Saturday, April 11, 2015

MILF: “Agreements not automatically voided with Iqbal’s alias, there are 4 other signatories for MILF”

Posted to the MILF Website (Apr 11): “Agreements not automatically voided with Iqbal’s alias, there are 4 other signatories for MILF”

“Agreements not automatically voided with Iqbal’s alias, there are 4 other signatories for MILF”

A former member of the government’s Peace Negotiating Panel said agreements signed by the Government of the Philippine s (GPH) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) panels are not automatically voided with signature of Mohagher Iqbal, an alias, because there were four other signatories for the MILF.

In his facebook page, Lawyer Mehol Sadain who once served as GPH Peace Panel member under the Aquino administration said, “When he signed as chair of the MILF (peace panel), he was not signing for himself, he was signing for the MILF.” 

Sadain posted his opinion amidst the debate and discourse on the use of an alias by Iqbal, which many are saying voids all the agreements signed by the MILF chief negotiator.

“Mohagher Iqbal is chief of the MILF negotiating panel, and therefore represents the MILF on authority issued by the MILF Central Committee.”

“Aside from him, there are four other members of the MILF panel. In effect, the GPH, represented by the Philippine panel is negotiating with the MILF, and not with Iqbal alone,” Sadain said.

“And the MILF is duty bound to recognize Iqbal's act/s as their duly appointed chair,” Sadain, a lecturer on Islamic law and electoral reform in the University of the Philippines explained.

He said the MILF is the real party to the agreements that has authorized Iqbal and the other four to sign in its behalf.

Iqbal admitted before the lawmakers last Wednesday April 8 using alias which he said a practice common among revolutionary organizations.

Iqbal, also chairman of the Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC), said he uses his real name in his passport. 

However, he refused to reveal his real name for “certain sensitivities.”

“Although it is true that a fictitious signature can void a civil contract, yet the issue here is whether (with respect to Mohagher Iqbal who has gone on public as Mohagher Iqbal, and is now publicly known as such) the name and signature as Mohagher Iqbal can still be considered fictitious,” Sadain said.

Sadain, a commissioner of the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos, said, “Fictitious refers to something which is imaginary, or invented by imagination, and therefore not real.”

“In this case, Iqbal is a real person who ascribes to himself the name Mohagher Iqbal. Even if the name is an alias, the entirety of Iqbal as a name and a person is not fiction,” he said.

Being the chief negotiator of the MILF, Iqbal has affixed his signatures in the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro (FAB) on October 15, 2012 and Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) on March 27, 2014.

The two historic peace covenants were lauded by international communities and peace advocates.

FAB and CAB have resulted in the drafting of the Bangsamoro Basic Law, the measure which seeks to establish the Bangsamoro, a political entity that will replace the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).
 
http://www.luwaran.com/index.php/welcome/item/855-agreements-not-automatically-voided-with-iqbal-s-alias-there-are-4-other-signatories-for-milf

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