FORMER senator Santanina Rasul has urged Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to invite his mother, former first lady Imelda Romualdez Marcos, to a Senate committee public hearing to shed light on the 1976 Tripoli Agreement between the government and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) that granted autonomy to several provinces and cities in Mindanao.
Sen. Marcos, chair of the committee deliberating on the draft Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) before it is sent to the plenary, “should secure the legacy of his father: autonomy for the Muslim,” said Rasul who served in the Senate from 1987 to 1995.
Rasul said the former first lady should be asked why she supported the peace negotiations which led to the grant of autonomy.
Mrs. Marcos, now representative of the 2nd district of Ilocos Norte, was first lady and minister of human settlements while the country from 1972 to 1986, and was sent on diplomatic mission to Libyan President Muammar Qaddafi in November 1976 that eventually led to the signing of the Tripoli Agreement a month in Dec. 23 that year.
In a privilege speech last week, Sen. Marcos rejected the draft BBL in its present form and substance, claiming this “will not bring us any closer to peace (but) will lead us to perdition.”
In May, Sen. Marcos said he would seek the removal of the opt-in provision for areas contiguous to the Bangsamoro, particularly the version of the House of Representatives as approved by the Ad Hoc Committee on the Bangsamoro Basic Law that cited the areas of autonomy mentioned by the Tripoli Agreement of 1976, as it could lead to a “creeping expansion” in the future.
The House version allows for an opt-in for those contiguous areas that are within the “areas of the autonomy” listed in the Tripoli Agreement, and only on its fifth and tenth year.
The “areas of the autonomy” in the House version of the opt-in provision is based on the list of areas named in the Tripoli Agreement – then 13 provinces and nine cities: Basilan, Davao del Sur, Lanao del Norte, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, North Cotabato, South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sulu, Tawi-tawi, Zamboanga del Norte, Zamboanga del Sur – all in Mindanao – and Palawan and its cities therein. With the creation of new provinces and conversion of towns into cities, that autonomy area now comprises 16 provinces and 16 cities out of Mindanao’s 27 provinces and 33 cities.
Rasul said Mrs. Marcos’s knowledge on what transpired during the negotiations, including how the list of “areas of the autonomy” was reached, can help enlighten the Senate Committee chaired by her son.
Mrs. Marcos played a crucial role in pushing for the 1976 peace agreement after the failed negotiations in 1975.
The Tripoli Agreement is considered the “mother agreement” on autonomy but which the MNLF said was unilaterally implemented by President Marcos who, using his legislative powers under martial law, created two instead of one autonomous region.
In her talk with Qaddafi in November 1976, Mrs. Marcos had said the MNLF’s claimed membership of 5,000 was “hardly representative of 2 million Muslim Filipino,” a two-part video of that visit posted on youtube, showed.
The narrator said Mrs. Marcos had scheduled to leave even if the panel she brought headed by Barbero, would not be able to sign the Joint Communique on the peace negotiations that would be held the following month.
Mrs. Marcos, the narrator said, “would not accept any provision in the Joint communiqué that would legitimize the MNLF and would open to territorial dismemberment as the Libyan negotiating panel had wished.”
Qaddafi invited Mrs. Marcos and her party to his residence a second time, asked her to extend her stay while the impasse on the Joint Communique was being reseolved and personally “worked out the phraseology” of the Communique.
He also asked to speak to President Marcos by phone and told the latter “not to worry” because Mrs. Marcos’ visit would be “very successful.”
Mrs. Marcos not only got a promise of a peace agreement, she also managed to set up diplomatic relations with Libya and got the commitment of Qaddafi to help the Philippines in its oil needs in exchange for sugar, coconut oil, hardwood, managerial and manpower for Libya’s construction industry, medical personnel and development workers.
In the book “Nur Misuari: An Authorized Biography,” also published in 2012, author Tom Stern, wrote excerpts from his interview with Mrs. Marcos, on how she convinced Qaddafi to help.
The book quotes Mrs. Marcos as saying, “I flirted and complained to him. ‘Oh, Colonel Khaddafy, our country is so poor and has no oil” and the Libyan leader said ‘”I will make sure you have oil.”
“And I said,” Mrs. Marcos added, “Oh, Colonel Khaddafy, we need peace in our country. Can you help?” and after the Libyan leader said yes, she “put on a pleading face, and said, ‘Oh, Colonel Khaddafy, my people are so poor. Can you give them jobs?’ And he gave orders to employ Filipinos in Libya, with good jobs.”
Mrs. Marcos continued: “Later, Ferdinand’s men worked out the details of the peace agreement with Misuari, and other men planned how to implement his orders. But I am the one who made Peace with Misuari.” –carolyn arguillas of mindanews
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