Mindanao Muslim rebels arrives Manila to sign Bangsamoro Independent State peace pact

Filipino Muslims and members of the Philippine military join a fun run in support of a preliminary peace agreement between the government and the nation's largest Muslim rebel group in suburban Quezon city, north of Manila, Philippines on Sunday.(Photo: Aaron Favila, AP)

200 Muslim rebels arrive to sign Philippine pact

Worn down by decades of fighting and failed peace agreements, about 200 Muslim rebels led by their elusive chief arrived in the Philippine capital for the signing of a preliminary peace pact Monday aimed at ending one of Asia's longest-running insurgencies.

The agreement is the first major tentative step toward a final settlement that grants minority Muslims in the southern Philippines broad autonomy in exchange for ending the violence that has killed tens of thousands of people and crippled development.

 

A product of 15 years of negotiations facilitated by neighboring Malaysia, which wants stability on its doorstep, the agreement sets in motion a roadmap to a final document that the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and Philippine President Benigno Aquino III's government plan to clinch before his six-year terms ends in 2016.

The signing will be witnessed by Aquino, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak and rebel chairman Al Haj Murad Ebrahim, who will set foot for the first time in Manila's Malacanang presidential palace, where officials prepared a red-carpet welcome.

"That first step alone signifies a giant leap in the relations between the two sides," said the presidential adviser for the peace process, Teresita Deles.

 

Murad has seldom appeared in public in past years. Aquino met Murad secretly in Tokyo for the first time last year to underscore their commitment to settle the rebellion.

About 300 Muslims from Manila and southern provinces held a noisy rally outside the palace on Sunday in support of the preliminary accord, yelling "Allahu Akbar," or "God is great." They called for more development in the resource-rich but impoverished southern Mindanao region, the homeland of minority Muslims in the predominantly Roman Catholic nation.

Security has been tightened in the capital, although no disruptions were expected.

The agreement is to be signed by government negotiator Marvic Leonen and his rebel counterpart, Mohagher Iqbal. It outlines general agreements on major issues, including the extent of power, revenues and territory of a new Muslim autonomous region to be called Bangsamoro.

It calls for the establishment of a 15-member Transition Commission to draft a law creating the new Muslim-administered region. Rebel forces will be deactivated gradually "beyond use," the agreement says, without specifying a timetable.

The deal is the most significant progress in years of tough bargaining with the 11,000-strong Moro group to end an uprising that has left more than 120,000 people dead and displaced about 2 million others. Western governments have worried over the presence of small numbers of al-Qaida-linked militants from the Middle East and Southeast Asia seeking combat training and collaboration with the Filipino insurgents.

One of those extremist groups, the Abu Sayyaf, is not part of any negotiations, but the hope is that the peace agreement will isolate its militants and deny them sanctuary and logistical support they had previously received from rebel commanders.

One of those hardline commanders, Ameril Umbra Kato, broke off from the main Moro insurgents last year. Kato's forces attacked the army in August, prompting an offensive that killed more than 50 fighters in the 200-strong rebel faction.

Abu Misri Mammah, a spokesman for Kato's forces, said Sunday that his group does not recognize the peace accord.

"That's a surrender," he said. "We won't waver from our armed struggle and continue to aspire for a separate Muslim homeland that won't be a creation of politicians."

The new Muslim region is to include an existing autonomous territory made of five of the country's poorest and most violent provinces. The Moro rebels earlier dropped a demand for a separate Muslim state and renounced terrorism.

 

Iqbal has said his group would not lay down its weapons until a final peace accord is concluded. He said the insurgents could form a political party and run in democratic elections to get a chance at leading the autonomous region.

USA Today

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ADB: Philippines lead for $500-Million Electric Tricycle Manufacturing in the World

Philippines seen as e-vehicle parts manufacturing hub – Foreign Companies in relocating in the Philippines

The Asian Development Bank sees the Philippines becoming a regional manufacturing hub for electric vehicle parts, which is if the government and its partners will be able to successfully pull off the $500-million electric tricycle program.

In an interview with the Inquirer, Neeraj K. Jain, country director of the ADB for the Philippines said the e-Trike project, which will involve the roll out of 100,000 units of electronic tricycles across the country, was an initiative that could generate economic and "transformational" gains not only for tricycle drivers but for a whole new industry—the electric vehicle industry.

 

Sohail Hasnie, principal energy specialist at the ADB, disclosed in the interview that five to six foreign companies had expressed interest in relocating their factories to the Philippines, after seeing that the government and the ADB were aggressively pushing forward with the e-Trike project.

"These are big names in the industry," added Jain.

Companies interested in relocating in the Philippines include large battery manufacturer's overseas, spare parts manufacturers, motorcycle manufacturers and renewable energy firms.

Jain said these suppliers and manufacturers were willing to relocate because they knew the ADB was involved in the project.

 

"They know we can do (the same project) in Indonesia, Thailand or Vietnam. In case these companies decide to relocate here, they know we can help them set up a regional market. It becomes a win-win situation—e-Trike drivers earn more, the country saves on costly oil imports, reduces pollution, the country benefits from new (industry), new jobs are created," Jain said.

According to Hasnie, the bidding process for the procurement of the e-trikes has started. The Department of Energy conducted the pre-qualification process two weeks ago, which had attracted 11 bidders. The short-list of pre-qualified e-Trike suppliers will be released within the next two weeks.

The pre-qualified bidders will be provided with the complete design documents, including the mandatory service package, which means the suppliers will have to provide after-sales services and warranty.

The e-Trike project is supported by local auto parts makers led by the Motor Vehicle Parts Manufacturers Association of the Philippines (MVPMAP) and the Electric Vehicle Association of the Philippines (EVAP). Both groups believe that the successful rollout of the program will attract major electric vehicle partners to set up shops in the Philippines.

Under the program, the government plans to replace 100,000 fuel-fed tricycle units with energy efficient e-trikes to help reduce the transport sector's gasoline consumption by 561,000 barrels yearly, reducing 260,000 tons of carbon dioxide emission yearly.

At present, more than 3.5 million motorized tricycles are operating in the country, producing more than 10 million tons of carbon dioxide and using nearly $5 billion worth of imported fuel yearly.

Inquirer 

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Singapore Animal activists praise Philippines move to stop exporting dolphins to Singapore

Singapore animal rights activists praise Philippines for barring dolphin exports to country.

Singapore animal rights activists have praised a Philippines government decision to bar the export of dolphins to Singapore as a step in the right direction.

"We have been campaigning against this ridiculous treatment of animals by the Singapore government and finally our actions have paid off in the Philippines," said Jayson Chang, an animal advocate in Singapore.

He said the move was "going to show the country that they cannot continue to be cruel to animals for profit."

The Quezon City Regional Trial Court stopped the re-exportation of 25 dolphins to Singapore, local reports said.

 

At the same time, the court, through Executive Judge Bernelito Fernandez, also prohibited the importation of additional dolphins into the country.

"After a thorough review of the allegations in support of the prayer for the issuance of a TEPO, this office finds that there exists extreme urgency and that the subject 25 captive dolphins and the petitioners will suffer grave injustice and irreparable injury should the re-exporting of the said captive dolphins and the importing of additional dolphins into the country be undertaken at this time…This office hereby rules to grant the prayer for a 72-hour TEPO effective upon receipt of this order by the respondents," the court said.

 

The dolphins are currently at the Ocean Adventure Park in Subic.

The case stemmed from a petition filed by the Earth Island Institute (EII)-Philippines, Philippine Animal Welfare Society (PAWS), CARA Welfare Philippines and several others against the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) and the Department of Agriculture (DA) to stop the re-exportation of 25 Solomon Island dolphins to Singapore.

 

It also comes on the heels of anger over the giant pandas that have arrived in Singapore from China and are set to go on public display this December in the city-state.

"We want all animals to not be in captivity and even more so these two pandas because they are not in their natural habitat," animal rights campaigner Teresa Cho said on Thursday afternoon as she and fellow activists were gathering to plan potential demonstrations against the panda's remaining in Singapore.

Wildlife Reserves Singapore (WRS) on Thursday announced that the pandas successfully completed the one month quarantine on October 6 and would not be prepared for public viewing.

The two pandas, five-year-old male Kai Kai and four-year-old Jia Jia – are expected to be the new stars in a brand new area of the Singapore Zoo.

 

They will make their public debut in December.

Singapore's government has also begun selling souvenirs, such as panda-inspired bags and toys.

The panda pair, which are on a 10-year loan from the China Wildlife Conservation Association (CWCA) to Singapore, were initially meant to arrive in March, but their arrival was delayed because more changes had to be made to their $8.5 million enclosure.

Director of CWCA Zhong Yi told members of the media in mid-August that representatives made a visit of the 1,225 square meter panda enclosure in June and found everything in order.

Like their fellow animal rights activists in Malaysia, Singapore's growing animal advocate community has condemned the government's decision to accept a pair of pandas from China.

The activists told Bikyamasr.com that the conditions in Singapore "are not appropriate for pandas and the move would cause unnecessary stress for the animals."

Bikyamasr

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United Nation Favored Japan – Pushed back China for Senkaku Islands Disputes – The Lawyer

UNCLOS favored Japan for the Senkaku Islands Disputes

The rights stuff in oil islands now

Energy companies should consider the Secure Path Vector Routing (SPV route) in light of the China-Japan island rights disputes (Philippines –China, Vietnam-China, ASEAN-China Sea Disputes)

Images of Chinese citizens overturning a Japanese-manufactured police car are a startling demonstration of the seemingly spontaneous civic anger about Japan's territorial claims to five uninhabited islands and three rocks in the East China Sea (and in a separate row in the West Philippines Sea (South China Sea), known to the Japanese as the Senkaku Islands and to the Chinese as the Diaoyu Islands.

The economic interest at stake is not the barren rocks, but the surrounding hydrocarbon potential. Oil majors contemplating investment need a primer in international law as well as an appreciation of the historical and political background before they venture into this region.

The West Philippines (South China) Sea dispute rose in tempo in 2009 after grumbling along for 30 years. In fact, there was a concrete legal reason: 13 May 2009 was the deadline for states to make claims to extend their rights to exploit the seabed for hydrocarbons under the 1982 UN Convention of the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

 

What needs to be understood about UNCLOS are:

1. Standard issue for coastal states is 12 nautical miles (nm) of territorial water projecting from their low-tide baselines, stretching out to 200nm of an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). They must permit submarine cables, maritime passage and overflight, but can bag the hydrocarbon and mineral wealth.
2. If you can lay claim to an island you get 12 miles around it.
3. If you can persuade the UN's Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) that yours goes out beyond 200nm into undisputed seabed, you could get extra EEZ. If there is a dispute between states, the commission lacks jurisdiction.
4. If states do not like the submissions to the CLCS, they put in to the UN secretary-general a document known as 'note verbale'.
5. States can opt out of Unclos dispute resolution, and China did.
6. If it is a sovereignty dispute over land, Unclos is the wrong set of rules - one is into customary international law and the hand of history.

The UNCLOS template favors Japan's archipelagic geography over China's continental coastline, but there are other states with a dog in the fight - Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan.

 

Administration of the islands was handed back to Japan from the US in 1972. Around this time oil was discovered and China advanced its claim on historical grounds going back to the 15th century.

The worry is whether China's growing confidence and economic power, with the West hobbled by recession, may lead to aggression.

The Confucian view sees binding dispute resolution as disharmonious and rejects it. This view is virtually bound to win in these cases, where there is no compulsory dispute resolution mechanism and the question of whose legal arguments are in the right is theoretical.

An astute chief executive of an oil and gas major should get his legal department to seek advice on structuring investments through special purpose vehicles (SPVs) to take advantage of bilateral investment treaties that may give leverage to seek compensation from an international arbitration tribunal if investments become expropriated. (http://goo.gl/Q6znE )

The Lawyer  

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Philippine Minister named Euromoney Finance Minister 2012

Cesar Purisima, the finance minister of the Philippines, has been named as Euromoney's Finance Minister of the Year for 2012.

 

Purisima received his award from Euromoney's group publisher Neil Osborn and editor Clive Horwood at a private reception on the fringes of the World Bank/IMF meetings in Tokyo on Thursday.

 

Euromoney commended Purisima for his careful and successful stewardship of the economy in the Philippines since returning as Finance secretary in 2010. This has led to a shift in perception and positive view of the Philippines' economy, in which Purisima's leadership and decision-making have been a key factor.

 

Purisima has worked closely with President Benigno Aquino III to champion the idea that "good governance is good economics." Bankers in the country say he has stuck to his guns, and the country is reaping the rewards. Purisima has unleashed an unforgiving strategy to combat tax evasion and maximize revenue from corporates without introducing any new taxes or reforms.

 

The Philippine growth story stands out against the challenging global macro-economic backdrop. Under Purisima's guidance, and fighting back after storms and flash floods devastated the country in 2011, GDP growth reached 5.9 percent in the second quarter of this year – up from 3.6 percent the previous year – and brought the first-half GDP average growth to 6.1 percent, showing some of the strongest growth rates in Asia.

 

Purisima has also taken gutsy measures to protect the Philippines' economy, as developed markets in the west crumbled under pressure. In December 2010, he orchestrated the exchange of short- and medium-tenor local government securities for P39.5 billion ($940 million) 10-year peso bonds, and P181 billion 25-year peso bonds. There was a similar exchange in July 2011, when short- and medium-tenor local government securities were exchanged for P67.6 billion 10-year bonds and P255 billion 20-year bonds."

 

Euromoney also commends Purisima for his initiatives in promoting capital markets, both in the Philippines and across the broader ASEAN region.

 

Euromoney, the leading global banking and finance publication, has been nominating a Finance Minister of the Year for the past 30 years to coincide with the World Bank/IMF meetings. The previous three winners of the award were Jim Flaherty of Canada in 2009, Russia's Alexei Kudrin in 2010 and Wayne Swan of Australia last year.

 

Euromoney's decision is based on three factors: the opinions of a committee of Euromoney's senior editors, chaired by the editor; the views of some of the world's leading bankers, which Euromoney's editorial team seeks out in background meetings; and the analysis of the contributors to our service Euromoney Country Risk (ECR), which has more than 400 economists around the world contributing on a regular basis, as well as data sourced and compiled by ECR.

 

Recent data compiled by ECR highlight that the Philippines' economic fundamentals have improved since the beginning of the year: its score has risen by more than 10%, one of the biggest improvements among global economies.

 

Euromoney

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Hunger in the Philippines not FOOD but TECHY culture and wrong food Standard Satisfaction

Restaurant's name could make me FULL, Text could make me HAPPY

 

A United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization report this week shows the Philippine hunger is rising opposite from other ASEAN countries which are declining and David Daw described the Philippines as the worst-performing countries in the world which could be partially unrealistic.

 

The United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization report is only based on the survey counting how many people are hungry versus how many people are satisfied with the food they eat but not taking consideration of the culture and the  people's life style for them to call themselves are hungry.

 

The Philippine culture is very unique because many people believes that the food satisfaction will only happened if they will eat in any famous fast-food-chain like Jollibee, KFC, McDonalds, Mang Inasal, and other fast food chain around the country as the feeling of being satisfied is driven by the name and the fame of the restaurants and not the quality and nutritional value of the food they eat which could be made by a simple home cooking techniques with a right choice of ingredients.

 

Many Filipinos also are dependents of instant foods (noodles, canned foods, junk foods) opposite from the traditional way of cooking foods which fresh fish, meats and vegetables are among the main ingredients and fresh fruits are served in the table.

 

Many Filipinos also prioritized their TECHY Needs than their hunger. We interviewed many teens and most of the respondents said that they will save their money to buy a daily cell phone credits (load) for their unlimited internet and unlimited call and texts and for upgrading of their phone units to a latest model smart phone models than buying foods.

 

Many Filipinos also preferred to keep online in the internet whole day or texting and chatting in the social networks sitting aside the right time of eating habit. Right food and right eating habits are becoming less priority than their TECHY needs and hunger.

 

Even people in the shanty houses in Manila prioritized their phone credits and load than their foods. They could not afford to buy their foods but they could afford to buy phone credits (load)

 

In some provinces in the central and southern Philippines, an expression in their local terms "bahalag walay kaon basta maka text (mawala ra nang ka gutom)" (I don't care if I am hungry as it will just passed, the important is I could text) is very common. Teens will prefer to keep texting and they don't have time to cook for their meals.

 

Hunger issues in the country are not just about insufficient foods or inability to buy foods but the attitude of many Filipinos that prioritizes their TECHY needs over their hunger.

 

Many people also believes that living like the rich people who could afford to the most expensive foods is their desired satisfaction not the usual home cooked foods which feed their minds that they are still hungry even they eat many times a day.

 

Other factor also is the name of the restaurant where they eat and not the nutritional value of the food they eat.  Home cooking or "the Lutong Bahay" has becoming less valued than eating at the fast food chain restaurant.

 

Hunger Plunges Everywhere in Southeast Asia, Except the Philippines – UN Report

 

UN Hunger report published by the Wall Street Journal  

 

The total number of chronically hungry people in Southeast Asia has plunged by close to 70 million in the last two decades thanks to economic growth and policies to feed the poor, but the number of people that regularly go to sleep with their stomachs growling in the Philippines has actually grown.

 

A United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization report this week showed the number of undernourished people in Southeast Asia fell a whopping 51% in the period between 1990 and this year. That was the biggest improvement of any of the regions the report surveyed.

 

Globally, the number of hungry people fell by only 13% during the same period, to 868 million people, according to the report, jointly published by the FAO, the International Fund for Agricultural Development and the World Food Program Entitled the "State of Food Insecurity in the World 2012."

 

"Among the regions, undernourishment in the past two decades decreased nearly 30% in Asia and the Pacific from 739 million to 563 million largely due to socio-economic progress," the report said.  "Despite population growth, the prevalence of undernourishment in the region decreased from 23.7% to 13.9%."

 

The Philippines, however, saw the number of chronically hungry citizens rise. Back in the period between 1990 and 1992, the Philippines had around 15 million people considered undernourished.  In the period between 2010 and 2012 the hungry horde had expanded 5% to 16 million. The only other Asian countries in the report that saw an increase in hungry people were Pakistan, Nepal and North Korea. The report did not include data from Myanmar.

 

While the percentage of hungry people in the Philippines has fallen from 24% in 1992 to 17% last year, the country's high population growth rate has meant that even though a smaller slice of the populace doesn't have enough food, the total number of undernourished has risen. The Philippines has more than 92 million people.

 

"Southeast Asia is probably doing better than any other part of the world. But over this time period (the Philippines) is the worst-performing of the countries," said David Dawe, a Bangkok based senior economist for the FAO and one of the editors of the report. "The Philippines has one of the highest population growth rates in the region and that kind of amplifies the difference."

 

The country may have adopted the slogan "It's more Fun in the Philippines," but there is also more hunger there because for the last decade its birth rates have been higher while its growth rates have been lower than those rates at most of its neighbors.

 

Another structural problem that may lead to more empty stomachs in the Philippines could be that the benefits of economic growth do not trickle down to the masses.

 

"The Philippines has always been a nation where the fruits of growth tend to be shared less equally," said Mr. Dawe. "The poverty rates have just not gone down all that much for its rate of GDP growth, so you don't have as much impact on undernourishment."

 

At the current rate of hunger, the Philippines looks like it will be one of the few countries in Asia to fail to get close to the United Nation's Millennium Development Goals of halving the percentage of the populace which is hungry by 2015.  Whether the country's controversial reproductive health bill is passed or not, it will be too late to lower the birth rate to meet the target.

 

Ramon Carandang, secretary in President Benigno Aquino III's communications office, said that the Philippines had performed better on some anti-povery metrics such as per capita income, purchasing power parity and the wealth gap than some of its neighbors.

 

"Having said that, it's true that growth in the past tended to benefit a narrow segment of the population,'' Mr. Carandang said. "This is partly because growth tended to be limited to sectors that did not have a big impact on poverty. Areas like real estate development and financial services, for example.''

 

While the Philippines did badly relative to Asia, the report showed that there were much hungrier regions in the world. The number of undernourished people in Africa shot up 37% during the 20 year covered in the report and some Latin American countries, notably Guatemala and Paraguay, saw their number of hungry citizens rise.

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Lebanon’s airline fired employee after broadcasting at the loudspeaker “Filipino passengers stop talking”

An Asian Nepalese talking traveler mistakenly recognized as Philippine National, humiliated by Lebanese Air Staff. Philippine's popularity for migrant workers from Asia serves as a trash basket for bad and good impression for other Asian people for the whole central and Southeast Asia.

 

In Lebanon, an official said Tuesday (October 09, 2012) that an employee of Lebanon's national airline MEA was fired after a passenger complained in a social media campaign that the worker humiliated travelers from the Philippines at the Beirut airport and told them over the loudspeaker, "Filipino people, stop talking."

The incident is part of what human rights groups say is widespread discrimination and abuse of foreign workers in Lebanon. More than 200,000 women from Asia and Africa work as maids in the country of 4 million people, said Nadim Houry, a researcher in Lebanon for the New York-based group Human Rights Watch.

 

In recent years, the foreign maids' work conditions — long hours, little pay and alleged physical abuse — have come under increasing scrutiny in Lebanon. Some private beaches in the country have barred foreign workers, and not all have complied with a Tourism Ministry directive earlier this year to halt such practices, Houry said.

He lauded the social media campaign protesting Saturday's airport incident, calling it a sign of change.

"The latest incident shows that more and more people in Lebanon are angry and tired of this racism that exists," Houry said, while urging the government to do more to protect foreign workers.

 

"What we have been missing are concrete new policies, a new enforcement mechanism to put an end to it," he said. "It is no longer the time for nice words."

Mr. Abed Shaheen, a Lebanese businessman based in Dubai, witnessed Saturday's incident while waiting to board a flight at Beirut's Rafik Hariri International Airport. The flight was delayed and passengers, including about two dozen domestic workers from Asia, were talking among themselves, he said.

At one point, a woman staffing the counter at the gate took a loudspeaker and announced, "Filipino people, stop talking," Shaheen said. He said the woman's male colleague corrected her, telling her the travelers were from Nepal, not the Philippines. The woman proceeded to admonish the group twice more, giggling as she did so.

 

Mr. Abed Shaheen said he was outraged and walked up to the counter to complain. He said he was brushed off by the two members of the ground staff and was told they would do as they please.

He later launched a protest campaign on Facebook and Twitter and sent an email to MEAG, an MEA subsidiary that handles ground services. Mr. Abed Shaheen said he received a call from a senior official in MEAG and was promised the company would investigate.

On Tuesday, MEA said on its Facebook page that it investigated Saturday's incident, which it portrayed it as an isolated case of "misbehavior" by an MEAG passenger service agent.

The airline said severe disciplinary action has been taken against an employee, but did not elaborate.

A MEA official said the woman was fired, and that disciplinary action was being considered against her male colleague. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the case with the media.

The Washington Post 

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Sen. Osmeña Searching ODA ₱111 Billion Bridge project MISSING Since Ramos, Estrada & Arroyo Administration

Former government officials liable for graft in bridge program

Former government officials during the Ramos, Estrada and Arroyo administrations may be held liable for graft as they allegedly gave undue advantage to contractors involved in the P111-billion President's bridge program.

Senator Sergio Osmeña III, chairman of the Blue Ribbon committee, on Tuesday said the secretaries of the agencies involved in the bridge-building program failed to exercise due diligence in implementing the project.

 

"There were no valid computations, and due diligence done. They were pointing at each other," said the senator after a Senate hearing on the issue.

He said the Department of Finance also failed to properly check the loan agreements for the program.

"The ones who signed the contract [could be held liable], the secretaries who signed and the undersecretaries who made the studies [for the project], the secretaries of the implementing agencies," said Osmeña.

 

Official development assistance

The President's bridge program was conceptualized during the incumbency of then President Fidel Ramos after a peace agreement with the Moro National Liberation Front was concluded in 1996.

The program was an Official Development Assistance (ODA) project. The Ramos administration was able to acquire grants from different governments to finance 30 to 45 percent of the project.

"The first two years [of the project] were signed under Ramos. But under Ramos these were legitimate grants," Osmeña said.

But some of the contractors were able to get around the project's safeguards during the last months of the Estrada administration.

"Last two months of Erap's term, they were distracted kasi pinakasuhan na si Erap ng impeachment," the senator said.

Arroyo administration

The bridge program under the Arroyo administration consisted of 14 contracts many of which, according to Senator Panfilo Lacson, led to nowhere or could not be used by the public.

Osmeña alleged that this happened because the agencies involved in the project did not do their job of checking and verifying the bridge projects.

He said this is because then President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo allegedly manipulated the program.

Osmeña said he would produce evidence supporting his allegations during the Blue Ribbon committee's next hearing.

"This was so complicated, I only wanted to explain with high degree of clarity kung paano nangyari ito," he said.

Osmeña earlier said Mrs. Arroyo was guilty of 'serial plunder' for overpricing  the billion-peso bridge program.

 

He said Mrs. Arroyo "misrepresented" the bridge program as an ODA project.

GMA News

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Senator Santiago Push for 12 Federal States Philippines - Charter Change

Could it be possible that the United States of the Philippines (USP) will rise in Asia?

The 12 States of the Federal Philippines (USP)

• Federal Administrative Region Manila (MLA)

1. The State of Northern Luzon (NL)
2. The State of Central Luzon (CL)
3. The State of Southern Tagalog; (ST)
4. The State of Bicol (BIC)
5. The State of Minparom (MIN)
6. The State of Eastern Visayas (EV)
7. The State of Central Visayas (CV)
8. The State of Western Visayas (WV)
9. The State of Northern Mindanao (NM)
10. The State of Southern Mindanao (SM)
11. The State of Zamboanga (ZA)
12. The Sultanate State of Sulu and the BangsaMoro (SSB)

The Constitution must be amended to make a peace agreement between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) work, Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago said Monday.

Other lawmakers, including the Speaker of the House, also said there may be a need for Charter change (Cha-cha) to implement the peace agreement.

But chief government negotiator Marvic Leonen said the creation of Bangsamoro would not entail amendments to the Constitution.

President Benigno Aquino on Sunday announced the framework agreement that would lead to the creation of an autonomous Moro homeland.

The Moro homeland, Bangsamoro, will replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). It will have a "ministerial" form of government.

Santiago, chairperson of the Senate committee on constitutional amendments, said those objectives of the agreement would require the amendment of the constitutional provision on the presidential form of government and a change that would allow the federal system if the government were to treat Bangsamoro as a substate.

"It appears to me as explicitly mentioned, this agreement depends upon the amendment of our Constitution… One is that in the Bangsamoro area or region, there will be not a presidential form of government but a parliamentary form that will require an amendment," Santiago said.

"The second amendment that seems to be necessitated by this framework agreement is the creation of a federalized system with respect only to the Bangsamoro area because it is treated as a so-called substate, as in a federal state," she said.

Ramifications

Speaking at a briefing for reporters in Malacañang Monday, Leonen explained the ramifications of the agreement's provisions for a transition from the ARMM to Bangsamoro by 2016.

"Insofar as the major political commitments are made by this administration in that framework agreement, we see no necessity for now to amend the Constitution," Leonen said.

 Within Constitution

"We think that the commitments made there by the government are indeed within the parameters of the Constitution, or within the flexibilities of the existing Constitution," he added.

In the agreement, part of the powers of the 15-member Transition Commission will be "to work on proposals to amend the Philippine Constitution for the purpose of accommodating and entrenching in the Constitution the agreements of the parties whenever necessary without derogating from any prior peace agreement."

"But there is no commitment there that such a proposal is going to be acted upon by Congress," Leonen said, adding that it was the MILF that asked for the inclusion of the provision.

It's up to Congress

Every citizen or any group of citizens could lobby Congress to amend the Constitution, he said.

"The MILF has requested, and so we said, 'Why not?' The Transition Commission may tackle that, may discuss that, may even propose it, but it is up to Congress to amend the Constitution," he added.

Reminded by the Philippine Daily Inquirer that the agreement mentioned a "ministerial form of government," indicating a need to amend the Constitution, Leonen said: "No, it does not. If you read Article 10, which contains the provisions on autonomy—the provisions of autonomy are found in Sections 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 and 21—there is nothing there which says that a ministerial form of government in an autonomous area is prohibited."

In fact, Leonen said the discussion in the Constitutional Commission "points to the idea that there should be accommodated certain kinds of forms of government within the area within a national structure. And therefore I beg to disagree."

There is nothing in the Constitution that prevents Bangsamoro from having a ministerial form of government, Leonen said.

Ministerial form of Government

The Inquirer asked Leonen on what the negotiating panels meant by ministerial form of government.

He explained that ministerial means political parties will try to capture the most seats allocated to various geographical areas or representing certain sectors.

Then the winning political parties will elect the chief minister—the head of the autonomous government—among themselves.

Leonen eventually admitted that the setup would be "similar to a parliamentary form of government."

"The Constitution says that whatever government is in the autonomous region, it shall always be under the supervision of the President," Leonen said. "So therefore even that will be under the supervision of the President."

Resistance

The Aquino administration has resisted amending the Constitution because of the difficulties in securing support from the majority Catholic public and politicians who represent them.

Even without constitutional change, Congress will have to approve a "basic law" for the proposed Bangsamoro.

The government hopes  Congress will approve this in 2015, to allow enough time for implementation before President Aquino steps down.

Senate defense committee vice chairman Gregorio Honasan said his colleagues wanted to take a closer look at the framework agreement. The senators, he said, should "not be misled by the terminology."

"We want to look at the substance of the agreement," Honasan said.

Fanfare

Santiago said proposals to alter economic provisions of the Constitution had already been met with much fanfare.  What more if the provision on the presidential form of government is altered, she asked.

"We cannot even pass amendments to economic provisions of our Constitution because of the cacophony of discordant voices… but here comes another amendment which is in effect virtually imposed on us so I'm very, very surprised and very concerned," Santiago told reporters.

Santiago also questioned the apparent involvement of foreign entities in the crafting of the agreement.

Malaysia, the broker of the peace talks between the government and the MILF, assigned representatives to act as mediator between the two parties during the discussions.

"This is a threshold problem for me," Santiago said.  "Since when did an entity outside the area of sovereignty dictate what terms should be included in a proposed constitutional amendment?" Santiago asked.

No frequent changes

"As a constitutional law scholar, I always stand firm that our Constitution must remain as it is.  As much as possible we should not amend it for trivial reasons or even for important reasons if we can still function under the old Constitution because amending it frequently violates the very principle of constitutional law," she explained.

"If you go to the dictionary, there is no word such as a substate.  Was this term invented for us? What we know in constitutional law is that there are so-called dependent states which is what the Bangsamoro area will become.  [Do] not call it a substate, it will become a dependent state or a nonsovereign state, that is what it actually is," she said.

After pointing out these issues, Santiago said the country would have to pass amendments first if only to accommodate the Bangsamoro region.

"There is a transition commission that is supposed to draft the Bangsamoro basic law or the constitution of the Bangsamoro area, but that will have to include these two constitutional amendments," she said.

 Lasting peace

If it comes to that, House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said the lawmakers who would write the law that would create Bangsamoro would do their part to ensure that the initiative would bring about lasting peace in Mindanao.

Belmonte said the creation of Bangsamoro may require changes in the Constitution, but if it would the effort would not go the way of the Arroyo administration's botched memorandum of agreement on ancestral domain (MOA-AD).

The lessons from that failure are still fresh in the minds of officials, he said.

The MOA-AD would create a separate Moro state in Mindanao and the Supreme Court struck it down for being unconstitutional.

"I think all the negotiators have learned a lesson from that attempt to alter, in effect, the integrity of the country. Hopefully, having learned from that, I'm very confident we're not going to enter into a situation like that," he said.

Inquirer 

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