NewsPCID Statement on CAB 7th Anniversary | 29 March 2021

 

 

 

 

PCID Statement on CAB 7th Anniversary
29 March 2021

On this 7th Anniversary of the signing of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro, we pay tribute to all who made this historic agreement possible.

However, even as we celebrate, we at the Philippine Center for Islam and Democracy are concerned that support for the effective implementation of the CAB has been sidelined by the pressing need to respond to COVID19 and other national priorities.

Yet while we battle the pandemic, we still have to grapple with the horrors of violent extremism. It becomes imperative for us – especially national government – to bolster the foundation of peace in the south. Those who seek to destroy the emerging peace do not rest even with COVID19 running rampant. As the country suffers from the pandemic, the Muslim South is further burdened with suicide bombings. People in conflict areas are going hungry, with promised jobs unrealized and income opportunities lost.

Under such dire circumstances, the fires of extremism are easily stoked. The nation and state can ill afford another conflagration in the south.

Looking back, the success of the 1996 Final Peace Agreement between government and the MNLF unduly suffered from the unanticipated burdens of implementation, unequally shared by the regional and national government. The new ARMM administration, led by former warriors with little background in administration of a bureaucracy, appeared to have been left to fend for themselves. The clamor was for autonomy- therefore let the region run itself, without interference. National policy makers seem to think this was the logical consequence of establishing an autonomous region. In hindsight, we see the failures that resulted was as much a fault of the ARMM as it was of the national government.

One of the mistakes committed was setting a short transition period for the new leadership to acquire the necessary administrative and managerial skills. A barangay captain probably would have more skills in administration than combatants, whose expertise was blowing up buildings, certainly not building or maintaining structures.

Let us learn from the ARMM experience and avoid repeating the mistakes of the past. The consequences may be far more costly, living as we are in even more perilous times.

For inquiries:

Ms. Amina Rasul
President
Philippine Center for Islam and Democracy