It is very hard to arrive at consensus if people are talking from different perspectives and levels of understanding. This was clearly portrayed during the Senate hearing on the status of the ceasefire between the Government of the Philippines (GPH) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) last April 13. Except for Senators Bam Aquino and Teofisto Guingona III, most of the rest seemed to have shown their inadequate grasp of the GPH-MILF peace process. Indeed, gone are the days when the Senate is a source of knowledge, wisdom, and guidance!
Conflict
resolution, which is a process, is divided into three stages namely, conflict
situation, transition period after agreements are signed and laws that would
implement these political documents are legislated, and when the conflict is
settled, which is the period of normalcy. Right now the leaders and members of
the MILF are still transitioning into normalcy; therefore, one cannot expect
them to behave like in a normal situation. That cannot take place overnight; that
is why there is the Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC) which crafted the
proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) and the Bangsamoro Transition Authority
(BTA) which is an interim government before the regular government for the
Bangsamoro would be in place during a regular election for the purpose after
the BBL becomes a law.
More
seriously, without sounding out alarmist, what will happen if a good BBL does
not pass Congress or a diluted version is in the offing? Consistently,
the MILF said they will not accept a watered down BBL. But in the same breadth,
it also consistently asserted that no matter what happens to the BBL, it will
continue to engage in the path of finding a peaceful resolution of the conflict
in Mindanao .
Peace
process or more appropriately, conflict resolution, is like life, which is
actually a constant series of an immense number of transitions. There are some
so tiny as to be imperceptible and whose impact kind of sneaks up on you. This
can be gradual changes in a relationship, our experiences at work, or changes
in our body. The use of aliases is such a tiny example of transitioning that
can be appropriately addressed during the full normal period.
Anyone who
does not accept that conflict resolution, like life, is full of transitions;
then surely we are in trouble. Imagine that for the issue of nom de guerre (war
name) it took almost two hours for the senators during that Senate hearing to
grill Mohagher Iqbal, chair of the MILF peace panel, over his uses of aliases.
Were the senators fully aware of the stages of conflict resolution, that issue
could not be raised at all? Or that peace negotiation only happens between
“enemies” and not among friends; then they would not question the use of
aliases by revolutionaries.
One way to
unearth why such a fuss over aliases happened at all is to look at one
grandstanding senator. A reliable source said that he had commissioned a survey
team to determine which stance he would take: to support the BBL or ride
roughshod over the biases and prejudices blown out of proportion as a result of
the Mamasapano incident on January 25. The result was clear, the report said:
He will get more votes by being anti-peace and used the Mamasapano incident as
his launching pad.
But take a
close look at what happened after. It seems his anti-peace posture is bringing
him down. Very few people including those in media praised him for what he has
been doing. One columnist described him as “savvy opportunist”.
http://www.luwaran.com/index.php/editorial/item/875-still-in-transition-period
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