Pursuing reforms in ARMM

“I don’t belong to a political clan,” says ARMM (Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao) Gov. Mujiv Hataman. In fact, his exposure to politics came by way of student activism, when as a student of AMA Computer University, he became immersed in social and political causes, especially human rights, eventually joining the Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates (Pahra).

From there, it was but an easy jump into electoral politics, when he helped form the party-list organization Anak Mindanao and served three terms as one of its two representatives. In the House of Representatives, he met then Rep. Noynoy Aquino and they became fast friends, explaining that it wasn’t such a hard thing to do as “there were only very few of us identified with the opposition then.”

When he reached his term limit, Hataman says he was pondering whether he should return to the private sector, but by then his friend Noynoy had been elected president and he was appointed OIC until the ARMM elections could proceed to coincide with the national elections. “I was supposed to step down as soon as the elections were scheduled,” recalled the youthful-looking 41-year-old governor. “But then P-Noy talked to me again and said they couldn’t find anybody else to support who could carry out the reforms we had begun.”

And so Hataman threw his hat in the electoral ring, promising voters that once the peace agreement with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) was signed and the proposed Bangsamoro entity took shape, he would peacefully and gladly step down.

He certainly sounds like an official who couldn’t be happier to see his term end. “I think the Bangsamoro government will be ready by 2015,” he says confidently, adding that he’s looking forward to either joining the private sector by then, or else run for a seat in the House. “I’m beginning to miss Congress,” he confesses.

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At the moment, Zamboanga, if not the entire Mindanao and country, is still reeling from the assault on Zamboanga City by forces identified with Nur Misuari the “elder” of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF).

Commentators have said the raid on Zamboanga was carried out mainly out of pique that the MNLF had been “boxed out” of the peace process, with the government choosing to deal mainly with the larger MILF. If so, it is pique that has wrought untold damage on the people of Zamboanga, many of them Muslims, and thousands of them rendered homeless when their homes were set ablaze, deliberately or as a result of military action.

Because he is part-Tausug (the ethnic group identified with the MNLF) and part-Yakan, and because of the position he holds, Hataman seemed a natural fit as mediator between Misuari and the government at the start of the Zamboanga conflict. But when Hataman, and later Sulu Gov. Sakur Tan and Zamboanga City Mayor Beng Climaco got in touch with Misuari and Habier Malik, Misuari’s lieutenant who was calling the shots in Zamboanga, they insisted that only mediation by the United Nations would suffice.

“There was really no room for negotiation,” comments Hataman.

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There are many reasons for the attack on Zamboanga City, which is not even part of the ARMM (nor will it be part of the Bangsamoro), Hataman says.

One of them, the ARMM governor says, is Misuari’s desire to “call national attention to his grievances, and to project the political importance of the MNLF in the ongoing peace process.”

“But Misuari did not reckon with the response of the government and of P-Noy,” Hataman comments. “Maybe he thought the response would be the same as in previous encounters, when they were allowed to simply pack up their guns and leave peacefully. Certainly, he did not expect the response of the military, and the hard-line stance the President took.”

Even as the Zamboanga assault peters out, Hataman says he is still continuing the mission of reform that was given him when he was appointed ARMM officer in charge, and which he committed to pursue when he won the elections.

“From an instrument of corruption, ARMM should now be used as an instrument to end conflict,” says Hataman, adding that his focus these days is addressing “the problem of misgovernance” in the area. In the past, he recalls, many municipalities had “absentee officials” who did little to speed up development in their localities, or curb the abuses of local officials, clans and criminals. Making local officials accountable is thus one major thrust of Hataman’s stint as ARMM governor.

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Another thrust is to reduce—or ignore—the conflicts arising from different ethnicities within the Bangsamoro. The MILF, for instance, has been identified mainly with Maguindanaoans while the MNLF has been dominated by the Tausug, Sama (to which Misuari belongs) and Yakan.

Hataman, who grew up straddling and negotiating the worlds of his mixed heritage, does not believe ethnicity is that big a deal among the Bangsamoro people. “Growing up, while there were irritants, it wasn’t a major factor,” he recalls. “And when I was a student in Manila, it disappeared. What mattered most was my Moro identity.”

Instead, he believes ethnic differences are being exploited and whipped up only during elections and in armed conflicts. To do his share, Hataman says he made sure that positions in his ARMM Cabinet and other offices are distributed as equitably as possible among the different ethnic groups.

Hataman’s wife, Sitti Djalia Hataman, sits as Anak Mindanao representative, while the couple shares parenthood duties over their five children, the eldest of whom is 13, and the youngest one-year-and-a-half. It is a young family, and chances are good the young Hatamans will grow up knowing a Mindanao that is at peace and on the road to prosperity.