Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
SEPTEMBER 2008
PJR RE
mentioned for inclusion in the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity (BJE) protested that they had not been consulted. Some senators and representatives questioned the secrecy in the drafting of the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD). Others alleged
that President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo planned to extend her term by using the MOA-AD to push a shift to federalism through constitutional amendments. These doubts prompted several incumbent and former officials to file a suit before the Supreme Court, which issued a temporary restraining order last Aug. 4, stopping the Aug. 5 signing of the MOA in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The flap over the MOA heightened hostilities between the MILF forces and the Armed Forces of the
The historical perspective of the issue of ancestral domain was not thoroughly discussed
.............................................................. (ABS-CBNNews.com/Newsbreak, GMANews.tv, Inquirer.net, and the Philippine Center for Investigative Center (PCIJ) blogsite).
The Supreme Court issued a temporary restraining order on the MOA-AD last Aug.4.
LITO OCAMPO
INDANAO IS in the news again, more than a year after the beheading of 10 Marine soldiers in Tipo-tipo, Basilan and the kidnapping of Fr. Giancarlo Bossi. This time what initially dominated the front pages and the news programs was the supposed breakthrough in the peace negotiations between the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP).
Daily coverage
As expected the press provided daily coverage of the controversy. It also paid ample attention to the preparations for the 2008 local elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) the first successful and fully automated elections in the Philippines. (See sidebar) But the usual problems, such as lack of contextualization and in-depth reports still haunted most Ma-
MALU MANAR
The peace talks between the GRP and MILF had resumed in 2003, three years after former president Joseph Estrada had waged total war against the separatist group in 2000. But the negotiations had been repeatedly stalled. When the media reported that the MILF and GRP peace panels had finally agreed on the terms of the ancestral domain aspect of the talksthe biggest hurdle that has blocked the formulation of a final peace agreement many thought it was peace at last. But the enthusiasm waned when doubts over its legality and implications were provoked when details of the Memorandum of Agreement were revealed. Several local officials in Mindanao whose barangay were
MALU MANAR
Philippines, the Philippine National Police, and some civilian volunteer organizations in North Cotabato and Lanao, in what many feared would be a repeat of the Muslim-Christian confrontations of the past. PJR Reports followed the news media coverage of the MOA-AD a week before it was initialed last July 27 until the Arroyo administration announced its cancellation last Aug. 20 (July 21-Aug. 20). The monitor included three major Manila-based dailies (the Manila Bulletin, the Philippine Daily Inquirer, and The Philippine Star); the primetime news programs 24 Oras of GMA-7 and TV Patrol World of ABS-CBN 2; and some major news websites
PORTS
SEPTEMBER 2008
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nila-based media, a problem that has been noted in past PJR Reports monitors.
SUCCESSFUL
DRY RUN
It also provided last Aug. 10 a timeline for the elections from the creation of the ARMM in 1989, as well as previous data from the Comelec and the pre-election report by Anfrel (http://news.abs-cbn.com/ research/08/10/08/fast-factsarmm-elections). Its Aug. 7 election primer Lesson for the ARMM polls: New problems accompany election automation was also helpful in putting the ARMM elections from the perspective of the automation experiences of other countries. GMANews.TV discussed in its sidebar section the significance of the ARMM elections (http:// www.gmanews.tv/story/112915/ significance-of-the-ARMM-elections). It also provided a timeline of the poll automation attempts since 1992 (http://www.gmanews.tv/ story/112897/poll-automationtimeline).
LITO OCAMPO
................................................................................................................................ The successful ARMM elec- ing system through an infographic tion was significant since it was a last Aug. 10. The infographic comdry-run for the first automated presi- pared the two devices, and plotted dential elections in 2010, how it in a map the location where each might be conducted and the prob- would be used. The DRE was used in Maguindanao, while the four other lems that may arise from it. The PJR Reports reviewed the ARMM provinces used the OMR. Alcoverage of the ARMM elections by though published after the electhree Manila-based newspapers (the tions, the Inquirer also provided a Manila Bulletin, the Philippine Daily diagram on how to use the two kinds Inquirer, and The Philippine Star); of voting machines (Aug. 13, p. A19). Other reports explained that this the primetime news programs TV Patrol World and 24 Oras; and some is the third and most successful atonline news sites from July 21 Aug. tempt in computerizing the elections. The Inquirers In the know 20. Most of the reports did explain sidebar explained that the Comelec the procedures for the automated had previously employed automated elections, and pointed out its impor- counting machines in the ARMM tance not only for the 2010 presi- electionsthe first time in 1996, dential elections, but for all future and the second in May 1998. It elections. As in the 2007 barangay noted the problems the Comelec exelections, the press provided enough perienced in both efforts. Most news media mentioned information on the ARMM elections. What were lacking, however, were the the technical problems encounexplanatory reports that could have tered by voters and elections officdeepened the publics appreciation ers. Last Aug. 11, TV Patrol and 24 Oras reported how some machines of the event. failed to work or overheated, but were easily replaced. Automated machines The Aug. 20 Abscbnnews.com/ Most of the reports focused the Commission on Elections (Comelec) Newsbreak special report noted that using two kinds of automated count- the machines prevented cheating ing machinesthe Optical Media in the counting and canvassing of Reader (OMR) and the Direct Record- votes but failed to stop vote-buying Electronic system (DRE)for the ing and other forms of cheating. This was based on the report of the for2008 local elections in ARMM. Abscbnnews.com/Newsbreak, eign observers of Asian Network for for instance, explained the new vot- Free Elections (Anfrel).
N ADDITION to the peace talks between the Arroyo administration and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), and the resurgent Mindanao conflict, the press also reported the first fully automated elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) last Aug. 11.
LITO OCAMPO
The news media also reported the attempt by the Arroyo administration to postpone the ARMM elections. The reports explained that Malacaang wanted to accommodate the request of the MILF to postpone the elections in view of the creation of the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity under the Memorandum of Agreement on the Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) aspect of the 2001 Tripoli peace agreement. A July 23 report by 24 Oras for example said that the reason behind the request was that if the signing of the MOA pushed through, the MILF and the GRP would have to wait for the end of the terms of the new ARMM officials before they can elect BJE officials.
Generally peaceful
The press reported how the ongoing hostilities between the MILF and government troops were affecting the conduct of the ARMM elections. The firefights between the members of the MILF and the military heightened in August after the aborted signing of the MOA-AD between the MILF and the Philippine government. Despite the Comelecs claim that elections was generally peaceful amid the ongoing hostilities, the press almost uniformly pointed out that voting in some of the provinces was affected by the hostilities. In an exclusive report, 24 Oras showed how troops delivering ballots to the town of Tipotipo, Basilan were attacked by alleged MILF and Abu Sayyaf forces. Others reported on the failure of elections and incidents of ballot snatching and cheating during the Aug. 11 poll. Most reports compared it to past elections saying there was less violence and cheating. n
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SEPTEMBER 2008 fore that biased reports could help create additional problems in Mindanao. In an interview with PJR Reports last Aug. 14, Zainudin Zen Malang, executive director of the Bangsamoro Center for Law and Policy, said that disinformation and misinformation could fan the flames of communal conflict.
PJR REPORTS
Bear in mind that minority problems, like the issue of ancestral domain, are not something that can be decided or solved by majority vote, Rodil said. Some reports pointed out that some persons in the executive department and the MILF were also against the MOA-AD. An Inquirer report (Muslim, Christians slam land agreement, p. A1 & A18) last Aug. 4 quoted an MILF official in Western Mindanao as stating that he did not support giving parts of Zamboanga, Basilan, Sulu, and Tawi-tawi to the MILF. He said that those who had agreed with that part of the MOA were with the Maguindanaon-Iranon Liberation Front, replacing Moro Islamic with the ethno-linguistic groups that comprise those MILF leaders who had agreed to the MOA-AD. The claim, however, was not balanced by the views of the leaders referred to, and the report was not followed up. (The Bangsamoro people are divided into at least 13 ethno-linguistic groups including the Maguindanaon and the Iranon.)
LITO OCAMPO
ample, Michael Tan, an anthropologist from the University of the Philippines, explained the issue of ancestral domain in his Inquirer column. He also briefly discussed the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA). IPRA was supposedly one of the legal bases for the MOA-AD. But still missing from the coverage were in-depth reports that could have put in context the Bangsamoro struggle for self-determination, and which could have explained the MILF claim on Moro ancestral lands in Mindanao. Neither were there explanatory reports on how the MILF was formed and why it broke away from the MNLF.