Framework Agreement hailed by IAG

Philippine Daily Inquirer | October 27, 2012

 

The Institute for Autonomy and Governance (IAG) welcomes the signing of the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). It commends the government and the MILF negotiating panels for their hard work, creativity and perseverance in overcoming the contentious issues that have been hounding the long-drawn negotiations. 

Expelling banshees

Juan L. Mercado | Philippine Daily Inquirer | July 23, 2012

 

The new final Book of Voters is still ahead. But a consensus on making honest elections the centerpiece of ARMM reforms exists, notes Institute for Autonomy and Governance ’s Fr. Eliseo Mercado, OMI. The new technology of biometrics will be used to ensure honest polls.

Hope despite chainsaws

Juan L. Mercado | Philippine Daily Inquirer | June 4, 2012

 

“The new public forum in choosing leaders has never been done in the region known for a culture of silence and of impunity,” notes director of the Institute for Autonomy and Governance , Fr. Eliseo Mercado. “For the first time, the voices (of people) were heard. (These) are truly elements of a Bangsamoro ‘spring’.”

Civil society on GPH-MILF agreement on principles: “let us be vigilant and do a devil watch”

Carolyn O. Arguillas | MindaNews | April 26, 2012

 

“People should not pretend to be more ‘orthodox’ than the central leadership of the MILF or the principal negotiator of the GPH. We now have the 10 decision points between the GP H and the MILF and the said document is a MOVE forward,” said Fr. Eliseo Mercado, Jr., executive director of the Cotabato City-based Institute for Autonomy and Governance , a former head of the Independent Fact-Finding Committee, a quick reaction team investigating alleged violations of ceasefire violations from the late 1990s to the “all-out war” waged by the Estrada administration.

Ghost-busting at the ARMM

Cielito F. Habito | Philippine Daily Inquirer | January 23, 2012

 

The Cotabato-based Institute of Autonomy and Governance (IAG) had organized a three-day team-building workshop for the incoming ARMM officials in Davao City, in an effort to get the new regional government off on the right footing. In consultation with the governor, IAG also formed a small group of not-so-old “senior” advisers, all of us volunteers who will serve pro bono. IAG head Fr. Eliseo “Jun” Mercado had planned for us to meet with Hataman only once every two months; instead, the governor asked to meet the group twice a month. He needs all the help he could get, he explained. We were all only too glad to oblige.

ARMM Cabinet backs peace talks

Ali G. Macabalang | Manila Bulletin | October 24, 2011

 

“We have had enough troubles with militaristic solutions to the Mindanao problem. Let us keep sobriety and sustain peaceful solutions to the prevailing issues,” Fr. Eliseo Mercardo Jr., an avid peace advocate and executive director of the Institute for Autonomy and Governance here, said.

ARMM needs a ‘ghostbuster’ to clean up regional bureaucracy, says peace activist

Edwin Fernandez | Philippine Daily Inquirer | August 8, 2011

 

Father Eliseo Mercado of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate and director of the Institute for Autonomy and Governance said the officer-in-charge governor must be able to bust ghost teachers, ghost employees, ghost projects, ghost schools, ghost roads and bridges, ghost voters and many other ghosts working in the region and raking in people’s money. 

The Hamlet dilemma

Noralyn Mustafa | Philippine Daily Inquirer | March 21, 2011

 

Fr. Eliseo Mercado, Jr., OMI, executive director of the Institute for Autonomy and Governance , and a recognized expert on autonomy, said the continued congressional interventions on the resetting of the elections in the ARMM have made a mockery of autonomy and self-determination and the spirit and letter of the Organic Act (creating the ARMM).

Aquino cautioned over appointing ARMM officers-in-charge

Edwin Fernandez | Philippine Daily Inquirer | June 11, 2011

 

President Benigno Aquino III should exert extreme caution in appointing officers-in-charge in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) because he might pick individuals, who would drive the region to its final demise, Father Eliseo Mercado Jr. said. Mercado is considered an expert on Mindanao autonomy and is executive director of the Institute for Autonomy and Governance (IAG) based here. 

Joker Arroyo: Leave autonomy alone

TJ Burgonio | Philippine Daily Inquirer | March 17, 2011

 

Catholic priest Eliseo Mercado Jr., executive director of the Institute for Autonomy and Governance , said elections in the ARMM had been reset eight to 11 times if you count the few weeks or months of extension of the incumbents.

Autonomy advocate opposes deferment of ARMM polls

Ali G. Macabalang | Manila Bulletin | February 7, 2011

 

In a roundtable discussion dubbed “ARMM at the Crossroad: Election or No Election” held at the Notre Dame University (NDU) campus here, Father Eliseo “Jun” Mercado, executive director of Institute for Autonomy and Governance , said the 2011 ARMM polls should proceed as scheduled since it is mandated by law – Republic Act (RA) 9054 or the organic act of the present ARMM setup.

ARMM elections: the clock is ticking

Manila Bulletin | February 23, 2011

 

Fr. Eliseo Mercado of Cotabato City, executive director of the Institute of Autonomy and Governance, also does not agree with the President's plan to appoint OICs. In his blog, Fr. Mercado said that "Appointment of OICs will further weaken the autonomy of ARMM. Elections are essential to strengthen the autonomy of ARMM and give it its rightful self-determination. The government should instead focus its role in ensuring that ARMM elections are conducted fairly, accurately and peacefully."

Debate on ARMM polls heightens

Ali G. Macabalang | Manila Bulletin | February 16, 2011

 

Margarita “Tingting” Cojuangco, wife of President Aquino’s uncle, former Tarlac Rep. Jose “Peping” Cojuangco Jr., had declared in public at a February forum her family’s opposition to the deferment of the ARMM elections to 2013 as embodied in the pending bills. At the forum sponsored by the Institute for Autonomy and Governance, Cojuangco said proposals to defer the ARMM polls and allow the President to appoint OICs in the posts for regional governor, vice governor, and 24 assembly members were unconstitutional and against the law.

ARMM polls issue divides Aquino, kin

Gil C. Cabacungan, Jr. | Philippine Daily Inquirer | February 15, 2011

 

In the forum sponsored by the Institute for Autonomy and Governance, Cojuangco said proposals to defer the ARMM polls and to allow the President to appoint officers in charge in the ARMM posts were unconstitutional  and against the law.

Showdown seen on plan to defer ARMM elections

Manila Bulletin | February 15, 2011

 

Former Tarlac Gov. Margarita “Tingting” Cojuangco, aunt of Aquino, declared in a forum that the cancellation of the elections defeats the purpose of her nephew’s “daang matuwid” (right path) vow. During a round-table discussion facilitated by Fr. Eliseo Mercado, executive director of Institute for Autonomy for Governance, last Feb. 11, Mrs. Cojuangco categorically stated before Muslim leaders and other stakeholders that she upholds the rule of law and strongly opposes the postponement of ARMM elections on that basis.

New head of peace panel with MILF: No surprises

Christian V. Esguerra, Edwin Fernandez | Philippine Daily Inquirer | July 16, 2010

 

Catholic priest Eliseo Mercado, a peace advocate and director of the Institute for Autonomy and Governance, said Leonen was very competent. “I have confidence in him”, Mercado, who has followed the peace process with the MILF since Day One, told the Inquirer.

Philippines massacre trial targets Ampatuan clan

Simon Montlake | Christian Science Monitor | January 22, 2010

 

The Philippine election commission, known as Comelec, has come under national scrutiny. Three weeks before the massacre, Comelec switched the location for filing candidacy papers to Shariff Aguak, forcing the Mangadadatus to enter their rival’s stronghold and setting up a fatal confrontation.That decision was taken by Comelec in Manila and shows that the writ of the Ampatuans runs all the way to the top, says Eliseo Mercado , a Catholic priest who runs the Institute for Autonomy and Governance in Cotabato City here on Mindanao. Like many here, he singles out the clan’s ability to deliver votes to Arroyo, particularly in a close 2004 race that was dogged by allegations of vote-rigging.

3 more towns created in Maguindanao

Jesus F. Llanto | Newsbreak | March 12, 2009

 

Benedicto Bacani of the Institute for Autonomy and Governance told Newsbreak in a previous interview that the division of existing LGUs and the creation of new ones are viewed as a way of avoiding rido or clan war that may stem from political rivalries over local government positions.

Philippines Supreme Court halts Muslim land deal

Manny Mogato | Reuters | August 4, 2008

 

Camilo Montesa, lawyer and a consultant for the Institute for Autonomy and Governance at the Notre Dame University on the southern island of Mindanao, said the delay was bad for Arroyo.

Peace talks collapse – MILF

Philippine Daily Inquirer | July 26, 2008

 

Analysts say opposition among powerful Christian and Muslim families in the south and government hawks to a formal peace deal with the MILF and Arroyo's reliance on their support mean Manila's negotiating strategy is wobbly and easily thrown off course. "Government has to get its act together," said Camilo Montesa, policy adviser at the Institute for Autonomy and Governance at Notre Dame University on the southern island of Mindanao. “It must have a more comprehensive and coherent strategy on how to deal with the Muslim problem in the south and do away with its more tactical approach on the peace negotiations."

Lack of consultation, transparency on Moro homeland accord hit

Isagani de Castro, Jr. | abs-cbnNews.com/Newsbreak | July 24, 2008

 

In a forum last Monday organized by the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung and the Cotabato-based think-tank, Institute for Autonomy and Governance, the panelists said it is going to be hard to build public support for the agreement since many groups, including Mindanao peace advocates, were not consulted.

Philippines eyes plebiscite to okay Muslim homeland

Manny Mogato | Reuters | July 17, 2008

 

"It's definitely a positive development, giving the peace process a big push forward," Benedicto Bacani, executive director of the Institute for Autonomy and Governance at the Notre Dame University, told Reuters.

SC urged not to ‘kill’ peace process with MILF

Isagani de Castro, Jr. | abs-cbnNews.com/Newsbreak | May 8, 2008

 

In an interview on ABS-CBN News Channel (ANC) Tuesday, Camilo Montesa, an adviser to the Philippine government's peace panel with the MILF, said that if the SC makes its TRO permanent, then the "SC effectively kills the peace process." "I guess the Supreme Court will have to rethink its decision on this because it can effectively kill the peace process," Montesa, also a policy adviser of the Cotabato-based think-tank, Institute for Autonomy and Governance, said.

Fears of fighting in s. Philippines seen overblown

Manny Mogato | Reuters | May 4, 2008

 

Analysts believe such threats to the fragile truce in the area might increase in the weeks ahead, but the danger of another full-blown conflict, last seen in the early 2000s, seems remote.

"I am optimistic that the ceasefire will hold even without the Malaysians as long as both sides remained committed to the peace process," said Benedicto Bacani, executive director of Notre Dame University's Institute for Autonomy and Governance.

Prospects not good for Philippine talks with rebels

Manny Mogato | Reuters | August 22, 2007

 

Benedicto Bacani of the Institute for Autonomy and Governance at the Notre Dame University, also said Arroyo must show greater political will to end the conflict in the south.

‘Pocket wars’ and peace in Philippines

Simon Montlake | Christian Science Monitor | March 14, 2007

 

"The government is a victim of its own success. Now they want to unite the MNLF and MILF, but for many years they just wanted to divide and rule," says Benny Bacani, who runs the Institute for Autonomy and Governance, a public-policy think tank in Cotabato City.

Philippines offers Muslim movement self-determination

Douglas Bakshian | Voice of America | March 13, 2007

 

Benedicto Bacani heads a policy research organization called the Cotabato Institute for Autonomy and Governance. He calls the new offer a significant development. 

Hundreds flee fighting in the Philippines

Reuters | June 30, 2006

 

"Only the president can stop the fighting and save the peace negotiations," said Benny Bacani, executive director of the Institute for Autonomy and Governance in Cotabato City. "If there's no political will displayed here, violence may escalate, threatening the ceasefire and may break the confidence of the peace talks."  

 "The government is a victim of its own success. Now they want to unite the MNLF and MILF, but for many years they just wanted to divide and rule," says Benny Bacani, who runs the Institute for Autonomy and Governance, a public-policy think tank in Cotabato City