Philippine Presidential platform of government which the country watches over once elected

Tony Velasquez (Moderator) Thank you Karen.  Gambling life in exchange of peace.  Many of our countrymen in Mindanao cannot move forward because of war that frequently caught them up. Let us hear a complaint from Aling Amina who simply prefers a tranquil life for her family. Aling Amina is with us today at the University of Pangasinan. She came from Maguindanao.  Aling Amina, how are you? Amina: I’m fine. Tony Velasquez (Moderator): What is your question to our candidates?] Amina: I just would like to ask if we can still attain peace in our province.  Because we’re still in the evacuation center until now.  We cannot return home because of fights in our place. Since I was child and up to this time that I’m already married with children, I’ve been hearing nothing new but fights. Presently, I’m separated and alone in supporting my kids.  How can we survive with my children, if I can’t go to our farm because of battle there? My river spinach which I feed my children is almost consumed.  I can’t think of any other alternative to support my five children. I’m supporting my children‘s education for them at least to acquire knowledge. Tony Velasquez (Moderator):  How can we stop the conflicts in Mindanao?  Let’s start.  The one to answer is Senator Miriam Defensor.

	SENATOR MIRIAM DEFENSOR-SANTIAGO
	RATINGS
	REALISTIC	IDEALISTIC
	ISSUE NO. 6 – CONFLICTS IN MINDANAO
	0	0
First, we will dismantle the private armies. There is private army which is different from Armed Forces of the Philippines. It comes from a politician with enormous money stolen from the government so he is capable of developing an army. And this army can’t be disciplined claiming that they’re helping the government afterall. So this other army should be prioritized to keep an eye on. Second, to stop the conflict in Mindanao. we have to adapt their customary or traditional law into our Western style model of justice – of the justice system. For example, Tausog’s characters are indeed good, that’s why – there is municipal ordinance of one town. Then, they have sharia court, so the bases are good. So in these two ways, it can be possible that we will prevail towards the end to stop the wars or terrorism in Mindanao.
COMMENTARY:
1). In the course of the first century Spanish colonization, the Islamic peoples of Mindanao, Visayas, and Luzon, had a socio-cultural and political identity different and separate from the Spaniards and the Christian indios. By the end of the 16th century, there was a developed sense of religious and cultural unity and identity among the Islamic community to which one might give at least seminally the name bangsamoro, a “nation” of Moro social and political community.                   This sense of “nation” indeed established when from the very beginning and for more than 300 years they opposed series of military campaigns by Spanish military forces and their Christian Indio followers followed by American troops. On the other hand, Christian Filipinos declared their nationhood only when the revolution against Spain was launched in 1896. When this sense of nationhood among Filipinos started to be established under American rule, the leaders and thinkers of the Muslim communities opposed the attempts to place them under Filipino (Moro) rule. The several campaigns, military and otherwise, by Spanish, American, and Filipino governments to conquer, absorb and incorporate the Bangsamoro into the mainstream body politic, ostensibly without esteem to their historical and cultural make-up, is an injustice to the bangsamoros’ religious, cultural and political identity. Hence, the root cause of insurgency in the South is injustice - historical, cultural, social, economic, political, and religious dimensions.[1] Once, these are disrespected, conflicts in Mindanao will never cease.

	SECRETARY MAR ROXAS
	RATINGS
	REALISTIC	IDEALISTIC
	ISSUE NO. 6 – CONFLICTS IN MINDANAO
	5	0
For Aling Mina, I understand your situation.  Ina Ambolodto who is like you has also narrated the same story as evacuee from Mindanao and really lost hope. That’s why we pushed the Comprehensive Agreement on Bangsamoro to attain peace.  We know that there’s no peace without development.  However, without peace, there would also be no progress and development.  (1) So that there will be two initiatives here.  The first part, our government pushes for a dialogue on peace for all sectors especially MILF in Mindanao.  The other part is the development, infrastructures. (2) Our infrustrutures that we brought to Mindanao have doubled compare with all the infrastructures that we brought there twelve years ago during the two presidents.  (3) That’s how we look at Mindanao.  We have concrete accomplishment. We worked on the Comprehensive Agreement, pushed the BBL (Bangsamoro Basic Law).  Unfortunately, this did not pass the Senate and the Congress.  (4) If I’ll become the president, I will push for that.  Because both peace without progress and progress without peace will never happen. (5)  It should be the time to fulfill the promise to Mindanao.
COMMENTARY:
I took his stance on BBL (Bangsamoro basic Law) as realistic because this promises restoration of the sovereignty of Moros.  Originally, Filipinos were called Moros as inhabitant of the Philippine islands, which eventually became Filipinos when Spaniards came in describing the indios colonized by them as such. Bangsamoro (from bangsa, nation) as a term may be a recent social and political concept, but the reality behind the term goes back to the early 14th century when Islam was brought in to the animist Indo-Malayan inhabitants of Mindanao and Sulu through “the missionary activities of Arab traders and teachers or Sufis who came along the trade routes.” Toward the end of the 14th century a Muslim community was already thriving in Sulu. By the middle of the 15th century a Muslim sultanate was already established in Sulu. Islamic missionary efforts in the 15th and 16th centuries also succeeded in establishing sultanates in the Lanao and Cotabato areas. In the last years of the 15th century, Islam had reached out to the north, where Muslim rajahs such as Rajah Sulaiman Mahmud, Rajah Matanda, and Rajah Lakandula ruled over what is known as Manila today. Islamic groups spoke different languages and expressed great distinctions in customs and traditions. It is through the common religious bond of Islam that totally governed their social structures, their relationships, their values, their way of life; bringing their communities together into a distinct and identifiable social group. Such harmony in diversity was already a reality long before the term “Filipinos” came to describe the indios colonized by the Spaniards in the second half of the 16th century. Several Moro leaders vehemently refused to be called Filipinos. They protested against the independence movement of the Filipinos, preferring even to remain under the American flag rather than be independent and yet be under “Christian Filipinos”. The Kiram-Bates treaty paved the way for the American occupation of Mindanao and Sulu. In 1903 the Moro Province consisting of the districts of Sulu, Zamboanga, Lanao, Cotabato and Davao was created and was placed under the direct supervision of the Civil Governor of the Philippine Islands and the Philippine Commission. In 1904 Pres. Theodore Roosevelt unilaterally declared the treaty null and void. In 1912, Brig. Gen. John C. Pershing, head of the Moro Province, created the first Christian colony of settlers in Mindanao. He was also responsible for the disarmament of the Moros, but not without a fight as the massacre at Bud Bagsak in 1913 demonstrates. Hence, restorarion of the identity of Moros is nationalism in nature than disobedience in whatsoever form.

	MAYOR RODRIGO DUTERTE
	RATINGS
	REALISTIC	IDEALISTIC
	ISSUE NO. 6 – CONFLICTS IN MINDANAO
	4	0
The war in Mindanao runs deep. You know, this may sound funny to you but when Magellan landed in Leyte, Islam was already planted firmly in Mindanao because they belong to a different (sultanate). The one who could understand is Sabah up to Malaysia. (1) But you know, the conquerors, the Americans and the Spaniards, they took Mindanao which was already Islam. So with the advent of Spanish soldiers together with the Americans, war really occured. (2) We have to talk and we have to correct the historical injustice. (3) I tell you as a Mayor of the City of Davao......there will be no peace. There can never be a federal government until we talk to the NPAs who have been fighting us, I know, in the ‘70s I was already a student. Now I’m already 70 years old. You know, it has to be a development but you have to make the peace there before you could move. If you can’t have peacetalks, everything will fail. I would like to tell you and I'm telling now to the Republic of the Philippines, nothing will appease the Muslim, the Moro people, if you do not give them the (Bangsamoro Basic Law), that's their most... (4)
COMMENTARY:
Neither was I born in Mindanao or nor a Duterte’s supporter, but I am hundred percent agree with him in his stand on BBL because since the ancient times of Spanish and American colony, the Moros Soveriegny has not been restored yet.  The Filipinos are originally Moros which became Filipinos when the colonized indios were called by the Spaniards as such.

	VICE PRESIDENT JEJOMAR BINAY
	RATINGS
	REALISTIC	IDEALISTIC
	ISSUE NO. 6 – CONFLICTS IN MINDANAO
	2	1
You know Aling Amina, I’ve been used to a dialogue.  Before a government seat, I talked to the laborers and their employers. (1) When I was a Mayor, I had good results on hostage problems. (2) Aling Amina and every Filipino desire to have peace.  I will push for long term peace. For me, in my opinion, long lasting peace can be attained if we can face the problem on poverty that is widespread in your place. (1) That is the root cause why there are those who would like to leave, because there are those who employ violence to destroy the government.  However, the bottom-line of which is poverty. In my administration, life in Mindanao will move forward, and that is the prime reason on how we could attain lasting peace in your place. This is my promise to you.  And you can be sure, because I am action-oriented, I’ll do it.  I make decisions. As a leader, I am decisive. That will happen.
COMMENTARY:
1). Sen. Grace Poe said that Mindanao is giving the country almost more than Php200 billion through their agricultural products.  Meaning, Mindanao is not poverty-prone because of its rich agricultural resources. As I’ve mentioned earlier, Filipinos are actually Moros which changed into Filipino because of the Spanish occupation.  Since then, Moros sovereignty has not been restored yet.  The Basic Bangsamoro Law was passed to the Senate and Congress as mentioned by Sec. Roxas but failed unfortunately.  This issue here is a matter of nationalism.  Hypothetically, this is tantamount to saying that no one can insist to put me in a constitution that I am American or Spanish being an inhabitant of the Philippines if my identity as a citizen of the country is Moro.  If this does not matter to the constitutionalist because of the deep-seated influence of the Americans and Spaniards while the constitution had been formulated, then this matters most to the autonomists.

Tony Velasquez (Moderator) We will have a ball rolling again on our candidates and we will ask additional answers again. I apologize. I forgot Senator Grace Poe. Senator Grace, you still have time.  I’m sorry.

	SENATOR GRACE POE
	RATINGS
	REALISTIC	IDEALISTIC
	ISSUE NO. 6 – CONFLICTS IN MINDANAO
	4	1
Amina, as a woman, I understand you.  Men perhaps carry their weapons, but we carry the world in our shoulder when there’s war.  Because we are left behind to secure our family. Peace in Mindanao is very important.  But to the terrorists who harm and kill, we should not give them a chance if they don’t want to unite and talk to the government.  All out war for those who threaten us, but it should also be all out development. (1) In Maguindanao, I think you don’t have provincial hospital yet. That is one of our needs. (2) It is equally important that we secure our infrastructure because you are connected to each other, to easily guard our territories in Mindanao. (1) Now, there is a problem not only in the Philippines but in Malaysia.  If I’m not mistaken they have already blocked the border to prevent our brothers in Tawi-Tawi on trade or barter.  We need to have bilateral talks to really vanquish terrorism because our countrymen lose their jobs. (3) If I’ll become president, we will continue peace talks – but everybody should be involved.  And we don’t choose a particular group. (4)
COMMENTARY:
1). Infrastructures indeed need to be taken care of as these are the country and people’s investments through taxes and combined ingenuity.  However, no matter how mindful we are of taking care of these infrasctutures without minding the sovereignty of the Moros grabbed by the American and Spaniards, which has been strenghtened by different leaders of the country, unity can never be upheld.  If it’s fair enough to release these Moros (Filipinos were originally Moros, changed into Filipino during the Spanish occupation) as a separate government to re-establish Moros then so be it.  The country as separate to Moros can survive afterall.  Singapore which can be travelled via bus to Malaysia (which is approximately six hour travel depending on the mode of transportation whether it’s by train or coach) can be compared in this situation, which has been productive given the geographical dimension of the country.    When Moro is taken to the country’s map, the philippines can still be prolific because Singapore which is smaller  (occupies an area of 718 square kilometers)   than Luzon  (occupies 147, 947.63 square kilometers, Visayas 59,873.84 quare kilometers, and Midnanao 135, 626.85 sqquare kilometers) alone remains as one of the first world countries. The Moros are not demanding the whole of Mindanao, because circumstances have taken over from some facts of history. They simply ask a portion of it, especially where they preponderate. This will allow generations after them to live in piety and faith, as Islam charges all believers. The indigenous peoples, whom the Visayans call Lumads may choose to unite with their blood-brothers, the Moros, and they are welcome. After all, the two peoples are indissoluble in the history of Mindanao and Sulu. This is not too much a price for peace, development and prosperity for everybody.[2]

Tony Velasquez (Moderator):  Here it is. We will give our candidates another 30 seconds to add more on their previous statements.  We will repeat. Let’s start with Senator Miriam Defensor. VP Jejomar Binay: Si Senator Defensor. Tony Velasquez (Moderator):  Any addition Senator Miriam? VP Jejomar Binay: No more. No more addition. Tony Velasquez (Moderator):  Okay. Vice President Roxas, 30 seconds please. VP Jejomar Binay: Why did you demote him? Tony Velasquez (Moderator):  I'm sorry. Secretary Mar Roxas. My mistake. VP Jejomar Binay:  Ah promoted, rather. Sec. Mar Roxas: But if you’re promoting me, why not? Tony Velasquez (Moderator):  My mistake, I apologize. Steve Harvey moment. Roxas: Aling... Tony Velasquez (Moderator):  Sorry.

	SECRETARY MAR ROXAS
	RATINGS
	REALISTIC	IDEALISTIC
	ISSUE NO. 6 – CONFLICTS IN MINDANAO (ADDITIONAL INPUT)
	1	0
Aling Amina, you’ll be assured of peace if I’ll become a president.  Your question:  who among us will bring peace – long-term peace and progress in your place? You’re ensured, we’re already doing that now and we’ll continue that in your place. (1)

Tony Velasquez (Moderator): Okay. Thank you very much. Next tp answer is Mayor Duterte.

	MAYOR RODRIGO DUTERTE
	RATINGS
	REALISTIC	IDEALISTIC
	ISSUE NO. 6 – CONFLICTS IN MINDANAO (ADDITIONAL INPUT)
	2	0
I said, we have to talk. We cannot fight forever, unless this injustice is corrected. (1) The Moros are willing to compromise. I said it’s not Christians’ fault, they came in droves. (2) So the Americans said at the time “Go to Mindanao because it is the Land of Promise”, simply because no Moro worked from them. That started the migration. We have to talk. We have to correct, I said, that injustice, otherwise… Thank you.
COMMENTARY:
From 1899 to 1941 there were many Moro military revolutions against the Americans. But through military, political and educational ploys the American government slowly gained actual sovereignty over the Moro people. Further, the introduction of Christian settlers to Mindanao that started under General Pershing in 1912 eventually made the once dominant Moro population into a minority and marginalized them. In 1913, the estimated population of Mindanao was the following: 324,816 Moros; 193,882 non-Moros. The Moro people constituted a 76% majority. Twenty-six years later, in 1939, the Moro population was only 34% of the total Mindanao population; in 1990, only 19% of the total Mindanao population of 14,269,456 using 1990 Census of Population and Housing].[3] Hence, their fights are logical and selfless.

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