While noting that global terrorism waged by groups like the
Islamic State of Syria and the Levant and Al
Qaeda require intensive study, the Government (GPH) Panel for talks with the
Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), however, took exception to lumping all
Moro organizations as terrorist organizations.
“By forging the peace agreement with the government, the
MILF has committed to renounce violence and terrorism as an ideology and way of
life,” said GPH Peace panel chair Prof. Miriam Coronel-Ferrer at a forum
organized by the Rotary Club of Manila Bay.
“The full implementation of the Comprehensive Agreement on
the Bangsamoro (CAB) will ensure that the leaders and followers of the MILF
will desist from going the way of the ISIS,” she said.
On statements made by certain senators on alleged terrorist
links of the MILF, the GPH panel chief asked: “If the MILF were considered a
terrorist organization, why does the international community, including the
United Nations and the ASEAN, support the peace process on the Bangsamoro?”
In her speech before young Rotarians last Saturday, the
government chief negotiator recounted the official statements of support issued
by several countries and multilateral bodies when the CAB was signed on March
27 last year. These foreign states and institutions include Singapore , Cambodia ,
Canada , Switzerland , the United
Kingdom , the United States
of America , Japan ,
Brunei , Norway , Turkey ,
Saudi Arabia
“The UN Country Team commends the GPH for providing a global
model for best practice on supporting a peace process,” Coronel-Ferrer recalled
the UN’s Philippine offices’ statement on the signing of the CAB. “The UN
stands ready to support the implementation of the peace agreement through
robust engagement.”
After the Mamasapano incident, several countries further
reiterated their support, said the government negotiator.
On Jan. 27, the Embassy of Canada wrote that “Canada Mindanao .”
The US Embassy followed suit, stating that “the United States reiterates its support for the
Philippine government’s efforts to combat international terrorism while
promoting a just and lasting peaceful resolution to the conflict in Mindanao .”
The US
On March 5, according to Coronel-Ferrer, the Australian
Ambassador to the Philippines
“The peace process provides the opportunity for development,
for investment and for prosperity, in Mindanao and the Philippines Australia
The chief government negotiator also enumerated the national
organizations who have pushed for the continuity of the peace process on the
Bangsamoro, among these, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines,
the Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines, the Professors for
Peace, and various business groups like the Makati Business Club, the
Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and the Mindanao Business Council.
“You would not get this kind of national and international
support for the peace process if we were dealing with a terrorist
organization,” said Coronel-Ferrer.
Meanwhile, government panel members Senen Bacani and Yasmin
Busran Lao asked the two senators who have withdrawn their support to Senate
Bill 2408 why they sponsored the draft Bangsamoro Basic Law if they did not
deem it important.
Lao and Bacani also asked if the basis for the alleged terrorist
tag on the MILF have been validated or cross-checked with credible domestic and
international sources who have been following up the rise of groups like the
Jemaah Islamiyah, ISIS and Al Qaeda.
“All throughout the negotiations and now the implementation
of the CAB, we have always worked hand in hand with the security cluster of the
Philippine government that is charged with collecting and processing all
intelligence information relating to national security,” said the panel
members.
"The peace agreement was based on a solid grounding on
the social, political and security conditions obtained in Mindanao ,"
they added.
http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=744567
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