By Edwin Espejo in Rappler

 

GENERAL SANTOS CITY, Philippines – A member of the Aquino Cabinet openly expressed her displeasure over what she described as an attempt to grant to the proposed Bangsamoro region the “exclusive authority” over natural resources in the area.

 

Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) chief Lualhati Antonino said she is wary that the central government will lose control over natural resources such as Lake Lanao, a major energy source in Mindanao.

 

When reached for comment, the MILF’s Mohaqer Iqbal said Antonino should take up the issue with “her government” not with the MILF.

 

Matagal na niyang sinasabi iyan (She has been saying that for a long time). I will not get into argument with her,” Iqbal said.

 

Iqbal is the chief of the MILF negotiating panel and is the chair of the 15-person Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC) that oversaw the drafting of the BBL.

 

He added that Antonino should take cognizance that Lake Lanao is “within the Bangsamoro territory and not in South Cotabato.”

 

Antonino however said she has not seen the final draft of the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) that was submitted to President Benigno Aquino III last month.

 

The BBL is the product of months of negotiations and consultations between the Aquino government and the MILF who, in March, signed the Comprehensive Agreement on Bangsamoro (CAB) to end more than 4 decades of war in Mindanao.

 

The Aquino government is committed to passing a law that would embody the four major points of agreement in the peace process, among them fiscal autonomy and control over natural resources in new autonomous areas identified by the proposed bill.

 

The Lake Lanao is located in Lanao del Sur, which is a member province of the current Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). The lake feeds the Agus River hydroelectric power plant complexes.

 

The 6-cascading hydroelectric power plants along Agus River have a combined rated capacity of 727 megawatts but are only able to generate 624 megawatts at best.

 

The ARMM was itself created after the Philippine government inked a deal with the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) in 1996.

 

The MILF is a breakaway group of the MNLF.

 

Antonino was a vocal critic of the 1996 Jakarta Final Peace Accord, openly campaigning against it and in the subsequent plebiscite that identified which provinces in Mindanao will be included in the ARMM.

 

She was then a member of the House of Representatives representing the 2nd District of South Cotabato (including General Santos).

 

Antonino, along with then congresswomen Clara Lobregat (Zamboanga City) and Daisy Avance-Fuentes, was a member of the ‘Tres Marias’ in Congress who openly opposed the peace agreement entered into by then President Fidel Ramos and the MILF’s Misuari.