MILF: “Negotiating an agreement is difficult but implementing it is much harder”: Iqbal tells in a forum at Japan

Posted to the MILF Website (Nov 16): “Negotiating an agreement is difficult but implementing it is much harder”: Iqbal tells in a forum at Japan

“One of the hardest lessons learned in our peace process with the Government of the Philippines (GPH) is that it is difficult to negotiate an agreement but the implementation of the agreement is much harder to realize,” Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC) Chair Mohagher Iqbal said in a peace forum held at Rikkyo University, Tokyo, Japan on Sunday, November 15.

Iqbal, also chairman of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) peace panel, said, “Agreements are pieces of paper and they will not implement themselves, but implementation involves definitive and corresponding actions and programs for the Parties, as part of their commitments and obligations, including legal process on the part of the government.”

He elucidated that unless the Congress pass the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), a unilateral obligation of the state, the two concluding agreements, the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro (FAB) and the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) cannot be implemented. 

“GPH-MILF peace negotiation, it is about solving the Bangsamoro Problem or Question, which is about the “historic injustice” committed against the Bangsamoro people. This is practically a centuries-old conflict which is complex and complicated, encompassing political, military, religious, social, cultural, economic, etc.,” the BTC chair narrated.

Iqbal related that the peace process took 17 years of long and harsh negotiation handled by 11 government and four MILF negotiators, “virtually involving five Philippine presidents, and interspersed with three major wars, before they were able to sign the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) on March 27, 2014.”

Before inking the FAB and CAB, the two negotiating panels have signed more or less 100 agreements or documents.

“Our negotiation with the government passed through difficult processes and bitter experiences, such as impasses, withdrawals, cancellations, delays, walkouts, shouting matches, no-showups, proximity engagements, back-channelling, etc.”

The MILF chief negotiator lamented the slow progress of the deliberation of the proposed measure, “Up to now, the BBL is still languishing in the halls of Congress and under the mercy of lawmakers.”

“And oftentimes, tyrannized by anti-Moro lawmakers through their endless and sometimes pointless interpellations. Clearly, some of them are already filibustering the passage of the BBL,” he said.

Iqbal related the turn-over of the draft BBL on September 10, 2014 at Malacañan to the leaders of Congress which signaled the officials legislative process, “but until now Congress is still deliberating on BBL with very little hope of passing it soon.”

“November-December is the fourth and probably the last deadline Congress can still do it before President Aquino leaves office on June 30, 2016,” the BTC chair said.

He noted the “continuous lack of quorum” plaguing the Lower House and “In the Senate, several senators asked so many questions, some of which were very basic and should not be asked at all.”

“If the BBL does not pass, the political settlement of the armed conflict in Mindanao will also be put on hold. Consequently, frustrations of the people especially Moros will also rise up which can lead to many uncertainties,” Iqbal said.

Iqbal, however, is confident that the two parties are expected to pursue the path of peace and maintain the ceasefire on the ground, “but the legal process will not take place immediately after the new president gets into office in July 1, 2016,” he said.

The forum was attended by Japanese students, academicians, Moro youth scholars studying in Japan and some members of Filipino communities.

BTC Commissioner Abdullah Camlian, and lawyer Salma Rasul of Philippine Council for Islam and Democracy were the other resource persons of the forum.

http://www.luwaran.com/index.php/new/item/678-negotiating-an-agreement-is-difficult-but-implementing-it-is-much-harder-iqbal-tells-in-a-forum-at-japan