(Conclusion)
THE POINT is not whether the MILF deserves a homeland or not. That is something we can--and should--debate to our heart's content under the next (genuinely elected) government. The point is that GMA has no business offering it.

There is every reason to be leery about the fiery protestations of some of GMA's allies in the South about being included in Bangsamoro. It's just, well, a lot of moro-moro. (Never has the term taken on a wealth of meanings!) It tries to focus attention on the merits or demerits of the MOA and away from the total insanity of this government proffering it. To pursue our parallel about San Miguel's katiwala, that is like asking San Miguel's board to look at the merits or demerits of the katiwala's offer of land to some peasants and not at his horrendously inexcusable behavior. Maybe there is merit in giving the land to the peasants, but that is not the point. The point is that it is not the katiwala's to give.

Maybe there is merit in an MILF homeland, but that is not the point. The point is that it is not GMA's to give.

I personally have no problems with a Bangsamoro Republic, independent or semi-independent. I have no problems with the MILF entering into agreements with other countries, whether their internal security remains in the hands of the central government or not. I have no problems even with the Moros seceding from the Philippines, heaven knows they have little reason to feel part of it. But whether I have a problem with it or not is not the point. The point is that it is a problem for all of us, the citizens of this country, to thresh out before any of our leaders can even think to act on it.

The even more crucial point is: Why has GMA suddenly decided to do this? The only answer to it is that she means to remain in power. The MOA is not meant to bring peace to Mindanao, it is meant to bring perpetuity to her rule. With more powers than before.

To pursue still further our parallel with San Miguel, the katiwala is not in fact serious about giving land to the peasants. He wants only San Miguel's SEC charter changed so that he can take over the company himself.

Everything about the creation of that MOA points to it.

First and foremost, Hermogenes Esperon is at forefront of it. Those who wondered why he was appointed peace commissioner after hundreds of activists and journalists were murdered under his watch as AFP chief have their answer now. He was appointed so to foment something like this. "Foment" is the word: He is not there to quell, he is there to roister.

The absolute secrecy in which the negotiations were wrapped confirms the duplicity. This is not an ordinary business deal with another government--and even then government has no business invoking executive privilege to hide it. Rudy Giuliani's proposition that honesty is the best policy for governments applies a hundredfold to one monumentally distrusted by its people. This government keeps something secret, you know it's up to no good. And this isn't just government entering into a business deal with another government, this is government entering into a deal with a political entity that involves the Constitution.

Signing the deal in Malaysia where no one may be free to protest it confirms the duplicity even more. One is reminded of Marcos sending Imelda to Tripoli to sign an agreement he never had any intention of following.

A far more telltale indication of the real purpose of this deal is empowering the House of Representatives to initiate a charter change to "enable" it. Congress is like Esperon: You can't mention either without feeling a knife slipping through your spine. With Prospero Nograles as House speaker and with all those creatures who replaced the equally devious Joe de V with him, you can be sure it will be a stab in the back. The notion that the trapos will be changing the charter because it is good for the nation is about as believable as that GMA will be changing her stripes because it is good for her skin.

And of course the most telltale sign of all: GMA has only a couple of years to go--courtesy of a nation that has gotten too tired to insist her term really began. Why should someone whose whole thrust has been to wipe her enemies off the face of the earth, or at least who boasted so, notably when she latched on to George W. Bush's anti-terrorism campaign, and who unleashed Jovito Palparan in the wake of protests over "Hello Garci," suddenly discover the path of peace on her way out? You can be sure she has not found the road to Damascus, you can be sure she has found the road to perdition.

The Supreme Court has of course struck down the signing of the MOA in Malaysia, but this is by no means over. I'm glad at least that this has shown the "presidentiables" the folly of their pre-election campaigning, or backstabbing. There's still the not very small matter of an obstacle lying in their path. At least I hope this knocks some sense into them because the deluded have a way of remaining deluded.

I've always thought it was just a question of time before GMA would make her move to change the charter or create the conditions for martial law, or both. And given Marcos' example, I've always thought it would be well before her "term" ended. I wouldn't be surprised if over the next few months, presumably as a result of the Moros being greatly miffed by the public opposition to their having a bangsa of their own, Metro Manila experiences bombings here and there.

This is extending the imagination too much, as Eduardo Ermita suggests? It would be so except for one thing: Marcos did it before. And everything today gives a clammy feeling of déja vu.

This MOA is a Trojan horse. And we would all do well to remember:

Beware the Freaks bearing gifts.