Press Release
August 7, 2008

Transcript of 'Extended Kapihan' with Senators Mar Roxas and Noynoy Aquino, North Cotabato Vice-Gov. Manny Piñol and Iligan City Mayor Lawrence Cruz at the Senate Lounge

Piñol: We, the people of Mindanao, would like to have peace. The President, her term will end in two years. After her term, she may forget all about us. Gen. Esperon, when he retires, he may go to his home province in Pangasinan, and forget all about us. But two years from now, I will still be living in the province of North Cotabato. Two years from now, my children will still be living in the province of North Cotabato, and we will die there. It is because of this that we have actually persevered in getting people to listen to us.

Are we against peace? No, we are for peace. Secretary Dureza was corrected when he said there were consultations conducted. Yes. But those consultations did not mention about the creation of the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity. It did not mention the expansion of the ARMM. It did not mention a provision about the creation of an independent police force within the BJE. It did not mention the surrender of government control over natural resources and a lot of things such as correctional facilities, the judicial system, education, courts and everything.

In the consultations, we maintained that should there be another agreement with the MILF, it should focus on more than just political settlement but socioeconomic development, because the fact remains that in the experience of the ARMM-MNLF-GRP agreement, even after so many concessions were given, the ARMM remains poor today. Bakit hindi bigyang pansin ang education, economic development. I-handle natin ang conflict sa lupa, na ma-settle ang age-old conflict. Should there be another agreement, there should be total disarmament. But what did we see in the proposed MOA? A provision that would allow the BJE to establish its police force and army. What is this? These are not the issues we discussed during the consultations.

The flicker of light that we had held for so long has finally turned into a flame, and it reached the Supreme Court. In one of the most astonishing decisions as far as we are concerned, kaming mga taga-probinsya scored a slam dunk, 15-0. Knockout. Simple lang ang petition namin. May karapatan kaming malaman kung anong dokumento iyan. We have the right to know that, we have the right to be consulted. Under the constitution, we have the right to information.

Q: Sec. Puno claims there were 8 barangays in North Cotabato occupied by the MILF.

Piñol: That's not true. In fact, this happened long ago. Sinabi ko pa noong June 28 na may movement ang MILF in the Aleosan-Pikit area. All they told me was it's just a normal movement of the MILF, and there's nothing to worry about. When I was in the US for the Manny Pacquiao fight, I was informed that the group under Ameril Umbra Kato attacked Barangay Dungguan in Aleosan. In that attack, mayroong na-hostage na 20 soldiers. 20 men - 13 CAFGUs and about seven soldiers... They have been there encircled by the MILF with superior power, over the 2-3 weeks. Kapag nagre-relieve sila, binibilang ng MILF yung mga relievers.

Can you imagine what self-respecting government would allow this? I could understand that at that time, they were actually negotiating with the MILF and waiting for the signing of the agreement. I could understand. Pero pabayaan na masunog yung mga bahay ko... And they blame me for the issuing inflammatory statements. What's inflammatory about calling the people to organize, defend yourselves and your homes. What's more inflammatory, a group of rebels burning down houses, or my statement calling on people to organize and defend themselves?

The mere fact that the government sent three battalions of army soldiers and two companies of the police force in North Cotabato yesterday is an admission that indeed, they did not give that much importance to the problems of North Cotabato for so long. Yung padala na iyon, salamat. It's a bit late, but thank you anyway. But they are virtually admitting that in the past, hindi sufficient yung mga tropa na nandoon to address the problems in my towns.

Q: Could we still defeat the MILF?

Piñol: Ang ibig mong sabihin 'pag hindi natin kaya iyan, hindi na tayo lalaban? Ang ibig sabihin 'pag mahihirapan tayo, ibigay natin ang Mindanao? Whether kaya natin or hindi, any self-respecting government, any self-respecting country must defend its territories at whatever cost. Or else we will be allowing the dismemberment of our country. For example, sabi nila, hindi namin kaya. E sige, ano ang gagawin namin? Kung tirador at kutsilyo lang ang amin. Ibig sabihin ba tatakbo kami? Hindi kami tatakbo.

We have to stand up. It's not the weapon in your hand that matters, it's the courage in your heart and the principle that you stand on.. I think these are the things that matter in any battle. And we believe in that. Sabi ko nga sa mga tao ko. Prepare. Our houses might be burned, we might be attacked. My people, and I'm proud of them, are willing to make sacrifices. We have made sacrifices in the past. We're ready and willing to make sacrifices again. But we have to fight for our homes and our children.

Baka sabihin nila puro kami 'no.' Actually, the sangguniang panlalawigan of North Cotabato last Tuesday passed a resolution proposing an option for the national government para makawala sa problemang ito. We're not just saying no the MoA. Ang sinasabi natin is that any peace agreement should be a product of consensus. We are proposing a resolution which we approved last Tuesday - the establishment of a Mindanao stakeholders' commission, where the other sectors in the areas of conflict affected would be gathered in one meeting that would review the MoA that the GRP and the MILF prepared.

We will review that MoA, point out which provisions are not acceptable to us and make recommendations. At the end of the day, there will be two versions of the MoA. One that was prepared by the MILF and the GRP without consulting us, and the other the output of the other stakeholders in Mindanao who were not consulted in the preparation of the MILF-GRP MoA. This is the proposal that we have submitted. I have talked to Secretary Claudio about this, and I am forwarding them a copy of this resolution. And we hope that they will consider, para maintindihan nila that more than anybody else, yes, we would like to have peace, pero huwag naman yung ganyang tututukan mo muna ng baril, bobombahin ka muna bago papirmahin ka ng papeles. Pwede ba naman iyan?

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