I thought the ARMM is for Muslims

WHAT, TINGTING Cojuangco is running for vice governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao? I thought the ARMM is for Muslims who want to be free of the Christians in imperial Manila meddling in their affairs. The Muslims want autonomy, so why is a prominent Christian from Manila running for vice governor of the ARMM?

Former Sen. Nene Pimentel texted this message to me: “Tingting shouldn’t be a candidate for any ARMM post. She is not from there. She is not a resident there. She is not a Moro. She is from Luzon and a resident of Tarlac. Another manifestation of ‘imperialistic intentions’ by individuals who believe that they are the saviors of the poor Moros who in their minds do not know what’s good for them.”

Anyway, will the ARMM election go through as scheduled or postponed as President Aquino wants? Time is running out on Congress which has to pass a law postponing the elections. Only two weeks of session are left. But even if Congress passes the bill, there are many legal obstacles in the organic act creating the ARMM and a postponement will surely be questioned in the Supreme Court.

Why is P-Noy insisting on postponing the ARMM election? He has not made any clear categorical statement, but Palace sources say that synchronizing the ARMM elections with the national mid-term elections would minimize the impact of the so-called “command votes” which distort the system of getting a mandate from the people. Opposition critics say, however, that he wants his followers, whom he would appoint as acting officials of the ARMM, to have an advantage over their rivals in the rescheduled elections.

At the Kapihan sa Manila at the Diamond Hotel last Monday, among the three panelists were Ramon Casiple, executive director of the Institute for Political and Electoral Reforms (IPER), and Eric Jude O. Alvia, secretary general of the National Citizens Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel). The third was Gerard H. Brimo, president and CEO of the Nickel Asia Corp.

Casiple and Alvia were both against a postponement of the ARMM polls. They said it would violate many provisions of the ARMM organic act and cause another uprising by the Muslims. As I see it, if P-Noy’s intention is to minimize the impact of command votes and to give his protégés an advantage over their rivals in the rescheduled election, he should just give them plenty of help in the coming election. A postponement may just boomerang against his candidates.

Brimo, on the other hand, defended mining activities in Palawan which the people of Palawan are opposing. The “Save Palawan Movement” had shown at the Kapihan sa Diamond several weeks earlier a slide show of the destruction that mining has done to Palawan. So Brimo brought his own slide show last Monday to refute it. Naturally, what he showed were the progress and development mining has brought to Palawan.

In the course of his slide show, it was stated that first of all, mining should have “social acceptability,” meaning that the people should accept it.

So I said: “Obviously, mining has no social acceptability in Palawan. The people have said in clear, unmistakable terms that they do not want mining in the province.”

“In that case, we will get out,” Brimo said.

But will they, really? I don’t think so. Maybe Nickel Asia will, but so many mining companies are pushing to get into Palawan that I can see some of them continuing to tempt the people of Palawan with visions of wealth and development, and bribing national mining officials to give them permits to operate there. Filipino public officials are among the greediest and most corrupt in the world and it is easy to tempt them with grease money. I urge the people of Palawan to be more militant and not to succumb to temptation.

For mining is most destructive of the environment, more destructive than logging. Logged over areas, if left alone, will grow new trees after a few years. But mined-over areas will remain ravaged and unproductive even after decades. Moreover, effluents from the mining areas pollute the rivers and even the seas many miles away, killing fish and other marine life and mangrove trees.

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Another government agency that is susceptible to bribery is the New Bilibid Prison. Wealthy prisoners in the NBP are given special privileges because they bribe prison officials and guards. Former Batangas Gov. Antonio Leviste was unlucky to be caught, but other wealthy prisoners enjoyed the same privileges given to Leviste. Why are prominent prisoners allowed to have their own kubol (huts) outside the prison compound? These prisoners live there like free men, and not inside the prison compound. Why? This policy only shows that even inside prison, class distinctions remain: the poor are underprivileged and the wealthy continue to be privileged.

Bureau of Corrections Director Ernest Diokno did the right thing in going on leave. It would have been even better if he had assumed full responsibility for what happened and resigned, instead of blaming his subordinates. But if the investigation panel finds him culpable, I am sure he will resign. Diokno is a gentleman. Even as a policeman, he was brave against hoodlums, but he is always a gentleman.

Just to get a clear picture of the situation, Diokno is the director of the Bureau of Corrections which supervises all the prisons in the whole country. The NBP superintendent is Armando Miranda. It is the superintendent who supervises the NBP. It is his job to “strictly enforce all laws, rules and regulations” within his area of responsibility.

Still, that does not absolve Diokno of responsibility. He is the boss, and bosses assume responsibility when things go wrong.