Pagpati'ut - Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue

FOR FURTHER STUDY:
Parallel to these recommendations enumerated are long-term and broader
interventions to address the immediate, as well as the long-term issues of security and
C O N C L U S I O N
can be reframed, interpreted, and appropriated in different context and in different
situations. It is necessary to understand the deep meaning of ‘security’ from the point
relevant to the needs and realities of the people.
(b) The ARMM must develop a comprehensive security plan – with special
consideration of Sulu, Basilan, and Tawi tawi. This plan must consider not just internal
security, but also border security and management to prevent the movement of terror
groups and criminal syndicates plying the unpatrolled borders.
The presence and leadership of the ARMM government in terms of a security agenda
must be underscored. Both the military and the police are simply instruments of
political leaders. It is the LGU that is most relevant when it comes to security.
(c) Empower the Sharia’h courts. Carefully study how the Sharia’h can handle both
criminal and civil cases, similar to their function during the American period (through
the tribal ward system).
(d) Create clear, reliable, and accessible mechanism for grievance, in the Barangay,
municipal, and regional levels of government. A periodic consultation must be
instituted to facilitate dialogue between the local government and the peoples.
(e) The new ARMM must invest on roads to improve mobility of peoples and products.
As mentioned earlier in the research, the famous adage claims that ‘rebellion ends
where the road begins.’
(f) An effective and enduring peace settlement can hold if institutions are in place
and are proven effective. It is therefore crucial for the ARMM to work together with
the different tiers of government, as well as civil society institutions to institutionalize
for the ARMM to ensure that institutions perform according to how they should work,
since the legitimacy of institutions is based on their performance, and approval of the
people.
The authors believe that if state efforts continue to be done within the frame of
‘homogenizing’ and ‘capitulation,’ nothing good will come of it.
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