Peace advisers warn public vs false text messages creating tension with Moro rebels

From InterAksyon (Jul 27): Peace advisers warn public vs false text messages creating tension with Moro rebels

Government peace advisers Saturday warned the public against malicious text messages peddling lies about a supposed plan by Moro rebels to declare independence to protest government’s supposed move to completely scuttle the 1996 Final Peace Agreement with the Moro National Liberation Front.

Undersecretary Jose Lorena of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process said such false messages are apparently meant to sow fear and derail the peace situation in Mindanao, where the government this month finished a sticky annex on wealth sharing and revenue generation with the bigger rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

Lorena appealed to people not to impulsively forward text messages. “We urge the public to be critical against false information. We also call for sobriety as our government, both national and local, are carefully handling the peace and security in Mindanao."

He added, "It is best to seek out information from reliable sources and understand the context before making conclusions. We rely on the public to guard the process."

According to the text messages, certain factions of the MNLF are convening shortly to declare independence and to protest the perceived move by the government to close its doors to the1996 Final Peace Agreement as it forges a new comprehensive agreement with the MILF.

Zamboanga City Mayor Beng Climaco, in a text advisory through the Philippine Information Agency’s Region IX office, advised her constituents “to be careful in forwarding text messages from unverified sources as some unscrupulous individuals are circulating false information to cause undue alarm to the general public.”

Climaco said the Philippine National Police, Armed Forces of the Philippines, and the local government are exerting all efforts to maintain normalcy, peace, and security in the city. “No curfew has been imposed. Classes remain normal in all levels in the City.”

In a statement on Friday, Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Teresita Quintos Deles clarified the status of the Tripartite Implementation Review of the GPH-MNLF 1996 Final Peace Agreement. While the government’s position is that “it was time to bring the tripartite review process to a proper completion,” the “government will continue to engage relevant parties of the MNLF, through the existing mechanism, to find a just and comprehensive political solution for the issue of the Southern Philippines,” explained Deles.

The tripartite review, a joint review process, has been going on for six years, and “had already established consensus points and some joint mechanisms and actions particularly between MNLF representatives and the ARMM regional government,” she said.

Deles stressed that “from the start, what the GPH proposed to complete was the review process, not the closure of the peace process nor the abrogation of the 1996 Final Peace Agreement,” she emphasized.

The Philippines government had been talking to the MNLF since 2007 on the review of the implementation of the 1996 FPA forged between the MNLF and the Ramos government. The tripartite review was deemed necessary in order to address concern that the government’s subsequent negotiations with the MILF, after the MNLF rebels were reintegrated into the mainstream, might have the effect of nullifying some of the key agreements with the MNLF.

The review is not a peace negotiation, and is being facilitated by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, specifically its Peace Committee for the Southern Philippines (OIC-PCSP headed by Indonesia, which helped the Ramos government forge the FPA in 1996.  The current negotiations with the MILF are mainly brokered by Malaysia.

As facilitator to the 1996 FPA review process, Indonesia through Minister for Foreign Affairs Marty Natalegawa had advised the GPH to exercise patience despite occasional provocation, as he reiterated Indonesia's continuing support for the Mindanao peace process.

http://www.interaksyon.com/article/67329/peace-advisers-warn-public-vs-false-text-messages-creating-tension-with-moro-rebels