Monday, December 16, 2013

MILF: Kutawato Multimedia Network hosts Radio Community Peace Forum on FAB in Cotabato City

From the MILF Website (Dec 16): Kutawato Multimedia Network hosts Radio Community Peace Forum on FAB in Cotabato City



The Kutawato Multimedia Network (KuMuNet), a loose network of non-government, civil society organizations, and some media practitioners in Central Mindanao, held a “Radio Community Peace Forum on Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro (FAB)” at Tanghalang Michael Clark, Notre Dame University, Cotabato City on December 2.
  
Local government officials of Cotabato City, the academe, students, youth, women, parents, religious group, and civil society organizations participated in the said forum.

Three members of Bangsamoro Transitions Commissions namely; Commissioner Atty. Raissa Jajurie of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), who was tasked to present wealth sharing annex of FAB;   Commissioner Ms. Froilyn Mendoza of the Government, who talked of Bangsamoro Transition Commission’s (BTCs) mandates and tasks, and Commissioner Mr. Pedrito Eisma, also of the Government, who shared  inputs on FAB.
Mr. Guimel Alim, Chairman of the Consortium of Bangsamoro Civil Society (CBCS), gave updates on the efforts of CSOs on peace advocacy activities.
Norodin Manalao, Executive Director of ARMM Regional Reconciliation and Unification Commission (RRUC), in his welcome remarks, emphasized the importance of the forum.

“In this peace forum, you can get firsthand information on the peace process from our speakers because they are the ones who are directly engaged in the peace talks,” he said.

The ForumZFD’s Davao-based Project Manager Manuel Domes, a German national, gave the rationale of the program.

“We see that one of the most important roles of civil society [the KuMuNet] is to act as a sort of transmission balance between the formal peace process on one side and the community level on the other side,” he said.

Domez also informed the participants on major initiatives of KuMuNet in support to the GPH-MILF peace process through information sharing between and among stakeholders of the peace process in the KuMuNet radio program called “Bangsamoro Ngayon, Tinig ng Kapayapaan” aired every Thursday night from 7pm-7:30pm at DXMS radio station in Cotabato City.

“The FAB is the product of negotiations between the GPH and the MILF. It is basically the framework that provides the establishment of the Bangsamoro government. The Agreement was signed by then GPH Peace Panel Chair, now Supreme Court Justice Marvic Leonen from the government and MILF Peace Panel Chair Mohagher Iqbal from the MILF on October 15, 2012. The historic document was witnessed by President Benigno Simeon Aquino III and Malaysian Prime Minister Tun Najib Razak,” Commissioner Eisma explained.

“On December 17, President Aquino issued Executive Order 120 creating the Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC) comprising 15 Commissioners with seven (7) members from the government and eight (8) members from the MILF including its Chair. The EO120 was signed on February 25, 2013,” he added.

He clarified that their very role as members of the commission is to write the basic law based on the framework agreement and in consistence with the four annexes. After the writing of Bangsamoro Basic Law or BBL, he said, the BTC will forward it to President Aquino for certification as urgent bill and indorse it to Congress for enactment.

Lawyer Jajurie had focused her presentation on the already signed revenue generation and wealth sharing annex.

 “Why there’s a need for this annex?” she asked.

“The reason was indicated in the document. To become a real autonomy, it doesn’t only need political autonomy or powers but it also needs fiscal autonomy,” she said.
According to Commissioner Mendoza, who shared inputs on the mandates and status of the BTC, the BTC mandates are: first; is to write the BBL anchored on the FAB and its annexes, second;  to re review the Philippine Constitution to accommodate the BBL, third; to coordinate and recommend projects in conjunction to the Bangsamoro Development Agency (BDA) and Bangsamoro Leadership and Management Institute (BLMI), both are products of the negotiations, and fourth; the BTC should conduct public consultations so that the people can fully understand the FAB and the BBL to be crafted by the BTC.

Mr. Guiamel shared his perspectives on the FAB and the roles the CSO’s should do in the peace process.

He candidly asked the support of the participants to vote for the inclusion of Cotabato City in the Bangsamoro region when plebiscite comes. 

He called on all important stakeholders such as the local government units, civil society organizations as well as the youth, students, and women to be more active in the campaign for peace in support to the GPH-MILF peace process.

“Because we don’t have much options, it’s either the Bangsamoro to succeed or we will continue the violence… the ARMM is a failed experiment and we cannot live in failure,” he said.

Speaking about the gains of the peace process, Mr. Guiamel said, “If we cannot make the Bangsamoro government to succeed, there are armed groups around us waiting for the right time to do what they want and the failure would mean a signal for a renewed conflict.”

In the open forum, among of the concerns of participants from the Barangay Local Government Units of Cotabato City was on how they can contribute to the peace process or ways how they can effectively inform their constituents on the current status of the peace agreements.  



Samsodin “Mahdie” Amella, Executive Director of the MAPAD Initiatives, closed the program and thanked the speakers as well as the participants. The speakers also expressed their thanks to the KuMuNet for their active support to the peace process.
The organizer disclosed that the registered participants were almost two hundred from the City of Cotabato alone.

On the other hand, last November 5, the KuMuNet held similar activity in the municipality of Upi, Maguindanao attended by leaders of Indigenous Peoples (the T’duray-Lambangian) by where members of the BTC as guest speakers.

The Kutawato Multimedia Network was established in 2010 with current active members, to wit; the Bangsamoro Center for Just Peace (BCJP), CBCS, Kadtuntaya Foundation Inc. (KFI), Mindanao Action for Peace and Development (MAPAD), Moro Women Development and Cultural Center (MWDECC), Regional Reconciliation and Unification Commission (RRUC), I-Watch Oblate Media, Mindanao Peoples’ Peace Movement (MPPM), United Youth of the Philippines (UnYPhil-Women), and United Youth for Peace and Development (UNYPAD). 

http://www.luwaran.com/index.php/welcome/item/720-kutawato-multimedia-network-hosts-radio-community-peace-forum-on-fab-in-cotabato-city

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