There are people in Southern Philippines who have waited for so long for the ‘real macoy’ to happen since 1976. What they have been getting from the national government and from their regional leaders are crumbs or bits and pieces. They struggle for self-determination, and they get a bogus ‘autonomy’. They are given an autonomous government and a promise of reconstruction yet they get neither autonomy nor livelihood and much less the promised ‘reconstruction’ post conflict.

The people’s patience is, often, put to test by the seeming super slow movements both in terms of autonomy and prosperity in the Southern Philippines. The only consolation they hear is an old and overused Spanish adage that says: ‘la ciencia de la paz es la ciencia de paciencia.’ But how long can their patience hold?

During the debates over the synchronization of the ARMM Elections to the second Monday of May 2013, the things said in secret came out in the open. The ‘ARMM is a failed experiment.’ The rationale behind the move of postponement is the determination of the PNoy Government to effect genuine reforms in the ARMM.

The desire is very laudable. But the real question is whether there is the political will and enough ‘wherewithal’ to do the desired reforms in such a short time (barely 22 months). Without the singular determination of the Presidency and the much-needed ‘cash’, kiss the reforms good bye!

I am often asked if the reforms in the ARMM are possible within such a short period of time. My answer is of course guarded. But I believe that reform and development in the ARMM are possible provided that the national and regional leadership shall have the three necessary ingredients to do the reforms. Without these three ingredients, you may as well not begin all since any attempt at reform would simply lead to more frustrations.

The first ingredient is to undertake a total overhaul of the ARMM bureaucracy. There is a new of new faces at the helm of the ARMM bureaucracy. Rightly or wrongly, there is a wide spread malaise in the bureaucracy. People do not trust the familiar names and faces of the leaders and the bureaucracy anymore. The years of corruption, entitlements and ineptness in the system have all have contributed to the prevailing malaise and public perception of the ARMM. The single prayer of so many people is NOT to see re-cycled faces in the OICs.

The present caretakers in the ARMM have been working hard to refurbish the ARMM image following the now infamous Maguindanao Massacre that has become the powerful symbol to all and sundry what has gone wrong in the ARMM for years. They new administrators are caught in the bureaucratic mill and with no wherewithal; the efforts have not gone far enough before the debates on synchronization of elections have overtaken them.

This fact actually leads to the second ingredient necessary for real reform in the ARMM. Any radical reform in the ARMM can only be done in what is often talked about in the post conflict reconstruction as ‘the state of exception’. The reform in the ARMM including the appointments of OICs cannot be subjected to the regular bureaucratic mill. The mill is not only characterized by so many land mines aka political compromises but it also grinds slow!

The other proposal to subject the OICs to endless consultations and the reforms to endless meetings is also another formula for disaster. What is most needed this time is the sterling character of the OICs and that they also enjoy the full trust of the President. They are accountable to the President during this time of state of exception and NOT to the people of the ARMM. This time, the operative word is ‘TRUST” the President!

The third ingredient is the much-needed wherewithal. Genuine Reform like post conflict reconstruction is NEVER done piece meal. The needed reform and development in the ARMM has to be wholesale. This means the Presidency is willing to stake a good portion of the President’s Social Fund and he is willing to give budgetary allocation for the required development infrastructures and access to basic services.

All can do the talking when it comes to reforms. But the real test of the talk is the willingness of the national leadership to walk the talk in concrete terms of CASH or wherewithal. This time, what is needed is not merely to walk the talk but also to walk the walk meaning the Presidency has to take the personal initiative to accompany the regional OICs in walking the walk!

Reforming the ARMM sounds and looks quixotic! But it is possible if the national leadership will be bold enough to undertake the three ingredients for real reforms in the ARMM. The new law gives this rare opportunity to the President. This rare opportunity comes only under extraordinary times. I can only hope and pray that the President would never be lacking in courage to bring to completion what he has started by postponing the ARMM Elections.

In a similar vein, the President and his appointed OICs would need all the cooperation to make true this quixotic venture. For myself, I commit to do my utmost to match the President’s boldness in walking his talk to make that dream a reality in the coming months!

Cotabato City and the neighboring municipalities are under a state of calamity. Flooded rivers brought downstream tons of water hyacinth or water lilies that clogged the Rio Grande de Mindanao. Tens of kilometers of water hyacinths blocked the Cotabato Delta River spilling the flooded water on both banks submerging almost 36 barangays of Cotabato City and some areas in the municipality of Sultan Kudarat.

For almost a week now, the people are practically living in a ‘water world’ wading through a waist deep of water. Classes are suspended and people scamper to higher grounds.

The flooding in Central Mindanao has given rise to urgent calls to revisit and change policies and behavior that directly impact the fragile eco-system.

First, by its very name, Maguindanao, the place tells a story of water inundation every time the Rio Grande de Mindanao is swollen. This is an annual occurrence as far back as memory remembers.

Second is the fact that Cotabato Delta and all low-lying areas of Cotabato City and the neighboring municipalities are actually part of the great Cotabato Marsh consisting of three major subdivisions.

The upper Cotabato that constitutes an upper arc covering roughly the municipalities of Pikit, Pagalungan, Datu Montawal, Kabacan, Matalam, M'lang, Tulunan, Datu Paglas, Datu Paglat, Sultan sa Barongis, Rajah Buayan, Mamasapano, Datu Salibo and Datu Piang. This upper arc is also known as the Liguasan Marsh.

The middle Cotabato has its own body of water that borders the municipalities of Pigcauayan, Libungan, Midsayap, Upper Kabuntalan and Talayan. This middle portion is officially known as the Libungan Marsh.

The lower Cotabato covers the areas of Lower Kabuntalan, Dinaig, Sultan Kudarat and Cotabato City. It is officially known as the Ebpanan Marsh.

The three said marshes are the natural catchment for flooded waters when the major Cotabato rivers are swollen due to heavy rains. These rivers are (1) Rio Grande de Mindanao or Pulangi; (2) the Kabacan-Marbel River; (3) the Kabulnan River; (4) Allah River; and (5) Libungan River. From Datu Piang, all these great rivers form one mighty Pulangi which forks again at the upper Cotabato City into two rivers (Mindanao River and Tamontaka River) and empty their water to Illana Bay.

Once upon a time, before the ‘honorable’ men and women of the empire province of Cotabato altered their eco-system, the yearly water inundation was a normal occurrence and formed part of the cultures of the people of the flooded plains (Maguindanao).

The three Cotabato Marshes cover about 288,000 hectares. By design, they serve as natural filters and flood control for the plains of Cotabato. But due to heavy siltation and proliferation of water hyacinths, these three marshes no longer serve their natural ecological functions.

Things began to change when the forests of Cotabato were given as logging concessions to big families. They wantonly cut trees without provisions for reforestation - a complete violation of existing laws. With the logging concessionaires came the settlers and they gave the coup de grace to the rape of remaining forests by cutting the secondary growth for agriculture.

In time, the soil erosion becomes a phenomenon every heavy downpour. People suddenly wake up to behold the heavy siltation of all the major rivers. Since they all empty their waters into the Illana Bay, it, inevitably, condemns the Bucana lost, because of heavy siltation.

The second man-made major catastrophe was the so-called rechanneling of the combined water of Pulangi and Kabacan River to the Liguasan Marsh. The man-made channel in Tungol redirected the natural water flow of these two mighty rivers.

By redirecting the river to the Liguasan Marsh, the Liguasan ‘returns’ all the flooded waters to Mindanao River plus water hyacinths and the thick marsh grasses. The Liguasan will never be lacking of water hyacinths and grasses. There are thousands of cubic tons of these waiting to be washed away into the Mindanao River. And there is NO way of stopping them.

The Cotabato City flood has only short-term solutions that constitute only immediate relief from the menace of water hyacinths. The long-term solution would require not only a change of policies and behavior but also a gargantuan budget that the country cannot afford in the next 15 or 20 years.

It is for this reason that I passionately believe that the millions spent (more than P52 million) for the STUDY of the Cotabato River System to give a long and permanent solution to the Cotabato flooding is not only ill-advised but an utter waste of money.

The study, when completed, would end up in our collection of rare books that would remain in our bookshelves. The Task Force Mindanao River Basin has become the biggest joke in southern Philippines, particularly Central Mindanao.

The most that can be done is to give immediate relief to the flood victims by making sure that the water hyacinth and the marsh grass do not clog the Delta River and the Tamontaka River. This means a regular watch of these two rivers both via massive man-labor and water master to clear the clogging of the Delta River.

By setting our eyes on long-term solutions to the flooding of Cotabato City and its environs, we go for the impossible dreams and the unreachable stars.

With Congress passing the law cancelling the August 08, 2011 ARMM elections, the President of the Republic is given a very rare opportunity to appoint all the officialdom of the ARMM. This is a very rare occurrence in a society that has adopted a democratic process.

In recent memory, we have only two occasions. The first one is the takeover of absolute power by Ferdinand Marcos following the declaration of Martial Law in 1972. And the second one is during the early years under the Freedom Constitution following Cory Aquino’s victory during the EDSA Revolution in 1986.

By September 30, 2011, the President’s ‘elect’ will assume powers in the entire bureaucracy of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. The President will appoint OICs from Governor, Vice Governor and Members of the Regional Legislative Assembly to all Cabinet Secretaries, Bureau Heads/Chief to all senior officials of the ARMM.

The President has articulated ad nauseam the need to reform the ARMM. The President’s men and women have never been lacking in echoing the same thing. It has almost become a mantra of PNoy’s administration that the ARMM in these past 21 years have been a ‘failed experiment’ in Moro self-governance.

The ARMM (1989) and its predecessor structures (1978) have been in place for nearly three decades. Sad to note, the Autonomous Structures have not enhanced real autonomy of the people and the region. On the contrary, the autonomous region has become more impoverished and dependent on the national government.

We can only hope and pray that the President will be rightly guided in his choice of people to undertake his desired reforms in the ARMM. The new mantra is ‘trust the President’!

The time has come when the President of the Republic of the Republic is given the unique privileged to appoint OICs who would manage the ARMM not only for 22 months. With the adoption by the House of the Senate version of the law, the OICs are not barred to run for elections in May 2013.

It is often said that with this rare opportunity is also attached an awesome responsibility. The President has spearheaded the cancellation of the ARMM Elections and he has assumed the power to appoint all officials of the ARMM. No doubt, he is NOW responsible for the rise or the final collapse of the ARMM. From this day forward, there will be no passing the buck for whatever happens in the ARMM. ARMM’s rise and fall is now intimately tied to PNoy’s.


To begin with, there is the urgent need to tell the people that the ARMM offices are NOT entitlements but sacred trust. This requires a new work ethics based on commitment to certain values and beliefs, specifically the empowerment and well-being of their constituencies.

There are aspects in the ARMM that PNoy’s chosen men and women need to face squarely as they draw the road map for ARMM Reform. The first one is to address the general malaise that ails the entire ARMM bureaucracy. Rightly or wrongly, people no longer trust the people and the institutions in the ARMM. The new stewards need to restore people’s trust and confidence in regional bureaucracy that has become, for three decades, personal entitlements.

The second one is to institute a work ethics based on commitment and devotion to the cause of autonomy and people empowerment. Reporting to office or going for a trip is not based on moods. Office hours are instituted to serve the convenience of the constituents who seek the attention and service of the office holders.

The third one is to re-energize and perhaps re-invent the delivery of basic services to the ARMM constituents, specifically in health, in basic education, agriculture and in other rural infrastructures.

No doubt, these three abovementioned aspects need to be undergirded by actual developments on the ground. But without restoring people’s trust in the officials and ARMM bureaucracy, all attempts at reforms would be vain!

The people in the ARMM have long been living in ‘darkness’. Will this rare opportunity of complete overhaul of the ARMM bureaucracy, finally, let the people see a light at the end of that long tunnel called ARMM?

The present debates on the cancellation of the August 8th, 2011 ARMM Elections have touched the very core issue at the heart of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao or ARMM.

The PNoy Administration is so quick in its judgment that the whole ARMM is a ‘failed experiment’. Rightly or wrongly, this ‘appreciation’ of the ARMM has become the basis for the desire to cancel the scheduled ARMM Polls under the guise of synchronization and to appoint Malacañan’s favored ‘anointees’ as OICs during the ‘interim’ period.

Sad to note, the present dispensation with their cheering squad develops a sort of ‘messianic’ complex believing that it can reform the ARMM in 22 months!

There is no doubt that the ARMM needs urgent reforms. But doing reform from the top (Malacañan), both in the short and long terms, is NOT sustainable.

Any ‘instant reforms’ become not only ‘suspects’ but also ‘whimsical’ given the complexity of the ARMM and the cultures involved therein coupled by two Moro liberation fronts (MNLF and MILF), . There are no ready ‘fixes’ for the ARMM nor an ‘instant’ solution to what presently ails the ARMM.

To begin with, the real reform in the ARMM must begin with the cessation of the national government’s direct interferences in their local affairs including the manner of choosing their leaders. In fact, the Organic Act (both RA 6734 and its successor RA 9054) has intentionally set apart the ARMM Elections (NOT synchronize with national elections) to give power to the Regional Assembly to legislate its own ways of choosing leaders according to their customs so long as it will NOT affect the national elections.

I thought that during the debates, Sen. Joker Arroyo’s wisdom in the Senate would have prevailed over the national’s, particularly Malacañan, appreciation of the ARMM by a simple understanding that ‘AUTONOMY means Malacañan keep off.’

In praxis, the ARMM is a real misnomer or better still it is an ‘oxymoron’. A more appropriate name for the region is CRMM or Controlled Region in Muslim Mindanao. The region that is given a Constitutional mandated autonomy and its own Basic Law or the Organic Act has turned out to be less autonomous and definitely much under budgeted region than any regions in the Republic except for the Cordillera Administrative Region or the CAR.

The first and paramount reform in the ARMM is for the National Government and Malacañan to stop thinking and believing that the ARMM is its own ‘attached’ agency. Malacañan continues to tinker with the ARMM, particularly in the electoral processes.

The phenomenon of captive constituency in the ARMM would never happen without the direct wish and order from the National Government, particularly Malacañan, including the COMELEC and the security sectors (AFP and the PNP).

A good start for a real reform is for Malacañan to ORDER free and clean elections in the ARMM and level the playing fields in the forthcoming electoral contest. All agencies of government particularly the COMELEC and the security sectors guarantee a level playing field by way of distancing themselves from candidates and political parties.

A controlled voting exercise, first and foremost, requires a controlled COMELEC and security sectors (AFP and PNP). Mayors and Governors control the voting ‘habits’ in their respective constituency, simply because the COMELEC and the security sector allow it to be so!

The second reform is the budgetary allocation for the ARMM. While corruption is always the cited reason for lack of development, the truth of the matter is that there is hardly any budget allocation for development and infrastructures in the ARMM. The lion’s share in the ARMM budget goes to PS or personal services (67%). The second item in the budget is the Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses or MOOE (20%). The third item is capital outlay (13 %) that includes among others development, infrastructure, investment funding, and payments and/or counterparts to all foreign assisted projects (WB- ARMM Social Fund, JBIC, IBRD).

By any configuration, a 67% PS budget tells a heavy bureaucracy. This fat bureaucracy is, in fact, the prime source of corruption through ‘ghost’ employees, ‘ghost’ teachers and ‘ghost’ other contractual workers.

The total budget for the ARMM in 2011 is P 11, 179, 638.000 or the equivalent of 0.67% of the national budget. Granted the argument that there is massive corruption in the ARMM government, we are actually speaking only of 0.67% of the national budget! The corruption in the ARMM would NOT even make a dent in the corruption in the national government.

Definitely, there is no real autonomy when Malacañan remains the ‘suzerain’ that has direct control not only over the ARMM budget but also over the behavior of all its ‘vassals’ in the said areas.

A good start at reform is NOT to cancel the remaining vestige of democracy in the place albeit how flawed it is. If the PNoy Presidency is true to its avowed ‘MATUWID NA DAAN’, he can begin by leveling the playing field in the forthcoming elections and for the first time NOT to anoint anyone and allow the people to vote their choices freely and with no fear!