ARMM takes over law enforcement

The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) under the leadership of the newly-elected governor Parouk Hussin has assumed the task of maintaining law and order in the region, a hotbed of separatist and hostage-taking groups.

At a simple ceremony at Camp S.K. Pendatun, the regional police headquarters, Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Director General Leandro Mendoza led the symbolic handover of the regional police command to Hussin.

"We, in the Philippine National Police (PNP), will see to it that the regional police will be fully empowered to ensure that it can efficiently maintain peace and order in this part of the country," Mendoza said.

The move empowers the ARMM government to pursue its own peace programmes in the region.

Under the new set-up, Hussin will have direct authority over the regional police force, while administrative control remains with the PNP's national headquarters.

Hussin said his main focus now is the resolution of clan-wars of local and political families which have persisted in the past decade.

Mayors of each of the ARMM's 96 towns are believed to be keeping their own arsenal of high-powered firearms.

The devolution is stipulated in both the 1996 peace agreement between the Philippine government and the MNLF and in the region's amended charter.

About 5,000 former MNLF fighters became members of the PNP and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) after the MNLF and the government signed the peace agreement in 1996.

Former MNLF members, who were inducted into the forces, will be in charge of the ARMM peace-keeping function, sources explained.

Adds Our Manila Bureau Chief: Member-states of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) have pledged to help sustain the regional police and provide needed "capability-building interventions" to enhance their crime-fighting efficiency, said Hussin.

The OIC is overseeing the implementation of the transitional period of the Philippine government-MNLF peace settlement. It has brokered government-MNLF talks from 1992 to 1996.

"The OIC will decide in the foreign ministerial meeting in Khartoum, Sudan, at the end of May if the first phase of the government-MNLF peace settlement is over," said Indonesian Embassy's political officer Yudhistiranto Sungadi.

The Philippine government believes that the holding of the August 14 referendum for autonomy (the second time) for the expansion of the ARMM, and the November 26 ARMM elections are signs that the transitional period of phase one of the government-MNLF peace agreement is over.

"Once this is declared in Sudan, Hussin can govern the ARMM in a normal way, according to the peace agreement," said Sungadi, adding this would mean the setting up of a Sharia Court, the establishment of the Islamic banking system and the inclusion of Islamic education in schools, among others.

"Hopefully, the declaration that the transitional period is over will mean the entry of more investments in Mindanao," said Sungadi, adding that this would enhance the long-proposed Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines East Asian Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA)."

"We hope the promotion of business will go hand-in-hand with the promotion of BIMP-EAGA," said Sungadi.

The promotion of business cooperation in the boundaries shared by neighbouring countries is an old plan of the 10 nation members of the Association of Southeast Asian nations (Asean).

The ARMM includes Maguin-danao and Lanao del Sur, both in central Mindanao, and the island-provinces of Sulu, Tawi-Tawi and Basilan, and Marawi City.