenney joined Mayor Celso Lobregat in releasing a turtle off the waters at the Paseo del Mar. The turtle lost its way and landed in the beach of Bolong and was turned over to DENR on Wednesday.

They visited the Social Development Center at Barangay Sta. Barbara for a book turnover and skills training for out-of-school children and youth under the USAID-EQUALLS2 project.

Subsequently, the officials proceeded to Cabaluay National High School for the Computer Literacy and Internet Connection (CLIC) Project of USAID's Growth with Equity in Mindanao (GEM) Program turnover ceremony.

Up to this time, other countries like Australia and Canada are yet to lift their travel warnings against the city.

Last April 1, 2008, the US Embassy in Manila issued a warden message warning that extremists may be planning to kidnap Americans or other foreigners at hotels or other public places in the Zamboanga City area.

This was followed by Australian advising its citizens not to travel to Zamboanga City as kidnap for ransom gangs are active in the mainland Mindanao, the Zamboanga Peninsula, and the Sulu Archipelago.

The advisory repeated its previous warnings against "high threat of terrorist attack," recalled the various previous attacks, and advised its citizens against frequenting places like malls, churches, and resorts.

"Credible information indicates terrorists may be in the advanced stages of planning attacks. The attacks may be imminent and could occur at any time, anywhere in Mindanao. Attacks could occur in the lead up to and following religious celebrations," it said.

Local officials here led by Mayo Lobregat have been urging on the US and other foreign countries, including Australia and Canada, to lift their travel warnings against Zamboanga City to boost its tourism.

The city government had initially taken steps like the promotion of Zamboanga as Asia's Latin City and communication activities in coordination with other institutions to make foreign countries convinced that the city was in peaceful condition. (HG)

ARMM POLITICS

ARMM election campaign begins

ALLIES ---- Mayor Datu Norodin Matalam of Pagalungan, Maguindanao (left) show his being a staunch political supporter of re-electionist Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Gov. Datu Zaldy Ampatuan by raising the governor's hand after a peace and unity dialogue of all mayors from Shariff Kabunsuan and Maguindanao Tuesday in Ampatuan's hometown, Shariff Aguak, where Matalam had sworn to campaign for the re-electionist governor in his municipality, even if his older brother, former ARMM Vice Gov. Guimid Matalam, is also aspiring for the gubernatorial post of ARMM during the area's August 11, 2008 elections. Dozens of relatives of another contender for the same post, controversial Indanan, Sulu Mayor Isnaji Alvarez of the Moro National Liberation Front, now jailed in Camp Crame in connection with his alleged involvement in the recent kidnapping of ABS-CBN anchor Ces Drilon and her three companions, have also pledged support to Ampatuan's bid for a second term, ignoring Isnaji's colossal ambition to become chief executive of the autonomous region.

President Arroyo’s candidates for various positions in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao today started with their campaign, but only with a dialogue on the Southern peace process, sans the traditional merry-making voters have witnessed in past regional political sorties.

Engineer Norie Unas, regional secretariat of the Lakas-Muslim, Christian Democrats for the autonomous region, said they decided to “fire a very simple salvo” of their campaign maneuver since mayors and provincial governors in the ARMM have promised to campaign for re-electionist Gov. Zaldy Ampatuan in their respective towns.

Ampatuan and his running mate, re-electionist Vice Gov. Ansarudin Adiong, are both seeking second terms under the banner of Lakas-CMD, with President Arroyo’s blessing.

All of the more than a hundred mayors and six provincial governors in the autonomous region belong to the Lakas-CMD and are known for what seems to be “canine loyalty” to President Arroyo and the 40-year-old Ampatuan.

Mayors from Shariff Kabunsuan and Maguindanao, during their dialogue today in Shariff Aguak, Maguindanao’s provincial capital, took turns assuring Ampatuan and Adiong they will both defeat their contenders for the positions they aspire in lopsided victories.

Ampatuan is facing six contenders, among them Alvarez Isnaji, the controversial mayor of Indanan, Sulu.

Apart from Adiong, five others have also filed certificates for of candidacy for the ARMM’s vice gubernatorial post.

Lawyer Oscar Sampulna, executive secretary of ARMM, said today’s launching of the regional campaign by the administration’s Lakas-Muslim Christian Democrats, whose national chairperson is President Arroyo, focused lengthily on how the mayors and provincial governors can help the Commission on Elections administer “HOPE,” meaning honest, orderly and peaceful elections, in the autonomous region.

“Similar dialogues will also be initiated soon by the regional chapter of Lakas-CMD in other provinces of ARMM,” Sampulna said.

MILF accuses government troops of desecrating graves in Sulu

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) accused government troops on Sunday of desecrating graves in the southern island of Sulu, describing it as the worst time for human rights violations in Philippine history.

A report posted on Luwaran.com, the MILF’s official website, said the human rights violations committed by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is comparable to those committed by the late President Ferdinand Marcos.

The MILF claimed that on June 23, 2008, hundreds of Marines and Scout Rangers proceeded to Barangay (village) Buhati, Lahing-Lahing, Luuk and passed by its bailiwicks without permission or coordination.

It said that upon reaching the said village, the soldiers dug up the grave of Albi Moro, who was buried in the area two months ago, and retrieved the decomposing body for an unknown reason.

On the same night, soldiers also dug up and retrieved the decomposed body of unidentified woman who was buried 40 days back in the same area, according to the MILF website.

MILF Sulu commander Basaron Kamlon filed a protest letter against the soldiers, citing a report of the resident of Buhati village who said the soldiers claimed the two decomposed bodies are those of most wanted bombers Dulmatin and Patek.

The two bombers are tagged by the US and Philippine governments as terrorists from Indonesia’s Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) blamed for Bali bombing that killed hundreds of people. They are said to have slipped to Sulu.

The family of these unearthed bodies are now preparing their complaint against the soldiers responsible for digging up the graves of their loved ones, according to the report posted at Luwaran.com.

The MILF said the pervading culture of impunity and the failure of Arroyo administration to put a stop to human rights violations committed by the AFP particularly in the province of Sulu necessitate urgent intervention of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC).

It said unrelenting forms of action in all fronts are needed to stop the continued human rights violations committed by the AFP particularly the increasing militarization of Sulu and other forms of political repression in the Bangsamoro homeland.