There is no doubt the peace negotiation between the Government of the Philippines (GPH) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) is in the final stretch. This defining moment of the 16-year old peace talks will largely determine whether the efforts will lead to the final resolution of the Moro Question or merely result in the melting away of the MILF.
Many if not most revolutionary organizations, which entered into similar exercises, resulted in their mainstreaming or the start of their long journey to calvary that they can hardly cope up with. We do not want to cite specific cases, out of respect and in due regard to sensitivity, but they abound in many parts of the world. Even in our midst, two cases are outstandingly relevant.
The MILF is fully cognizant of this risk but there are more reasons to proceed. In fact, the late MILF Chairman Salamat Hashim described peace negotiation as the most practical and civilized way of resolving the conflict in Mindanao. Besides, both the government and the MILF have already invested so much in this negotiation and any party which withdraws or even hampers the process unreasonably will have to answer for the consequences.
This is the reason that the MILF cannot accept a bad agreement, because a bad agreement is worse than no agreement at all. More seriously, the MILF leadership cannot force the Bangsamoro people and their leaders to swallow a bad agreement. The deal between the MILF and the Bangsamoro people anchors on one condition: That the MILF will continue to assert and not deviate from the legitimate aspiration of the people for their right to self-determination.
Finally, if the current negotiation takes too long to finish, one reason is that the MILF wants to be sure that any agreement with the government will really solve the Bangsamoro Question. Any half-baked solution will only yield more complications later. The other reason --- and surely, the main reason --- is that it is the nature of government to be very selfish of power and to share resources. One cannot understand that even those powers already given by law to the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), the government still has hard time to concede to the Bangsamoro.
As the peace negotiation drags, pressure is mounting. Hard pressed especially is the Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC) which is tasked to craft the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL). Aware of is historic responsibility, the BTC had started to work as early as April last year. But it cannot fully discharge its task unless the parties sign the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) containing the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro (FAB) and the four Annexes (Transitional Arrangement and Modalities, Wealth-sharing, Power-sharing, and Normalization).
http://www.luwaran.com/index.php/editorial/item/662-solving-moro-question
The MILF is fully cognizant of this risk but there are more reasons to proceed. In fact, the late MILF Chairman Salamat Hashim described peace negotiation as the most practical and civilized way of resolving the conflict in Mindanao. Besides, both the government and the MILF have already invested so much in this negotiation and any party which withdraws or even hampers the process unreasonably will have to answer for the consequences.
This is the reason that the MILF cannot accept a bad agreement, because a bad agreement is worse than no agreement at all. More seriously, the MILF leadership cannot force the Bangsamoro people and their leaders to swallow a bad agreement. The deal between the MILF and the Bangsamoro people anchors on one condition: That the MILF will continue to assert and not deviate from the legitimate aspiration of the people for their right to self-determination.
Finally, if the current negotiation takes too long to finish, one reason is that the MILF wants to be sure that any agreement with the government will really solve the Bangsamoro Question. Any half-baked solution will only yield more complications later. The other reason --- and surely, the main reason --- is that it is the nature of government to be very selfish of power and to share resources. One cannot understand that even those powers already given by law to the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), the government still has hard time to concede to the Bangsamoro.
As the peace negotiation drags, pressure is mounting. Hard pressed especially is the Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC) which is tasked to craft the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL). Aware of is historic responsibility, the BTC had started to work as early as April last year. But it cannot fully discharge its task unless the parties sign the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) containing the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro (FAB) and the four Annexes (Transitional Arrangement and Modalities, Wealth-sharing, Power-sharing, and Normalization).
http://www.luwaran.com/index.php/editorial/item/662-solving-moro-question
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