More than 500 delegates from South Cotabato, Sarangani and General Santos City attended the Multi-Stakeholders Forum on Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro at the Auditorium of Notre dame of Dadiangas University in General Santos City on February 19, 2013 aimed to educate the public on the essence of the initial agreement and the progress of the GPH-MILF Peace Process.
The Chair of the Government Peace Panel Professor Miriam C. Ferrer and from the Office of the First Vice-Chairman of the MILF, Special Assistant on Peace Advocacy Dr. Tumanda Antok lectured on the FAB and gave updates on the peace process.
Representatives from the International Monitoring Team, Local Monitoring Team-Sarangani, Philippine National Police, Armed Forces of the Philippines, Department of Education, students, Asatidz, peace advocates, government employees, university professors, farmers, LGUs, entrepreneurs and ordinary citizens attended the forum. There were also representatives from the Muslim organizations like the Sugoda
Buayan Royal House, Muslim Business Forum, Young Moro Professionals Council, Moro National Liberation Front, Katiyakap Inc., and Muslim Women of General Santos City who attended to understand deeply the FAB.
Ferrer said the peace panels are still working on the annexes of power sharing and wealth-sharing. She disclosed that they are still negotiating on who will have jurisdiction over the transportation facilities on land, sea and water.
The chief negotiator also said they are introducing a new concept on Bangsamoro Waters. She also cited that the normalization also aims to address the problem on armed group and loose firearms.
Ferrer further said there will be transitional justice and reconciliation as well as acknowledgment of different history and narratives.
She also narrated the recent visit of President Aquino in Sultan Kudarat Municipality in Maguindanao bringing the Sajahatra Bangsamoro Program aimed to deliver basic services to the Moro people like health care and training on livelihood.
The crafting of the Bangsamoro Basic Law, she said, will provide venue for participation of all sectors like the MNLF, heeding to the mandate of the President that the peace process should be participatory.
During the open forum, an employee from the ARMM asked what will happen to them once the regional government will be abolished and replace by the Bangsamoro. Ferrer replied that regular employees are governed by the civil service law and they will still continue working.
“Only the Regional Legislative Assembly and the ARMM Governor will be abolished,” she explained.
On the question on who will comprise the Bangsamoro Transition Authority, Ferrer said the process will still be inclusive and having strong partnership manifests that they are indeed serious.
Most of the audience expressed optimism that the FAB will lead to the final settlement of the Mindanao problem.
Taking lessons from the past, Ferrer hoped there will be good governance with the upcoming Bangsamoro Government. She posed a challenge saying, “Will the MILF prove to be different breed of leaders?”
She further urged everybody to support the peace process as the lasting solution to the decades of conflict in Southern Philippines.
Dr. Antok said Mindanao has 26 ethno-linguistic tribes on which 13 of these are Islamized. He said Bangsamoro refers to the inhabitant of Mindanao before the invaders came.
He stressed that without the unity of the Muslims, Christians and the IPs, real peace could hardly be realized.
On the normalization issue, he related that the government and the MILF are striving hard to come up with mechanism on how to regain the peaceful situation of Mindanao.
He mentioned some programs for normalization such as creation of joint normalization committee, police commission, disbandment of private armies, redeployment of the members of the AFP, decommissioning the BIAF in proportionate manner, implementation of transitional justice, implementation of development and trust fund and creation of industries.
The speaker said that economic intervention plays great role to normalize the communities considering the low poverty index in many Moro areas.
He added that the government can put up infrastructure facilities, the private sector shall provide capitalization while the Moro people have the working force. In that way, he said there is pooling of efforts and resources towards development.
Among the safety measures which will ensure that the agreement will be implemented, he explained is that the “implementation will be done bilaterally” and the peace panels will not be abolished.
He added that the IMT and Malaysia will stay and “the MILF peace panel will not sign the exit agreement until it is sure that the peace agreement is fully implemented.”
Antok said the MILF will not handle the Bangsamoro government by 2016.
He added that the peace agreement is not for the MILF but for the Moro people. “The MILF only facilitates the peace process,” he pointed out, “and the MILF is more committed to end the conflict in Mindanao.”
He urged the stakeholders to understand and help advocate the framework agreement as well as monitor its progress.
For the Indigenous Peoples, he also urged that the natives to be active in making the judicial system for the IPs.
The speaker added that there should also be proposal for socio-economic program for those Moro communities outside the Bangsamoro territory.
During the open forum, a delegate suggested to the speakers to consider in the crafting of the Bangsamoro basic law having representatives to the Bangsamoro government coming for Muslim communities outside the Bangsamoro territory like Socsargen and Davao regions so that somebody will bring their voice of the Moro from those areas to the assembly.
The forum was organized by Socsargen Peace Network, Kalinaw Sarangani, Circle of Peace Builders in Socsargen, Mindanao State University, Notre Dame of Dadiangas University and other concerned groups. Members of local and national media also covered the event.
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