Monday, April 27, 2015

MILF: GPH panel chair calls for end to discrimination against Muslims, women

Posted to the MILF Website (Apr 27): GPH panel chair calls for end to discrimination against Muslims, women

Photo courtesy of OPAPP


Government of the Philippines (GPH) Peace Panel chief negotiator Prof.  Miriam Coronel-Ferrer called for an end to discrimination against Muslims and women in the country in a gratitude speech accepting Hillary Clinton Award for Advancing Women in Peace and Security on Thursday at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., USA.

“Our peace process, indeed, was informed by the very goals of this award: to protect women against all forms of violence and advance the role of women in attaining peace and security in and outside of their homes,” Ferrer said.

“I speak especially of the women in the Bangsamoro, who have endured the burden of strife, and who must now secure their places in the public sphere as equal partners in peace and development,” she added.

Coronel-Ferrer related the hindrances faced by the Government of the Philippines (GPH)-Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) peace process after the tragic Mamasapano incident last January 25 where 44 members of the Police - Special Action Force died. 

“The public discourse slid into bigotry against the Moros, the MILF as well as Muslims in general. Centuries of distrust and hatred resurfaced,” Coronel-Ferrer said.

“Most of those killed were policemen, and their deaths rightfully generated public sympathy for the police but also stoked the flames or resentment against the MILF, the peace agreement and the draft law that would establish a new autonomous government in Muslim Mindanao,” said Coronel-Ferrer.

The tag “animals”, “terrorists”, “criminals” and “barbarians” bombarded the Moro people and the Moro rebels in the opinion sections of Mamasapano related articles in the web. Journalists and columnists of broadsheets used the term “slaughter” and “massacre” to describe the incident.

Senators, in their report, called the Mamasapano encounter “massacre.” However, the Department of Justice (DoJ) and the Commission on Human Rights objected and said it was not a massacre.

The MILF said it was an encounter that resulted from the absence of coordination by the law enforcers and the MILF forces just defended themselves.” The DoJ report also said the police commandoes fired the first shot.   

A major undertaking in the peace process is the passage of the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) aimed to establish a more meaningful autonomous Bangsamoro region. The draft law is now undergoing scrutiny by the lawmakers in the Senate and House of Representatives. 

The MILF, members of Muslim communities and peace advocates urged the passage of “unchanged” BBL to create “more autonomous” governance for the Moro people. Some lawmakers have viewed some provisions of the proposed measure as unconstitutional, thus those should be deleted or amended.

Coronel-Ferrer added “As I speak right now, the ceasefire remains in place. But the vision of lasting peace is being shut out by the narrow horizons of certain political elites, and by a public fed with misinformation and driven by prejudices bordering on Islamophobia.”

The chief negotiator has signed on behalf of the government the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) aimed to establish the Bangsamoro region that will replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

“This Agreement will enable MILF combatants and other disenfranchised segments of the Moro population to participate in meaningful autonomous governance,” she said.

She pointed out, “It provides a road map for a new set of more democratic, representative and accountable political institutions.  It taps diverse modes for delivering socioeconomic programs to decommissioned combatants, the internally displaced and communities long affected by the conflict.”

The CAB bridges the majority-minority divide toward a shared future “where fellow-Filipinos live in peace under one flag in an undivided territory,” Coronel-Ferrer said.

http://www.luwaran.com/index.php/welcome/item/906-gph-panel-chair-calls-for-end-to-discrimination-against-muslims-women

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