Peace deal in jeopardy as Muslim rebels cry foul

File Photo

An historic peace settlement in the southern Philippines is at risk of breaking down as Muslim rebels accuse the government of going back on its word over a proposed law to create self-rule for the war-torn region.

The two sides, who signed the deal in March to end nearly five decades of conflict, are holding urgent talks this week to try to iron out the unexpected obstacles to what had been seen as one of President Benigno Aquino’s landmark successes.

A breakdown would risk a return to violence and a blow to hopes for an economic revival for resource-rich Mindanao island as potential investors in sectors such as agriculture and mining wait on the sidelines for the peace deal to be implemented.

Large companies such as food processor Del Monte Pacific Limited, which has a pineapple plantation in Mindanao, had said they were considering expanding operations after the deal. But most major foreign companies have held back pending evidence of a lasting settlement.

Under the pact the main rebel group – the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) – agreed to disband its guerrilla force and rebuild communities in exchange for wider powers to control the region’s economy and society. A joint government-MILF panel agreed details of the region’s powers and relations with the central government this year, submitting a draft law for approval by Congress.

But the hitherto smooth progress has stalled after Aquino’s legal team made surprise, sweeping changes to the draft law which the MILF says contravene the earlier agreement and would place unacceptable limits on their autonomy.

“We cannot accept this proposed law as it is,” Mohagher Iqbal, the MILF’s chief negotiator, told Reuters.

“We will lose face if we agree to this. Their version clearly departed from the letter and spirit of the peace agreement, which was the basis in crafting the proposed law.”

Iqbal’s comments to Reuters are the first public indication that the agreement is close to collapse.

Iqbal said about 70 percent of the nearly 100-page draft “Bangsamoro” law was either deleted or revised by Aquino’s lawyers, who reviewed the document for two months after it was submitted in late April for vetting. A copy of the revised legislation seen by Reuters showed entire sections of articles on territory, resources, and government structure had been deleted or revised.

AQUINO’S CAPITAL FADES

The peace deal – including provisions on revenue-sharing between the new region and the national government – was the product of more than 17 years of negotiations, brokered by Malaysia since 2001.

Analysts say the law appears to have fallen victim to recent legal and political setbacks suffered by Aquino, whose approval ratings have dropped after his flagship economic stimulus fund was declared illegal by the Supreme Court last month. He faces three impeachment complaints in Congress.

That has made Aquino, whose presidency has two years to run, wary of a new battle with the top court that could arise if the self-rule law contravenes the constitution.

“The president could have easily persuaded Congress to approve the Bangsamoro law if he still enjoyed a high popular rating. But he is facing a serious credibility problem because of his economic stimulus package,” said Julkipli Wadi, a professor at the University of the Philippines.

The government’s chief negotiator, Miriam Coronel Ferrer, denied the government had reneged on key pledges but said the proposed law had to be in line with the constitution.

“Let’s not point fingers at each other,” she said. “There were difficulties in the drafting of the law but the president is not afraid to gamble his political capital for this issue.”

The revisions by Aquino’s team seek to bring crucial elements such as resource sharing and taxation in line with the constitution, making the proposed new autonomous region more dependent on the central government for economic policy and law making. A higher degree of autonomy for the region could require Aquino to push for amendments to the constitution, which he is unwilling to do despite having large enough majorities in Congress.

Aquino has promised the autonomous region would be in place by January 2015. Following that, a referendum on whether to accept the new law will be held in Muslim Mindanao.

“The president should agree to amend the constitution and grant full fiscal autonomy, otherwise the rebels will reject this arrangement,” said an independent lawyer who is involved in discussions to resolve the problem.

“The talks are getting harder. I am afraid the rebels will go back to war if this process fails.”

BIG INVESTMENTS ON HOLD

There have been no clashes between the MILF and the army since 2011, but tension remains high in a region that is rife with poverty, guns and extremist Muslim splinter groups that have resisted joining the peace settlement.

“Challenges on the ground are very real,” Rommel Banlaoi, director at the Centre for Intelligence and National Security Studies, told Reuters, saying some MILF commanders are getting impatient and unhappy with the delay.

More than 120,000 people have been killed and two million displaced by the conflict in western Mindanao, a Muslim majority area in the mostly Roman Catholic Asian nation.

Renewed violence would wipe out the goodwill and increased business confidence since the March peace deal, said Ishak Mastura, head of the regional board of investments.

About 2.5 billion pesos ($57 million) in investments were registered in Muslim Mindanao in the first half of 2014, the highest in its history, Mastura said. Investments rose to nearly 1.5 billion pesos in 2013 from 569 million pesos in 2012.

Mindanao’s mineral reserves include gold, copper, nickel, iron, chromite and manganese and account for about two-fifths of total reserves in the country. The Sulu Sea and Cotabato Basin, both within the conflict zone, have combined reserves of 411 million barrels of crude oil, equivalent to more than three times the country’s annual consumption, and 2.3 billion cubic feet of gas.

“As long as there’s no shooting on both sides we’re still OK but if fighting resumes that’s an entirely new ball game,” Mastura said. MB

Red and Black protest continues on SONA day

MANILA - Judiciary employees donned red and black colors again on Monday as they continue their 'Red and Black Monday' protest against President Aquino's defiant stance against the Supreme Court (SC) in the wake of the high court's ruling striking down his administration's Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP).

At the SC, the justices in attendance during the flag-raising ceremony also wore the protest colors, with Associate Justice Presbitero Velasco, Jr. wearing a black suit with a red tie, and Associate Justices Mariano Del Castillo and Martin Villarama, Jr. wearing white barongs and black pants, as did Philippine Judicial Academy (PhilJA) Chancellor and retired SC Associate Justice Rodolfo Azcuna.

Judiciary Employees Association (Judea) president Jojo Guerrero, asked to rate the President, said judiciary employees are giving Aquino an approval rating of not more than 30-percent, and a trust rating of zero amid Aquino's recent public tirades against the SC.

"Bumagsak talaga rating niya nung hindi siya nagsasabi ng totoo [about so-called cross-border transfer of funds committed by the SC]. Hindi totoong facts and figures sinabi niya. Hangga't hindi niya ma-straighten facts and figures, dito sa judiciary, mababa pa sa trenta. Sa trust rating, talagang wall," Guerrero said.

STOP GANGING UP ON THE JUDICIARY

Guerrero lamented how Malacanan and Aquino's allies in Congress seem to be "ganging up" on the judiciary with the threat to phase out the Judiciary Development Fund (JDF), a source of funds for allowances of justices, judges and court personnel as well as infrastructure support.

Judea has also hit Aquino's televised speech last July 19 in defense of the DAP, where he hinted at Congress coming in to "intervene" in the conflict between the other two branches. The statement was taken to mean a threat to rally Aquino's allies in Congress to impeach the SC justices in light of the DAP ruling.

Guerrero said they would not be surprised if Aquino issues fresh attacks on the judiciary during his State of the Nation Address (SONA), but warns the President he has been violating the sub judice rule eversince he first went public against the DAP ruling.

Still, Guerrero said court employees will listen to Aquino's SONA.

"Yung ginagawa niya sa DAP, sub judice yan. Kung ordinaryong tao gagawa, contempt na yan. Sana manahimik na muna siya para mabigyan mga mahistrado pagkakataon mag-isip [on government's motion for reconsideration].

"Sana ibang issues naman pag-usapan [in the SONA]... tigil tigilan muna niya ang DAP tutal may Senate inquiry na and MR," Guerrero said.

Judiciary employees will continue their series of protests, as they vow to "defend judicial independence and the Constitution."

"Ang demokrasya sa bansa natin ay buhay na buhay, may checks and balances. Pero mukhang yung isang branch of government, parang ayaw," Guerrero said, referring to the executive department. MB

Philippines typhoon toll soars as new storm threatens

The disaster-weary Philippines braced for a second severe storm in five days on Saturday as the death toll from Typhoon Rammasun surged to 77, officials said.

A young boy sits near a house damaged by Typhoon Rammasun in Batangas, southwest of Manila. (AFP/Ted Aljibe)

MANILA: The disaster-weary #Philippines braced for a second severe storm in five days on Saturday as the death toll from #Typhoon Rammasun surged to 77, officials said.

While Tropical Storm Matmo was not forecast to hit the main island of Luzon, the weather service warned it would still bring heavy rains to the area over the weekend, along with the threat of flash floods or landslides.

"(Matmo) has entered the Philippine area of responsibility. We should get ready now before the heavy rains fall," President Benigno Aquino's spokeswoman Abigail Valte said in a warning broadcast over government radio.

The threat from Matmo came as the country picked up the pieces from Rammasun, the first major storm of the wet season and the deadliest since Super Typhoon Haiyan killed about 7,300 people in November last year.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Read Also: Deadly Typhoon shut down the Philippine Capital
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rammasun sliced across the country's economic heartland including Manila on Tuesday, killing 77 people and wrecking more than 111,000 homes, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said in an updated tally. The death toll had stood at 54 dead a day earlier, before casualty reports from remote areas came in.

Power was restored to most of Manila, a sprawling metropolis of more than 12 million people, overnight Friday, according to the regional utility Manila Electric Co.

However, it warned that power cuts of up to five hours a day would continue across the capital as it rations limited supply, with a number of generating plants still cut off from the grid.

The government said it would take a few more days to repair thousands of power pylons and downed transmission lines across the industrial provinces south of Manila and the impoverished Bicol agricultural region to the southeast.

Matmo was about 600 kilometres off the eastern island of Samar on Saturday morning with maximum gusts of up to 90 kilometres an hour, the state weather service said.

It was forecast to head northeast, skirting Luzon before hitting the sparsely populated Batan island group between Luzon and Taiwan early Tuesday.

The Philippines endures about 20 cyclones each year.

Rammasun was meanwhile lashing southern China's Guangxi region bordering Vietnam Saturday with maximum sustained winds of 155 kilometres an hour, according to the Hong Kong Observatory.


It is forecast to weaken into a tropical storm on Sunday and dissolve into a low-pressure area on Monday as it tracks the China-Vietnam border. Channel one Asia

More guns, planes for PH defense: coming soon

Philippines President President Aquino - File Photo

MANILA - President Aquino reiterated Thursday that new weapons and military vehicles will soon be coming in to beef up the country's defenses.

The President said the government has already spent P40 billion in upgrades and modernizing the Armed Forces of the Philippines in the past four years. He said this is better than the P26 billion that his predecessor, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, spent on AFP modernization in nearly 10 years in office.

Aquino said that under his leadership, the Philippines has acquired the following:

2 Hamilton Class Cutters
8 Sokol Combat Utility Helicopters
3 AW-109 naval helicopters
4 refurbished UH-1 helicopters
BRP Tagbanua, a locally built landing craft utility ship

The President said the military is expecting the arrival of two of 12 FA-50 lead-in fighter trainer jets next year, while the rest will arrive before 2017.

Other additional military equipment to be received by the AFP include 17 refurbished UH-1 helicopters, eight more combat utility helicopters, two long-range patrol aircraft, six close-air support aircraft, two anti-submarine helicopters, two frigates and three full missile capable multi-purpose attack crafts.

The President said the AFP has received the first batch of new M4 Caliber 5.56mm rifles. He said the government saved P1.2 billion during the procurement process, which allowed the purchase of another 12,657 M4s "and to set aside a budget for succeeding rifle procurements."

"We have no plans of slowing down. Anytime we have an opportunity to make our military more efficient, we have every intention of taking that opportunity," he said.

Aquino stressed the country's military modernization has nothing to do with ongoing territorial rows in the region.

"Lest anyone accuse us of shifting to a more militaristic position, I must emphasize: Our efforts seek to modernize the capabilities of our security sector is to address the needs in human disaster response arenas and for our own internal defense. None of these actions are meant to increase tensions in the region; rather, they are meant to address our domestic problems and issues," he said.

Typhoon power woes in Philippines as death toll hits 38

A man Salvages what is left of his makeshift house as Typhoon Rammasun batters suburban Navotas, north of Manila. (AP/Aaron Favila)

#MANILA: Millions of people in the #Philippines endured a second sweltering day without power on Thursday after a ferocious typhoon paralysed the capital and tore down flimsy rural homes, claiming at least 38 lives.

Authorities expressed frustration as reports from badly damaged areas filtered in and the death toll from #Typhoon #Rammasun, the first major storm of the Southeast Asian archipelago's rainy season, was nearly doubled to 38. "We still have to find out what exactly are the reasons a lot of our countrymen refuse to heed the warnings," National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council chief Alexander Pama told reporters.

As part of a "zero casualty" effort, the government evacuated nearly 400,000 people from the path of Rammasun and warned others to stay indoors. But many of the people who died were outdoors, killed by falling trees, collapsing buildings and flying debris, according to the council's data.

Pama said the death toll could rise further, with mobile phone and other forms of communication still cut to some rural areas. He said at least eight people remained missing. Rammasun, a Thai word for "Thunder God", swept in off the Pacific Ocean on Tuesday night, then brought wind gusts of up to 160 kilometres an hour across land to Manila and other heavily populated northern regions.

"It really scrambled whole towns, blowing down houses and toppling power lines," the chairman of the Philippine Red Cross, Richard Gordon, said. The typhoon cut electricity supplies to nearly all of Manila, a megacity of more than 12 million people, and surrounding urban areas.

Schools and government offices were closed throughout the capital, hundreds of flights suspended and the stock exchange closed. The stock exchange and government offices re-opened on Thursday, but many schools remained closed partly because of the power problems.

The Manila Electric Company (Meralco), the country's largest power distributor which serves the capital and surrounding areas, said 1.9 million households still did not have power on Thursday. With the temperature in Manila expected to hit 30 degrees Celsius and the air thick with tropical moisture, Meralco could not give any estimate to frustrated residents when power would be restored.

Pama also said that electricity still had not been restored in the eastern region of Bicol, an impoverished farming area of more than five million facing the Pacific Ocean which felt the initial force of the typhoon.

Manila office worker Karen Luna said her family spent a miserable night at home in Bacoor town adjacent to the capital with no power or tap water supplies. "At first light I ordered my child to fetch water, so I was able to bathe before going off to work, using half a pail," Luna said. She added the neighbourhood was forced to use candles overnight Wednesday and could not log onto the Internet, while food was eaten quickly so it would not waste in the fridge. "We have been feasting on crab and prawns since yesterday after cooking everything inside the refrigerator. We were worried the food would spoil," she said.

Across Manila, streets remained littered with fallen trees, branches and electrical posts as repairmen struggled to restore power services. The Philippines is hit by about 20 major storms a year, many of them deadly. The Southeast Asian archipelago is often the first major landmass to be struck after storms build above the warm Pacific Ocean waters.

Rammasun was the first typhoon to make landfall since this year's rainy season began in June. It was also the first major storm since Super Typhoon Haiyan devastated the eastern islands of Samar and Leyte in November last year, killing up to 7,300 people in one of the Philippines' worst natural disasters. Those areas were largely spared from this week's typhoon. Channel News

Deadly typhoon shuts down Philippine capital

Deadly typhoon shuts down Philippine capital

Manila (AFP) - #Typhoon Rammasun shut down the #Philippine capital on Wednesday as authorities said the first major storm of the country's brutal rainy season claimed at least four lives and forced hundreds of thousands to evacuate.

Wind gusts of up to 250 kilometres (155 miles) an hour and intense rain caused chaos across the megacity of Manila, as well as remote fishing villages, after Rammasun tore in from the Pacific Ocean on Tuesday night.

"I thought I was going to die. I went out to look for gasoline in case we needed to evacuate, but it was a mistake," said tricycle driver Pedro Rojas, 35, as he nursed a cut head while sheltering at a town hall on the outskirts of Manila.

"My tricycle rolled over twice after I slammed into sheets of rain. It was like hitting a wall... huge tin roofings were flying everywhere."

One woman was killed on the eastern Samar island, and three people died when a wall collapsed on them about 100 kilometres south of Manila, national disaster management council chief Alexander Pama said.

With the typhoon still passing over the Philippines and many areas without electricity, the scale of the damage and potential number of fatalities was impossible to determine.

However there were fears the death toll would rise with three fishermen reported missing on Tuesday night, and many poorly built homes destroyed in coastal villages as well as in urban slums.

Pama said he was trying to confirm another death, while local media cited a governor of a city on the outskirts of Manila reporting three deaths there.

The eye of the storm just missed Manila, home to more than 12 million people, but the huge winds and bursts of heavy rain brought the city to a virtual standstill.

Power in many areas, including the business district of Makati, was cut just after dawn as branches were torn off trees and electricity lines snapped. Electricity remained cut throughout the morning.

- Homes destroyed -

The winds also tore down shanty homes in slum areas where hundreds of thousands of people live along Manila Bay.

"Our house was destroyed and we lost many of our belongings," housewife Dayang Bansuan, said as she rested in a school that had been turned into an evacuation centre for people living in the coastal Manila slums.

"We fled our home just before dawn when the water started rising up to our ankles. I was really frightened, they (neighbours) were saying the winds were getting stronger. They were telling us to evacuate."

Across the country, about 400,000 people had fled their homes and sheltered in evacuation centres, according to the disaster management council.

Rammasun, which is Thai for "God of Thunder", was forecast to move out into the South China Sea on Wednesday afternoon, then track towards southern China, according to the national weather service.

The Philippines is hit by about 20 major storms a year, many of them deadly. The Southeast Asian archipelago is often the first major landmass to be struck after storms build above the warm Pacific Ocean waters.

In November Super Typhoon Haiyan unleashed seven-metre (23-foot) high storm surges that devastated Samar and neighbouring Leyte island, killing up to 7,300 people in one of the nation's worst natural disasters.

Rammasun was the first typhoon to make landfall since this year's rainy season began in June.

With the disaster of Haiyan still haunting the nation, President Benigno Aquino stressed on Tuesday night that people in Rammasun's path must be made to understand the dangers facing them.

"The objective has to be (to) minimise the casualties and the hardship of our people," he told civil defence officials. Yahoo News