Local peace advocates and election officials were elated with the signing an interim agreement between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front for a joint security measures during nex month's elections.
Lawyer Ray Sumalipao, Commission on Elections regional director for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, said the interim agreement will help boost the poll body's campaign for a peaceful election in Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.
The interim accord will be applicable from April 22 to May 20, 2013 and to be effective in areas covered by the 1997 general agreement on the cessation of hostilities.
The special security “memorandum of understanding,” or MOU, was signed at the Waterfront Hotel in Davao City by Brig. Gen Cesar Sedillo, Jr., GPH-ceasefe panel chair and his counterpart in the MILF Hadji Said Sheik.
Malaysian Army Gen. Mokhtar Fadzil, head of the International Monitoring Team (IMT), also signed the document which restrained armed MILF foreces from coming closer to any voting precinct.
While the MILF forces were allowed to vote if they are qualified voter, they are barred from carrying firearms, the interim accord said.
Chief government negotiator Professor Miriam Coronel-Ferrer and MILF chief negotiator Mohaqher Iqbal, also signed the document as witnesses.
Abdulla Sanggula, a member of Justice and Peace Movement in Maguindanao, lauded the MOU by saying it will help ensure a free and peaceful elections in Maguindanao.
Arlyn Sudaria of Mindanao Peace Advocacy consortium said the MOU would provide a semblance of security for voters in far-flung areas to come to voting precinct and exercise their rights of suffrage.
The MILF has earlier vowed to help secure voting areas from other armed group and private armed groups who may disrupt the peaceful balloting.
The signing of MOU formalized the MILF's stance of allowing their members and sympathizers to participate in the election and help secure voting places.
Earlier, the MILF said if there's the so called Catholic vote, there's also "Bangsamoro Vote."
Ghadzali Jaafar, vice chair for political affairs of the MILF, said the MILF will vote as one for those candidates who are supportive of the Framework Agreement on Bangsamoro.
The MOU also enjoined the GPH-MILF ceasefire panel to cooperate in ensuring the safe, unhampered and free movement of Comelec personnel and government security escorts before, during and after the balloting.
The MOU also stated that: “The MILF shall refrain from consolidating its forces for any purpose, including peace gatherings, from the time the PCOS machines (Precinct Count Optical Scanners) are deployed, until the election has been completed, except at Camp Darapanan in Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao, Camp Bushra in Lanao del Sur, and in the urban centers when necessary, and in coordination wht the GPH CCCH."
http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=518841
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