Celso questions peace panel re Zambo consultation
Mayor Celso Lobregat meets the press to discuss about his protest on the manner the government peace panel held the two-day consultation for city and municipal mayors in the city Dec. 15-16. Beside the mayor is Atty. Edward Fronda of the City Legal Office. (JOEY BAUTISTA)
Mayor Celso Lobregat has strongly protested the manner the government peace panel conducted the two-day consultation in Zamboanga City on December 15-16 and deliberately did not attend the same to drive home the point that the activity was not an honest to goodness consultation.
Mayor Lobregat lashed out at people who “gatecrashed” the consultation, intended originally only for municipal and city mayors in the region, jeopardized the position of Zamboanga City.
In a protest letter addressed to Local Government Undersecretary Austere Panadero, dated December 14, 2009, Lobregat sharply reacted to various observations which he said made the event illegitimate. Among the observations that Lobregat cited were the very short notice extended to the intended participants; the lack of coordination with other GRP peace panel members such as Adel Antonino, who represents the local government units in Mindanao; as well as the tapping of some resource persons who were respondent-intervenors in the landmark case of Province of North Cotabato, City of Zamboanga, et. al vs. the GRP wherein the Supreme Court declared the memorandum of agreement on ancestral domain as unconstitutional and contrary to law.
Lobregat said the letter invitation coming from the DILG official dated Dec. 11 was received by his office only on Dec. 14 at 9:05 in the morning and personally delivered by Dir. Pedro Cuevas, DILG City Director.
“Considering the importance of this “consultation” on the peace process, it is quite a surprise that the coordination of this activity was made on a very short notice, taking into consideration that activities related to the yuletide season are hectic. As a matter of fact, the undersigned had long made prior commitments of equal importance in Manila on Dec. 15-16, 2009”, the mayor said in his protest letter.
Lobregat also said that that Antonino himself, when contacted, expressed surprise as he did not know of such an activity set in Zamboanga City.
All of the city mayors in the region Dominador Jalosjos of Dapitan; Cherrilyn Akbar of Isabela City, Basilan and Sammy Co of Pagadian City also did not receive the invitations when they were contacted by Lobregat minutes after he received his invite. Mayor Evelyn Uy of Dipolog, according to Lobregat, informed him that she received the invitation but since the same was made on short notice, she could not attend the same because of prior commitments.
Lobregat expressed reservations on some resource persons invited in the program particularly the chairman of the Consortium of Bangsamoro Civil Society and the GRP Panel Secretariat Head, who was one of the respondent intervenor in the petition against the MOA-AD before the High Tribunal last year. “While the previous GRP-Peace Panel had been dissolved and a new composition was appointed, apparently the membership of the GRP Secretariat remains the same and were instrumental in the conceptualization, drafting and finalization of the unconstitutional MOA-AD. It is just our ardent wonder that they are now in the forefront of this activity, acting no less than resource persons.
The mayor in his letter urged that another “meaningful public consultations on the peace process be conducted and properly coordinated and that invitations be communicated way ahead of schedule to ensure that officials of LGUs and the public, in general, shall be given ample opportunity to be present and meaningful participate in such public consultations”.
Lobregat’s letter was copy furnished to the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Hon. Annabelle Abaya; GRP Peace panel chairman Hon. Rafael Seguis; and GRP peace panel member Hon. Adel Antonino.
As this developed, the mayor sharply criticized the opposition for politicizing the issue by initially questioning his absence in the supposed consultation. “The invitation was intended for local chief executives meaning city mayors and municipal mayors and precisely I sent this letter to Undersecretary Panadero as our official stand in the sense that I was really complaining and protesting on the manner that they wanted to conduct the consultations”.
He stressed that nobody else aside from the city mayor of Zamboanga was invited and that he deliberately did not send a representative “precisely to drive home the point to the DILG, Office of the President and to the GRP panel that what they were trying to do was not a consultation. this is not an honest to goodness consultation and so by people gatecrashing, they jeopardized the position of Zamboanga City”.
Beforehand, he said, when the city stood up against the unconstitutional MOA-AD at the Supreme Court, the whole city was united. “I was given the authority to do any and all acts. Now we have won the initial very big first battle, in fact, because it is we the people of Zamboanga and if you look at the video documentary, we acknowledged the participation of all sectors”.
“I do not know who is politicizing this issue—this is a very important issue and you cannot say that all of a sudden, we have taken stock of this issue, this issue was number one in our platform of governance when we presented ourselves as candidate for congressman and Ma’am Caling for mayor in 1998 and even before hand who were the people who were fighting against the SPCPC (Southern Philippines Council for Peace and Development)?”, he asked adding “this is an issue of the people of Zamboanga City and it is very unfortunate that some people are trying to politicize this issue, not us”.
Lobregat said Panadero, when contacted yesterday morning vowed to dialogue with the GRP panel chief next week to discuss about the agenda of the supposed consultation. (Sheila Covarrubias)