Aquino should see real situation of Mindanao - MILF vice chair

From InterAksyon (Feb 9): Aquino should see real situation of Mindanao - MILF vice chair

Although President Benigno Aquino III will be making history when he visits the main camp of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front on Monday to launch a program providing basic services to former combatants and their families is, he needs to see for himself the true picture of Mindanao if he wishes lasting peace in the south, a ranking MILF official said.

“Dapat tunay at accurate information nakakarating sa kaniya, hindi yung censored dahil sa personal interests (He should receive accurate information, not information censored because of personal interests),” MILF vice chairman for political affairs Ghadzali Jaafar told News5 in an interview. Jaafar called the launch of the Sajahatra Bangsamoro is merely symbolic and said Aquino will need to work hard to make peace a reality.

“Dapat may pagkain ... may trabaho ang Bangsamoro ... at hindi marginalized ... inaabuso at kinakalimutan ... (There should be food … jobs for the Bangsamoro … they should not remain marginalized … abused and forgotten…)” Jafaar said.

Aquino will join MILF chairman Al Haj Murad Ebrahim at the launching of the services program at the Bangsamoro Leadership and Management Institute, just outside Camp Darapanan.

The MILF, established in the early 1980s from a faction that broke away from the Moro National Liberation Front, had been waging a struggle for secession until it tempered its goal to autonomy in the course of peace negotiations with government.

Late last year, both parties signed a framework agreement that took the negotiations closer to a final peace pact.

Among others, the framework agreement paves the way for the creation of a new Bangsamoro entity.
Mohagher Iqbal, chairman of the MILF negotiating panel, said Aquino’s visit was important because it would show “sincerity.”

“Pag salita lang kasi hindi, kasi kongkreto, hindi nakikita ng mga tao (Mere words are not concrete and cannot be seen by the people),” he said.

Like Jaafar, Iqbal said genuine self-determination for the Bangsamoro still has a long way to go before it can be attained.

To achieve this, he added, the “political track should be prioritized ahead of the economic issues.”
Government peace panel chair Miriam Coronel-Ferrer said the government is doing all it can to ensure the success of the Bangsamoro framework agreement.

She said there is no reason to doubt Aquino’s determination to realize peace in Mindanao because he has involved himself personally in the process.

http://www.interaksyon.com/article/54680/aquino-should-see-real-situation-of-mindanao---milf-vice-chair