MILF Still Optimistic About Peace Negotiations with Aquino Administration

“The greatest challenge to the peace process is whether, this time, the President has the political will to surmount all obstacles and opposition… Running parallel is whether the peace process is really a problem solving endeavor or just an exercise to manage the conflict, as what previous presidents, deliberately or otherwise, did.” – MILF Chairman Al Haj Murad Ebrahim.

By RONALYN V. OLEA
Bulatlat.com

MANILA — The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) remains optimistic on the prospects of peace talks with the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) under President Benigno S. Aquino III despite 14 years of negative experiences.

In a forum organized by Pilgrims for Peace Oct. 21, MILF peace panel member Prof. Abhoud Syed Lingga said the MILF gives primacy to negotiations in addressing the problem of self-determination for the Bangsamoro people.

“It may be very difficult, frustrating but negotiations are still the best approach to the conflict,” he said. “This is not a religious war. This is a war between an oppressed minority and the Manila government,” Lingga told the audience at the forum.

Lingga said the GRP had launched three major wars against the MILF under then President Joseph Estrada and President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Lingga said that despite the seeming duplicity of the GRP, the MILF is ready for peace talks.

The GRP-MILF peace negotiations started in 1997. In 2000, the Estrada regime launched an all-out war in Mindanao, displacing half a million individuals. When Arroyo assumed power in 2001, she sent an emissary to the MILF and asked Malaysia to help facilitate the resumption of the talks. In 2003, however, the Philippine government again launched a war against the MILF on the pretext of running after the Pentagon gang. Talks had been suspended until what the MILF considered as a breakthrough in the peace talks was reached: the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD). The Supreme Court, however, torpedoed the MOA-AD. Talks were suspended for one year until July 2009. Before Arroyo stepped down from power, no substantive agreement had been reached, said Lingga.

“It is always the policy of the tenant in Malacanang to push the problem to the next president,” Lingga said.

The GRP panel was invited to attend the forum but declined the invitation.

Even as Aquino announced in his inaugural speech that peace talks with the MILF would begin after Ramadhan, formal talks have not started. In September, Malacañang announced that Aquino discussed with the visiting top Malaysian diplomat Kuala Lumpur’s role in the impending peace talks between the GRP and MILF.

Malaysia has assumed the role as third party facilitator in the GRP- MILF peace talks since 2001.Since 2004, Malaysia also led the International Monitoring Team together with Libya, Japan and Brunei.

Mixed Signals

Antonio Liongson, national coordinator of the Moro-Christian People’s Alliance (MCPA) criticized what he called as “mixed signals” from the GRP that hinder the resumption of peace talks with the MILF.

Earlier, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Chief of Staff Ricardo David Jr. said the government hopes “to crush the communist New People’s Army and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front by 2013.”??“This is not only a threatening stance but also could signal the change of policy by the Aquino administration from the peaceful approach to the use of brute force to deal with the two insurgencies in the country,” Khaled Musa, deputy chairman of the MILF Committee on Information said in a statement posted at the MILF website.

Liongson also mentioned the arrest of a senior official of MILF and the continuing arrests of Bangsamoro civilians.

On Sept. 22, Eduard Guerra, a member of the MILF Central Committee, was arrested by Philippine National Police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG) at the Davao International Airport. Lingga said Guerra was in charge of the foreign affairs of the MILF and was then en route to Geneva, Switzerland to attend the United Nations Human Rights Council meeting on Sept. 27. ?

The MILF Central Committee considers the arrest as a direct blow to the early resumption of the negotiations.??Lingga said there is a supposed ceasefire between the GRP and MILF. “You are negotiating…Are we the only ones [members of the peace panel] exempted [from arrest]? What about our principal, the Central Committee members? It does not make sense,” Lingga said.

Challenges to the New Administration

Lingga quoted MILF Chairman Al Haj Murad Ebrahim: “The greatest challenge to the peace process is whether, this time, the President has the political will to surmount all obstacles and opposition, including well-entrenched spoilers, once the peace talks start or when an agreement will be signed. Running parallel is whether the peace process is really a problem solving endeavor or just an exercise to manage the conflict, as what previous presidents, deliberately or otherwise, did.”

“Without that strong political will of the occupant in Malacañang, no peace process would prosper,” said Lingga. “The President must be able to sell the product of peace process to all branches of government.”

Lingga said the MILF has made a major concession of not including in the agenda an independent Bangsamoro state. The MILF, Lingga said, would assert the highest form of self-governance for the Bangsamoro and for an equitable sharing of resources found in the Bangsamoro homeland between the Bangsamoro state and the central government. Lingga, however, refused to elaborate on their proposal.

Lingga called for a ‘liberal interpretation of the law to accommodate the interests of the Bangsamoro people.’ (Bulatlat.com)