The U.S. government agenda in the resolution of armed conflict in Mindanao is for the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to sign a bogus peace pact with the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) in the tradition of the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), said Mohammad Musib Buat, a member of the MILF peace negotiating panel in the ongoing peace negotiations with the Macapagal-Arroyo government.
BY GERRY ALBERT CORPUZ
Contributed to Bulatlat
Vol. VIII, No. 3, February 17-23, 2008
The U.S. government agenda in the resolution of armed conflict in Mindanao is for the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to sign a bogus peace pact with the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) in the tradition of the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), said Mohammad Musib Buat, a member of the MILF peace negotiating panel in the ongoing peace negotiations with the Macapagal-Arroyo government.
“The U.S. government offered a $30 million financial assistance to the GRP-MILF peace talks on the condition that the MILF finally signs a peace agreement with the Arroyo government, and that is unacceptable,” Buat said during a forum organized by the Moro Christian Peoples’ Alliance (MCPA) last week.
Buat revealed that some members of the Central Committee of the MILF viewed the offer either as a blackmail or bribe. They refused to believe the explanation offered by the U.S. government that the $30 million financial aid to the GRP-MILF peace negotiations, which was approved by the U.S. Congress, was meant to facilitate the speedy resolution of the armed conflict in Southern Philippines.
The MILF negotiating panel member said the offer was first made in 2003 while the MILF and the GRP were still in the process of discussing contentious issues regarding the coverage of the Bangsa Moro people’s ancestral domain. Buat said this was even before substantial political aspects in the proposed comprehensive peace pact have been taken up.
Initial contact
The U.S. government’s offer was said to have been made after the late Hashim Salamat, who was the MILF chairman then, sent a letter to Pres. George W. Bush January 20, 2003. In the letter, Salamat told the U.S. President that the MILF is not a terrorist organization but a legitimate liberation movement in the Philippines that enjoys the support of the Bangsa Moro masses. Salamat assured the U.S. President of the Moro people’s willingness to peacefully resolve the Mindanao conflict through negotiations with the Arroyo government.
The MILF chair also reminded Bush of the U.S. government’s commitment to the Bangsa Moro people, which was provided for in the treaty that ended the U.S. campaign to subjugate them during the American colonial period. In the said treaty, the U.S. government was supposed to act as protector of the Moro people, similar to its commitment to the American Indian nations under the U.S.-Indian treaties.
Hashim Salamat’s second letter to the U.S. President even commended Bush for taking a keen interest in the peaceful resolution of the Mindanao conflict.
On February 2003, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) troops attacked the Buliok complex after the refusal of the MILF to sign the government’s offer of “expanded autonomy.” The MILF rejected this offer because it felt that “expanded autonomy” did not satisfy its demand for genuine self-governance.
The MILF leadership said that prior to the resumption of peace talks and the signing of a new ceasefire agreement in July 15, 2003, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Daley, working on instructions from U.S. President George W. Bush, contacted the government of Malaysia through the Office of the Prime Minister to arrange a meeting with MILF chair Hashim Salamat or any of his representatives. That was when the U.S. government made the offer.
Rehash of ARMM
The MILF asserted that the proposed autonomy being offered by the Macapagal-Arroyo government and supported by the U.S. government is a rehash of the existing political structure of ARMM. This, according to the MILF is the same recipe offered to East Timorese, which was rejected in a national popular consultation or referendum supervised by the United Nations.
Buat said the same bogus model of autonomy was first offered to and accepted by the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) under its chair Nur Misuari after the latter was politically coerced by Indonesian Foreign Minister Ali Alatas. The MILF learned from Misuari that the real proposal of the MNLF was for the establishment of a Palestinian-type authority, short of a sub-state or conditional state to serve as a transitional government preparatory to full statehood. But the Indonesian foreign minister insisted that the offer was a take it or leave it situation.
