Years back, Filipinos prided themselves for their values of honor and morality in their public lives.

We have invented words and phrases to communicate these values close to our hearts and souls. Examples of these are ‘palabra de honor’ and ‘delicadeza’.

It is hard to find the true meaning of ‘delicadeza’ by simply relying on dictionary. Often it is translated as ‘sensitivity’, particularly when used vis-a-vis power and use of prerogatives.

What is obnoxious about the so-called midnight appointments by an expiring presidency is precisely the lack of delicadeza.

Whether in secular or ‘sacred’ use of power and prerogatives, the crux of the matter is NOT power itself but the exercise of power. The issue is not whether the expiring presidency has power or not to make appointments, including the appointment of a Supreme Court Chief Justice. That issue had been resolved legally by the Court.

The real issue is the exercise of said power by an expiring presidency in the twilight of its mandate. This has become a call of ‘delicadeza’ and morality in governance, especially when the new President is already publicly acknowledged; notwithstanding the lack of the official ‘fiat’ of an anachronistic and ‘jurassic’ Congress trying hard to hold to its prerogative in an age of automated electronic system.

By the standard of our tradition as a nation rooted in values, the expiring presidency simply prepares for a smooth transition of powers without raising any controversy or new issues that will ‘burden’ the incoming administration. This is sensitivity and morality in governance.

True, these values are neither written in any Constitution nor in the laws of any land. They are written in the heart and soul of every decent human being.

To us Filipinos, they are not only written in our hearts and souls but they also form the very basis of our ‘hiya’.

The imperatives of ‘delicadeza’ and ‘hiya’ are incumbent both upon the appointing power and the so-called ‘midnight appointees’. They both share the label of ‘insensitivity’ and ‘walang hiya’.

Delicadeza, morality and hiya define our personality and value system. They show the persons that we are and the values we live by.

Ultimately, history would judge us not by our competence or the monuments we have carved for ourselves but by the persons that we are and the values we have stood for during our lives.

It is truly tragic and ‘comical’ (in the Greek sense) that the daughter of the very man who was a victim of utter lack of sensitivity and hiya has chosen the path of shame and ignominy of her father’s nemesis.

Her acts and midnight appointments betray how the ‘bitter’ and ‘spiteful’ past had honed her values and personality for vengeance. This is a real tragic comedy!

On the other hand, there were competent people who, at one time, thought to be honorable men and women, readily accepted their midnight appointments.

What made these people set aside their own delicadeza and hiya to accept such midnight appointments? Is it the glitter of titles and offices long coveted by their hearts?

I am readily reminded of the triple temptation of Jesus in the desert after the fast of 40 days. They are ‘bread for the empty stomach’, wealth, title and office, and exercise of power. Jesus said NO to all three! We do not live on bread alone. Redemption is not bought by wealth, title, office and power. And we are called to serve God and him alone do we bow and worship.

It is a wonderful miracle or a wishful thinking if we, humans, defy the tragic comedy played by the gods.

We had wonderful experiences in the past of delicadeza and hiya in the highest office of the land. President Sergio Osmena, Sr., Don Claro M. Recto, Ka Tanny Tanada, Ka Pepe Diokno, President Ramon Magsaysay and President Diosdado Macapagal (the very father of the highly controversial GMA), and President Cory Aquino.

This is the proverbial ‘Frostian’ two roads diverging in a Wood, only this time, she is the one often travelled by, and that has made all the difference. Tsk Tsk Tsk... Oh what a tragic legacy!

There is something that the May 10 National Elections in Mindanao has proven to all. The opposition won in many areas, including the Autonomous Regions in Muslim Mindanao.

In many regions, it was a contest between Noynoy and Erap with Noynoy winning for the whole aggregate of Mindanao.

In the ARMM, I received so many SMS or text messages from friends and associates telling me with pride that Noynoy won in their provinces and cities.

For the first time in many years in Maguindanao, the local Lords allowed the people to choose their candidates in the national elections (President, Vice President and the Senate).

Gone, at least for a while, is the notorious 12-0 win and the 100% voter turn out as dictated by the ruling Lord.

In a similar vein, the AFP, PNP and the COMELEC sang the same tune – honest, orderly and peaceful elections.

Oh yes, there were disturbances here and there and there were some chaotic precincts. But in the main, the May 10 elections in the ARMM are, by far, the most honest, orderly and peaceful.

The question that everyone is raising is what shall be the face of a Noynoy Presidency for Mindanao? There are many unfinished businesses in Mindanao.

The first priority is the ambiguous Mindanao Development Authority or MindA. The body is created by law though it still has to take concrete shape and form. The implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the said law will still to be ironed out.

Many are hoping that the MindA will not simply be a mutated MEDCO. There is an urgent need for NEW FACES and a new wind in the MindA to inspire and take a real stride forward for Mindanao Peace and Development Plan.

No if’s and but’s, MindA must NOT be the SAME faces that offer the same formula for Mindanao. MEDCO has gone stale and it would simply be a heavy baggage for MindA. Mindanao needs badly a new wind, in fact, a gush of new wind to refresh the land and the peoples of Mindanao.

MindA officials were among the controversial ‘midnight appointments’ by the expiring Arroyo administration. What happens to these old bogeys appointed by GMA during the last few minutes of her expiring presidency?

The second unfinished business is the peace processes in the Southern Philippines. GMA has played the MNLF and the MILF cards shrewdly and adeptly. When the GRP-MILF front is progressing well, the GRP-MNLF is put in the back burner. And when the GRP-MILF front is NOT progressing the GRP-MNLF takes the front seat.

The question being raised is what strategy the Noynoy Presidency shall take in the face of these two platforms in the peace processes in Southern Philippines.

Then there are two Commissions that can play prominent roles in Mindanao. The first one is the National Commission for Indigenous Peoples or NCIP. The second is the newly created Commission for Muslim Filipinos.

The NCIP is the agency mandated to attend to the Indigenous Peoples’ aspirations and dreams, especially touching on their ancestral domain.

However, the tragic development about the NCIP is that fact that it has mutated into a body that seems to protect the ‘rights’ and ‘prerogatives’ of IFMA holders and prospective mining companies within the IP’s ancestral domain.
In some instances, the NCIP has become instruments of ‘fake’ consultations involving the very people that should be protected by law and the Commission.

A new Commission on Muslim Filipinos has been recently enacted into law. Again, this new Commission can be a fresh wind to revitalize the services to Muslim Filipinos or simply become the rehashed Office of the Muslim Affairs.
Notwithstanding that the law’s implementing rules and regulations will still be written, the Commissioners were, like in MindA case, appointed against the expressed prohibition of the Constitution against ‘midnight appointments’.

The position that the Noynoy Presidency will take vis-a-vis the controversy spawned by the midnight appointments will define and shape the face of the incoming administration.

The more decent and honourable move is for the people who have been appointed in those ‘last few minutes’ of the expiring GMA administration to tender their ‘courtesy resignation.

However, if these ‘honorables’ would The moves of President-elect Noynoy in not do so, then the moves of the new President will define his administration.

The moves of the new President Noynoy will, definitely affect, at least, the above three unfinished business.

Thus the new President’s moves will be carefully watched by Mindanawans. They will signal if there is a fresh wind blowing our way...!

For days, the toss between Mangudadatu and the Sinsuat over leadership of Maguindanao province held the people in suspense.

Prior to the May 10 elections, the people in the province believed that the results of the polls would tell if the near total control of the Ampatuan clan over the province is ended or not.

To simple people, the victory of the Mangudadatu-Mastura team will, definitely, announce to all that the era of the Ampatuan is gone and a new power holder is installed in the province.

Age-wise, the Mangudadatu-Mastura team exudes with youthfulness in contrast to the Sinsuat- Ampatuan tandems who are in their senior years.

To many young voters, age matters.

They can easily relate to young candidates and they identify with their causes.

But in Maguindanao, what truly matters in local elections is the capacity of leaders — young or old — to, skilfully, navigate in ‘tumultuous’ clan politics.

Maguindanao is actually composed of patches of well established ‘fiefdoms’.

Clan politics and clan rule give us the real geo-politics in Maguindanao.

Prior to the multiplication of municipalities, the geo-political lines were much clearer.

The Mastura clan rules in the former Municipality of Nuling or Sultan Kudarat.

The Sinsuat clan rules former and undivided Municipality of Dinaig. The Matalam clan rules in the undivided former Pagalungan Municipality.

The Midtimbang clan rules in the former undivided Talayan.

The Paglas clan rules over the undivided Datu Paglas Municipality.

The Ampatuan clan rules over the undivided Datu Piang, Maganoy and Ampatuan municipalities.

And the Mangudadatu clan rules over the undivided municipality of Buluan, the Iranun municipalities belong to the Tomawis-Aratuc clan, Lidasan-Macapeges clan, the Iman and Ibay Clans .

Clan politics remain strong in the province.

Within the small fiefdom, the clan determines the leadership.

But in the province, leadership belongs to anyone who can establish the greater alliance among these ‘small’ Lords.

The rise of the Mangudadatu in the neighboring province of Sultan Kudarat dominated by Christian settlers is phenomenal.

The father and son tandems (Governor and Congressman) have shown the adeptness of the Mangudadatus in establishing a modus vivendi of power and wealth sharing among the various ethnic groups in the province.

To the surprise of many, Sultan Kudarat province is an exemplar where the small Muslim minority is able to win the leadership in the province.

The governance of the Mangudadatu clan (Pax and Suharto) in Sultan Kudarat Province is rated as good, though there are gaps for greater improvement.

The Mangudadatu clan is known to be ethno-religious blind.

They do not favor any group or tribe, because of ethnicity or religions. They serve their constituencies well.

This is, perhaps, the reason why the majority Christian settlers (mainly Ilongos and Ilocanos) and the Indigenous Peoples have joined the Muslim minority in electing Muslim leadership in the province.

In Maguindanao, the particular clan that has suffered most is the Mangudadatus.

The massacre of November 23rd, 2009 has wrought havoc right at the heart of the clan. Ismael or Toto’s wife and his two sisters (eldest and youngest) are among the fallen with the women lawyers and journalist — 57 victims!

Toto Mangudadatu has, no doubt, paid dearly in contesting the leadership of the province.

Now Toto Mangudadatu is the new governor — the new Lord of the Province.

The issue being raised is the question whether the Mangudadatu ‘lordship’ in Maguindanao will be any different from the Ampatuan.

I have known the Mangudadatu and most clans in Maguindanao for years (more than four decades).

The young Mangudadatu brothers, no doubt, have daring spirit and courage. They also have the capacity to lead.

But above all, they take responsibility over their actions or inactions.

Besides being ethno-religious blindness, another endearing characteristic of the Mangundadatu brothers is their capacity to LISTEN to their elders and constituencies.

The other half of the clan rules over the neighboring province of Sultan Kudarat.

Pax and Suharto are loved by their constituencies, because they listen to them.

They build their roads; they attend to the barangay folks when they are sick; they build more schools and help bury the dead.

This listening and ministering to their constituencies endear them most to their constituencies.

The same needs but in much greater scale are felt in Maguindanao.

The new lord of Maguindanao, hopefully, would not build palaces and ride in fancy vehicles amid the poverty of their constituencies.

In many ways, the price Toto paid to contest the leadership of the Ampatuans and the collapse of the ‘empire’ would teach him well as he begins his rule over the province.

The young Mangudadatu brothers make me hope that their rule would be different in Maguindanao.

The Mangudadatu brothers, like their kin in the neighboring province, have also the capacity to be with and listen to their constituencies.

For this virtue alone, I am a believer that in time, the Mangudadatu rule in Maguindanao would even surpass the accomplishments of their kin in the province of Sultan Kudarat.

The Maguindanao polls would be something to watch comes May 10th National Elections.

In the past, the province of Maguindanao has always been categorized as a captive electorate.

This is the province that has made history in electoral notoriety through “Hello Garci” and 0-12 Bedol style.

There are three major events that happened in the Province of Maguindanao.

The first one is the earthshaking massacre on November 23, 2009.

This single event puts the Maguindanao Province in the map of most notorious places in the planet.

The second is the collapse of the Ampatuan Empire by putting clan pillars behind bars.

The third is the complete change of the PNP (Philippine National Police) and AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) elements in the area.

Observers note that the actual hold of the Maguindanao paramount lord over the electoral system and personnel lies not on the voters but on the ‘non’- voters in the province.

The province is able to deliver the 0-12 Bedol results in any electoral exercises, because the COMELEC through the BEI actually vote on the non-voters.

The estimate of actual voters in the province is about 20 percent.

About 80 percent of the registered voters do NOT appear near polling places.

It is the BEI that actually voted for the 80 percent of the registered voters upon the instruction of COMELEC like Bedol.

When the Ampatuan had complete control of the Province and the ARMM, this control included the PNP, AFP, and the COMELEC.

In whispers, the residents readily included Malacañang in the list of ‘controlled’ institutions.

Things radically changed in the province and the ARMM (Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao).

The ‘control’ over the province and ARMM apparently is no longer there.

The Ampatuan protagonists were put behind bars.

The COMELEC, the PNP and to a certain extent the AFP, willingly or unwillingly, were all implicated in the Maguindanao massacre.

The talks point to the COMELEC as an ‘accomplice’ to the massacre by closing the Cotabato City Office about two weeks before the massacre.

That single act forced the Mangudadatu to go to Sharif Aguak to file the certification of candidacy.

The whole PNP Provincial Command that had deteriorated to police bodyguards of the Ampatuan was directly linked to the massacre.

And the AFP was implicated for doing ‘nothing’ as if being told not to act that involved the domestic affairs of the Ampatuan and the Mangudadatu clans.

The PNP and the AFP personnel were completely revamped to remove any trace of Ampatuan control or influence over the police and the military.

Now, the province has an acting governor that remains neutral in the politics of Maguindanao.

The COMELEC seems no longer a hostage of any clan and the City Sub Office has been re-opened.

The new PNP and AFP personnel are committed to the conduct of honest, clean and credible elections in the Province.

Will we see, for the first time, real electoral exercises in the province?

Will the COMELEC with the help of neutral PNP and AFP conduct real elections?

The key is NOT to allow the BEI’s vote for the non-voters comes May 10th National Elections.

There are three candidates for the governorship of Maguindanao.

The first is Ismael Mangudadatu popularly known as Datu Toto that has directly challenged the Ampatuan’s hold over the province.

The second is Datu Antao Midtimbang, a mayor of Gindulungan Municipality in the ormer Municipality of Talayan and related by affinity to ARMM Governor Datu Zaldy Ampatuan.

The third is Datu Ombra Sinsuat, mayor of DOS (Datu Odin Sinsuat), formerly Dinaig, and related by affinity to Governor Datu Andal Ampatuan, Sr.

The Ampatuan Patriarch, though in jail, is an official candidate for Vice Governor under the ticket of Datu Ombra Sinsuat.

The results of the May 10th National Elections will tell to all sundry if the Ampatuan’s absolute hold in the province has, finally, ended.

The victory or loss of the Ampatuan patriarch and his anointed will be a powerful statement after the November 23 massacre.

The Ampatuan victory would announce to the public that he is still in control. His loss and the victory of the opposing clan/s would announce that there is a new power holder in the province.

All eyes are now focused on the COMELEC, PNP, and the AFP.

The elections in the past were COMELEC-controlled and COMELEC was clan-controlled.

Cheatings by the COMELEC were also tolerated by the PNP and the AFP. In short, all three above institutions were actual captives of the Ampatuan clan.

The Maguindanao polls would, definitely, be watched by all in ARMM, particularly in Maguindanao and Cotabato City.

With the three major events mention above, there is the golden opportunity for a fresh start in the province.

But the hard question confronting the ‘guardians’ of Maguindanao is to ALLOW the people to have their real choice.

They may represent only the 20 percent of the registered electorates but they are real people and voters.

The 80 percent may appear big, but they are NOT real!

By allowing the real people to vote though they constitute only 20 percent of the registered voters and disallowing the bogus 80 percent voters to determine the results of Maguindanao polls will send clear signal that elections in the province are for real.