MILF: Swiss Ambassador Madame Andrea Reichlin visits MILF Administrative Base

Posted to the MILF Website (Mar 13): Swiss Ambassador Madame Andrea Reichlin visits MILF Administrative Base



On March 10, Thursday, Madame Andrea Reichlin, Swiss Ambassador to the Philippines paid courtesy visit to Camp Darapanan, the Administrative Base of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), in Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao.

Madame Reichlin was welcomed by MILF Chair Al Haj Murad Ebrahim and some members of the Central Committee.

 

Ambassador Reichlin expressed her country's continued support to the peace process in Southern Philippines and hope that the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) signed between the Government of the Philippines and the MILF on August 27, 2014 will be faithfully implemented, including the passage of the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL).

She praised the Transitional Justice and Reconciliation Committee (TJRC) for its comprehensive report that it submitted recently. The TJRC is chaired by Mo Bleeker of Switzerland.

 

Chairman Murad expressed the leadership's appreciation for the visit of Madame Reichlin.  He relates that the Bansamoro people are very disappointed over the non-passage of the BBL, which is the key mechanism to truly implement the CAB and warns that out of frustration, some young Moros might be attracted to radicalism as an alternative to the peace process.

“Many if not all young Moros were expecting that the Bangsamoro Question and Conflict in Mindanao could finally be resolved and allow the Bangsamoro to govern themselves through the passage of the Bangsamoro law, but it did not come out to be that way as expected”, said Chairman Murad.

Chairman Murad also relates the historical background of the struggle, with emphasis that the Moro struggle started as a response to the injustices against the Bangsamoro people and ignited by the genocidal campaign against them starting the late 60’s and aggravated during the martial law period under then President Ferdinand E. Marcos.

He also told the visiting envoy that the peace process started as early as 1974 through the intervention of the Organization of Islamic Conference (now Cooperation) and between these periods until 2014 there were signed agreements; the 1976 Tripoli Agreement, the 1996 Final Peace Agreement signed in Jakarta and the CAB in 2014. However, all these Agreements suffered setbacks during the implementation process.

The chairman assured Madame Reichlin that the MILF leadership remains hopeful and determined to preserve the gains of the peace process, especially the CAB, a result of more than 17 years of extensive negotiation between the Philippine Government and the MILF.

Chairman Murad also mentioned his meeting with Malaysian Prime Minister Datu Seri Najib Tun Radzak, last February 25, 2016 in Kuala Lumpur to discuss the Bangsamoro peace process, which Malaysia facilitated.  PM Razak assured Murad of Malaysia’s commitment to continue to support and facilitate the peace process with the next President of the Philippines.

Chairman Murad also relates to Madame Reichlin his meeting with His Excellency Iyad Ameen Madani, Secretary General of the influential Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on February 28, 2016, where they discussed among others the setback to the peace process due to the failure of the Philippine Congress to enact the Bangsamoro Law. 

For her part, Ambassador Reichlin shares the MILF's concern that extremists and radical groups may capitalize the frustration of the people especially the Bangsamoro over the non-passage of the BBL to gain more recruits.

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