Rough road ahead for peace process

From the Manila Standard Today (Aug 23): Rough road ahead for peace process

The government negotiating panel for the peace process with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front said that “things might still get worse” with the saber-rattling of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters in Mindanao and the threat of the Moro National Liberation Front to declare independence.

The government and the MILF peace panels met in Kuala Lumpur Thursday to discuss the two remaining annexes – on power-sharing and on the disarmament of MILF fighters – which are needed to complete a comprehensive peace agreement.

“We know that there will be more challenges ahead, that in fact, things might still get worse before things get better. Such has been the experience in most post-conflict settings,” government chief negotiator Miriam Ferrer said.

“This is my objective view, not a pessimistic stance. But it is an appraisal that is imbued with the determination that we shall overcome,” she added.

Ferrer told the MILF peace panel that completing the last two remaining annexes is the best way to respond to threats to the peace efforts in Mindanao.

“Let us show that we are ready to put to sleep the infamous devil in the details and awaken the angel of creativity and compromise,” she said.

Ferrer said the comprehensive peace pact with the MILF must leave no one behind with the establishment of the Bangsamoro, a political entity that would replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

The ARMM is the product of the 1996 final peace agreement with the MNLF, prompting the Nur Misuari-led faction to threaten to declare independence amid insecurities that they would be left out of the Bangsamoro.

“To be sustained, our agreement must redound to the well-being of not just one but of all the indigenous peoples in the Bangsamoro; not of one political or socio-cultural or religious group but of everyone,” Ferrer said.

The influential Organization of Islamic Cooperation has already signaled its intention to step in to address the conflict with the MNLF.

“We understand the OIC is undertaking processes to address these issues,” presidential peace adviser Teresita Deles said.

“We await word from our facilitator, Indonesia, as chair of the OIC peace committee for southern Philippines,” she added.

While Deles did not give more details on the OIC’s next move, she said the bloc “understands the position of the government of the Philippines and our problems.”

MNLF spokesman Absalom Cerveza, who heads the MNLF peace panel, earlier said the Aquino administration has adopted contradicting positions and alibis resulting in blunders that left them with no other option but to declare independence.

He said the MNLF will now seek recognition of the Moro people’s right to self-determination before the United Nations.

“(MNLF founding chairman Nur) Misuari is going to UN to file a petition for the decolonization (of Mindanao) because this part of the country was annexed unilaterally by the government without the consent of the Moro people,” Cerveza said.

But according to Undersecretary Jose Lorena of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process, Misuari and the MNLF should instead engage the government in the crafting of the Bangsamoro Basic Law.

“They need to engage us, and articulate their position. It is in the integrated interest of the Bangsamoro people, including the MNLF, to be part of this process,” Lorena added.

Misuari was earlier invited to be part of the Transition Commission that is drafting the Bangsamoro Basic Law, but he declined. Neither did he send a representative of the MNLF to be part of the commission.

Deles earlier cited Indonesian Foreign Affairs Minister Marty Natalegawa’s “firm support for the efforts being undertaken by the government to ensure a comprehensive settlement of the armed conflict in southern Philippines.”

“He was categorical in stating that Indonesia opposes any attempt to jeopardize the territorial integrity of the Philippines and that any such move falls outside the ambit of the agreed upon Tripartite Review Process,” Deles added.

http://manilastandardtoday.com/2013/08/23/rough-road-ahead-for-peace-process/