CALL FOR ABOLITION OF ARMM IN SOUTHERN PHILIPPINES?

MANILA. Philippines - The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) has proposed for the creation of a sub-state to be established in the south, to serve as an autonomous space for Filipino-Muslims, during a secret meeting with President Benigno Aquino in Tokyo last week.
The MILF has technically called for the abolition of the existing Autonomous Region for Muslims in Mindanao (ARMM), which has five provinces and one city as members, explained Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) founder Nur Misuari(right photo).
"I was always against ARMM. It is against genuine Bangsamoro autonomy. The ARMM was a creation of the Philippine government. It was not a product of a peace agreement," said Misuari, who was appointed by former President Fidel Ramos as ARMM governor, after the Philippine government and the MNLF forged a pro-autonomy peace settlement in 1997.

• "What is autonomous in the existing Autonomous Region for Muslims in Mindanao (ARMM) is in name only. In truth, there is no Muslim autonomy in ARMM," Ghadzali Jaafar(right photo), vice chair of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) told ABS CBN, a TV network. "If the ARMM is a house, it is beyond repair," he said.
• In response, Marivic Leonen(right photo), the government's chief negotiator holding peace talks with the MILF, said: "There's an ongoing transformative effort the in the ARMM."
• He did not say if reform is related to the bill passed by Congress to postpone the ARMM local elections from August 2011 to 2013, during the national congressional elections.
  
• This was done to prevent the politics of patronage to influence the ARMM elections, experts said, but detractors believe that the bill violated the supposed intrinsic independence of the ARMM.

The 1987 Constitution included a provision for referendum for autonomy, a law passed in 1989, which resulted in the establishment of ARMM with four provinces in 1989.
After the government and the MNLF forged a pro-autonomy peace settlement in 1997, Congress passed a bill in 2001, which allowed a second referendum for Muslim autonomy in the south. This resulted in ARMM's expansion in five provinces and one city.

Source: Agency