THE United Opposition yesterday said President Arroyo’s "selfish agenda" of holding on to power beyond 2010 caused resumption of hostilities in Central Mindanao.

Arroyo has "blood on her hands," said Makati Mayor and UNO president Jejomar Binay.

"Christian and Muslim lives are being lost. Thousands of families are displaced. Soldiers are being killed and wounded. Is this the price that Mindanao has to pay just to advance Mrs. Arroyo’s selfish agenda?" he said.

Binay on Monday warned of the possibility of government declaring martial law if the conflict between the military and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, with which the government has been trying to forge a peace agreement for more than a decade, escalates.

Binay expressed dismay over Arroyo’s statement that a shift to a federal system through Charter change was the end objective of a memorandum of agreement on ancestral domain with the MILF, whose signing was aborted last week by a temporary restraining order from the Supreme Court.

The MOA seeks to create a Bangsamoro homeland, but this could be done only by amending the Constitution to effect a change to a federal form of government.

Arroyo on Monday reiterated her support for the shift to a federal form of government, saying she believes it would pave the way for lasting peace and development in Mindanao. She said the pros and cons, among others, of a federal form of government are being studied by the Philippines jointly with the government of Switzerland.

Binay said the concept of a federal Mindanao state created under the provision of the MOA on ancestral domain was not feasible.

"What is being offered to the MILF is not a federal state. You cannot have an independent state – one that has its own military and can deal with foreign states – within a federal system," he said. "Malacañang knows that, and yet they went ahead and offered it to the MILF. Obviously, there is duplicity and bad faith in this alleged peace process," he added.

"This brouhaha over the Mindanao peace process was never about justice for the Moros after all," said UNO spokesman Adel Tamano. "It is about Charter change which has always been the top agenda of the President."

SENATE RESOLUTION

Press Secretary Jesus Dureza said "it’s all systems go for Charter change."

He said Malacañang fully supports Senate Resolution No. 10 which calls for constituting Metro Manila as the Federal Administrative Region, the creation of 11 states, one of which will be Bangsa Moro Federal State, and conversion of the Philippines into a Federal Republic.

He said the joint resolution, authored by minority leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr., has been signed by 12 senators and would be supported by four more.

The early signers are Manuel Villar, Edgardo Angara, Rodolfo Biazon, Pia Cayetano, Juan Ponce Enrile, Francis Escudero, Jinggoy Estrada, Gregorio Honasan, Panfilo Lacson, Francis Pangilinan, and Ramon Revilla Jr.

Pimentel a said there is no way President Arroyo will be allowed to stay in power beyond 2010 if his resolution is passed.

PRO-FEDERALISM

At the House, Arroyo’s allies vowed to pursue Charter change, saying federalism would bring out the country’s "great potential for growth and development."