New monitoring team vows ‘commitment’

From the Manila Bulletin (Mar 17): New monitoring team vows ‘commitment’

The new batch of the International Monitoring Team (IMT) tasked to monitor the implementation of the ceasefire agreement between the Government of the Philippines (GPH) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) have assured both panels of their “commitment” to be a party in the “pursuit of peace.”

Major General Dato Abd Samad Bin Hj Yaakub, head of the IMT for Mindanao batch 9, said they would like to see that ‘peace prevails in Mindanao.”

This developed after the expected signing of the Comprehensive Agreement on Bangsamoro, a product of more than 17 years of GPH-MILF arduous negotiations, is set to take place on March 27.

Brigadier General Edmundo Pangilinan, the newly-installed head of the Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities (CCCH) for the Philippine government, led the welcoming party for Batch 9 of the IMT peace monitors in Cotabato City.

Pangilinan, former combatant-turned-peace maker, said they only hope for a united Mindanao despite differences in faith and political orientations.

Also present during the welcoming party was Abbas Salung, head of the CCCH for the MILF.

Salung lauded the good relations between the GPH and MILF ceasefire committees, and the international peace monitors.

He cited as basis the zero recorded incidents of armed encounters between the government forces and the MILF.

http://www.mb.com.ph/new-monitoring-team-vows-commitment/