Former MNLF members conduct peace forum

From the Business World (Jan 21): Former MNLF members conduct peace forum

In an effort to update Moro communities on the southern process, a group of former combatants of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) initiated a forum for women on the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro in Ampatuan, Maguindanao late last week.

Around 200 women attended the forum in Barangay Kauran, an area classified as a Peace and Development Community by the government of the Philippines (GPH) and the MNLF. The activity was organized by the Kadtabanga Foundation for Peace and Development Advocates, Inc., a nongovernmental organization composed of former MNLF combatants.

The forum is a significant development since the MILF, which is now negotiating with the government, and the MNLF have taken separate political paths. Also, the MNLF is traditionally strong in Western Mindanao while Central Mindanao, where the forum was held, is a bailiwick of the MILF.

Rabie Angkal, an academic at the Cotabato City State Polytechnic College who served as key speaker in the forum, urged the participants to rally behind the framework agreement forged even if the 1996 Final Peace Agreement between the government and the MNLF remains active.

“With the (framework agreement), the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) aim to bring just and lasting peace in Mindanao that is inclusive to all. We know that despite the GPH-MNLF 1996 agreement, conflict still continues in some parts of the island,” Mr. Angkal said in Filipino. “Now we are at a point where both the GPH and the MILF are sincerely pursuing the attainment of just and lasting peace in Mindanao, so let us all support it,” Mr. Angkal added.

Marlon Peter Dedumo, Mindanao Media Bureau director of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process, said it is important for the people of Mindanao to have convergence in the efforts to bring genuine peace to the region. “Let us all embrace the path of peace,” he said in his solidarity message.

Lt. Torino Inso, commander of the Bravo Company under the 46th Infantry Battalion, lauded the community-level consultation as a way to gather support for the peace talks.

http://www.bworldonline.com/content.php?section=Nation&title=Former-MNLF-members-conduct-peace-forum&id=82317