Political masochism

This is a tale of two framework agreements: one on the Bangsamoro (FAB) with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, and the other with America (FAA) on the expanded access of US troops to our country. The Philippine Government (PHG) seems to be losing leverage in both.

Jabidah. Ironically, the proximate cause of the Bangsamoro’s struggle for autonomy, if not secession, was Ferdinand Marcos’ move to recover Sabah (North Borneo) for them. As Malaysia refused to have the Sabah issue resolved by the International Court of Justice, Marcos had a group of Moro commandos trained to operate in Sabah. But “Oplan Jabidah” was exposed, and resulted in the “Jabidah massacre.”

Nur Misuari took up the cudgels for the Moro people. He formed the Moro National Liberation Front and rose in rebellion against the PHG. Marcos sent a delegation headed by his wife to Tripoli in 1976. Carmelo Barbero,  deputy defense minister, signed the Tripoli Agreement with Misuari, witnessed by representatives of Libya and of the Organization of Islamic Conference.

Autonomy. The parties agreed to grant “autonomy” to 13 provinces in Southern Philippines, subject to “democratic processes” and the “sovereignty and territorial integrity” of the Republic of the Philippines. Marcos held two plebiscites. Ten provinces joined the autonomy; three—Palawan, Davao del Sur and South Cotabato—opted out.

Edsa 1 brought Corazon Aquino to Malacañang. In January 1987 the Jeddah Accord—where Misuari proposed the grant of autonomy to “Mindanao, Sulu, Basilan, Tawi-Tawi, and Palawan”—was signed. He demanded that Cory implement his proposal by decree within 48 hours. Cory refused. Misuari threatened war. Fidel Ramos became president. He carried out the Organic Act for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and signed with the MNLF a “final settlement” in 1996. Misuari became governor of the ARMM, composed of Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, Basilan, Lanao del Sur and Maguindanao—and allegedly lived like a foreign potentate.

The MILF broke away from the MNLF, rejected the ARMM, and disowned the Constitution. It sounded the drums of war. Joseph Estrada succeeded Ramos, and gave the MILF war—almost solving the Bangsamoro problem. But Edsa 2 replaced Erap with Gloria Arroyo. She and the MILF, in secrecy, signed the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain, which the Supreme Court eventually declared unconstitutional.

Benigno Aquino III was voted president. In October 2012 he and MILF chair Murad Ibrahim approved the FAB which, with four annexes, will be the basis of a Basic Law to be submitted to the people in a referendum.

Issues. From Tripoli to Manila and from Manila to Kuala Lumpur, the MNLF and then the MILF have been demanding, at times dictating, and hardly negotiating. The specter of war always loomed in the horizon—unless the PHG agreed or considered, fast. Hence, the FAB has lingering constitutional issues: a “ministerial” government, non-Muslim areas in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in “Muslim” Mindanao (BARMM), “territorial waters”, “decommissioning” of arms, diminished “sole prerogative” of national government in matters of defense, foreign affairs, and monetary policy.

And why “reparations” and subsidy for the BARMM? Has the government been defeated?  Who should pay for historical inequities?

Constitutional “flexibilities” are novel and incompatible with the grant of rights, benefits or privileges. Congress has to refine the Basic Law (and, with it, the “agreements of the parties”) to make it conform with the strictures of the Constitution. Meanwhile, the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters and the MNLF are waiting in the wings for a rigodon de honor.

US bases. The other part of the tale concerns US bases, troops, facilities. America has announced a “pivot,” a tactical shift of the US forward defense posture to Asia-Pacific. Sixty percent of the US Navy will continuously police the territories of America, Australia, the Philippines and Singapore in the Pacific, with America deserting Iraq, Okinawa kicking out US troops, and Afghans being killed in droves by “friendly fire” from US drones.

The “pivot” needs ports, equipment, facilities, “nonpermanent” bases. The FAA, currently being negotiated, will put these in place, invoking the MDT (1951 Mutual Defense Treaty), the VFA (1998 Visiting Forces Agreement), and the MLSA (2002 Mutual Logistics Support Agreement). “Pivot” hardly gives the PHG any “credible defense posture”; it wholly serves US interest by guarding the high seas that wash US shores.

Recall that Henry Kissinger denied that the MDT covered the Kalayaan Islands, a municipality of Palawan. Think also that, under the VFA, the entire archipelago has become one de facto US military base, and that, under the MLSA, almost every requirement of thousands of US soldiers in our country—food, medicines, munitions, oil, services—have to be provided by the PHG upon America’s mere request. This is nothing but political masochism!

Why are we so eager to mortgage—politically and economically—the fate of present and future generations of Filipinos under these unequal, “nonmutual” and oppressive accords with America? More than 350 years of Spanish colonization and religion have imbued us with an incurable communicable malady: colonial mentality. About half a century of US rule has made the average Filipino an American boy. Many Filipino diplomats have studied or retired in the US East Coast; some defense officials have vacation houses in the West Coast.

So when negotiating with Americans, we forget about the Constitution, national interest, and Quezon, Recto, Salonga. We remember only Bataan and Corregidor, not Bud Bagsak or Balangiga. We have become hopelessly Americanized, or, as diagnosed by a noted Inquirer columnist, “lobotomized.”

Nelson D. Laviña is a retired ambassador.