The Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) is accusing the Aquino administration of engaging into “duplicity” by entering a peace agreement with its breakaway faction Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
Lawyer Emmanuel Fontanilla, spokesman for the MNLF group of Chairman Nur Misuari, also branded the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) being pushed by the government of the Philippines (GRP) and the MILF as a ploy of the Aquino government.
“The BBL is a propaganda ploy of Aquino,” he told The Tribune.
“The government knows it entered into unconstitutional agreement yet it persisted and there is still a standing agreement with the MNLF of the same subject yet it proceeded with its duplicity,” said
Fontanilla, referring to the 1996 Final Peace Agreement (FPA) between the MNLF and the government.
Misuari and former President Fidel V. Ramos signed the FPA that resulted in the establishment initially of the Southern Philippines Council for Peace and Development (SPCPD) which was succeeded by the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) during the administration of former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
The MNLF spokesman stressed the BBL covers areas under the ARMM.
Fontanilla reiterated that the BBL will suffer similar ending like the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MoA-AD) which was declared as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.
The MoA-AD was signed by the MILF and the Arroyo administration in 2008.
Fontanilla stressed the MNLF, most specially Misuari, has not recognized the government-MILF peace agreement.
In fact, Misuari established the Bangsamoro Republik in protest of the signing of the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro (FAB) between the GRP and the MILF which paved the way for the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) and eventually the BBL.
Fontanilla maintained that the MNLF would only involve itself in process to be facilitated by the powerful Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC).
For the MILF, it has earlier said it will only welcome “improvements” on the BBL but warned that an improvement to one group may not be so to another.
“The MILF’s position is clear: We welcome an improvement of the BBL. Who does not want an improvement?” asked the MILF in an editorial posted over its website.
“But a reminder has to be earnestly said: An improvement to one group may not necessarily be so, to another group. To plug the gap, this is where the spirit of partnership and cooperation between parties works best,” it added.
Currently, the BBL is undergoing congressional scrutiny by both the Senate and the House of Representatives.
The MILF expressed hopes that the BBL would soon pass congressional hearings, signed by President Aquino and no one would oppose it before the SC.
Relatedly, an independent decommissioning body led by the Turkish Ambassador to the intergovernmental military alliance North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) will convene this month to roll out the decommissioning of weapons of the MILF combatants.
The independent body, which is a mix membership of foreign experts from
The process, however, does not necessarily follow a certain framework of an international body on disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR).
Lawyer Al Jukifli, a member of the GRP peace panel, said a symbolic turnover will happen anytime to start the decommissioning process.
He added the decommissioning process will apply to the peculiarities of the local situation.
Decommissioning of weapons of the MILF combatants is part of the normalization process to bring conflict-affected areas into a state of normalcy in terms of human security and economic stability while the legislative mill for the approval of the BBL continues.
Julkifli said the first task of the independent body will be to conduct an inventory and validation in order to determine the types and number of weapons of the MILF.
He disclosed that the surrender of weapons would be by phase and percentages. The inventory will also start this month.
Meantime, Julkifli said other normalization process or other confidence-building measures are underway such as the infusion of livelihood and turning the six previously identified MILF camps into productive civilian communities.
He disclosed that task forces have been formed toward this development with the Department of Agriculture (DA) conducting surveys for the livelihood and production programs and projects.
The legal process for the amnesty of MILF members and supporters, meanwhile, is also rolling out. A group will be conducting a study toward this step.
Julkifli said the Transitional Justice is also working on a development study.
He also disclosed that a study for the disbandment of armed groups and loose firearms.
“So all these activities will be rolled out as parallel efforts while the legislative process continues,” Julkifli said.
http://www.tribune.net.ph/headlines/noy-s-peace-deal-with-milf-an-exercise-in-duplicity-mnlf
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