From the Philippine News Agency (Jun 9):
GPH, MILF chief negotiators recount road to Bangsamoro peace pact
The chief peace negotiators of the Government of the Philippines (GPH) and
the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) brought over a hundred foreign and
local participants of an international peace conference here Saturday down the
memory lane of significant experiences in their peace negotiations that
concluded with the signing of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro
(CAB).
The proposed Bangsamoro government will replace the Autonomous Region in
Muslim Mindanao by 2016.
The Bangsamoro Basic Law, once approved by Congress and ratified by the
constituents in the proposed territory, will legalize the creation of the
Bangsamoro region that will bring shared prosperity and shared security not
just in the Bangsamoro, but to Mindanao, the
Philippines and its neighbors.
GPH peace panel chair Miriam Coronel-Ferrer noted that the peace process
between the GPH and MILF under the Aquino administration gained significant
ground during the last three Ramadans, the fasting month of Islamic believers.
The breakthrough in the GPH-MILF peace talks came after the meeting between
President Benigno S. Aquino III and MILF chair Al Haj Murad Ebrahim in
Narita, Japan,
with the help of the Japanese government, she recalled.
“That [historic] event [between the President and Murad] is now in the
annals of the history of the peace negotiations on the Bangsamoro question,”
Coronel-Ferrer said.
The meeting in
Japan
between the two leaders was strongly criticized as “ill-advised,"
according to Coronel-Ferrer. But the truth is, it was the President himself who
proposed it. He told the government peace panel "nahirapan na yata kayo to
further the talks considering the 'heaven and earth' gap, to borrow the words
of MILF [peace panel chair Mohager] Iqbal in describing the difference between
the government and MILF positions.”
In all, the peace negotiations between the GPH and MILF spanned 17 years,
culminating with the signing of the CAB, their final peace agreement, on March
27, 2014.
“Seventeen long years of hard and protracted peace process between the
government and the MILF is by no means not a short engagement,” Iqbal said,
noting that the MILF was fully aware that the process would also be hard.
Iqbal said the CAB is inclusive to all, referring to the Moros, Christians,
and Lumads, and “is not a prescription for the MILF, it is not for the MILF
alone.”
“The Bangsamoro is a model in itself…[Although we know] that there are still
many challenges ahead,” Iqbal said.
Coronel-Ferrer and Iqbal both spoke on the topic “Peace Process on the
Bangsamoro: Significant Experiences” on the second and last day of the
International Conference of Cotabato themed “Peace is Living Together:
Religions and Cultures in Dialogue for Peace and Reconciliation in
Mindanao.” It was organized by the Archdiocese of
Cotabato, the Community of Sant’ Egidio, and Muhammadiyah, with the support of
the European Union, the Italian government, and Notre Dame University.
Reverend Absalom Cerveza, spokesperson of the Moro National Liberation Front
(MNLF), who was one of the reactors, said that founding chair Nur Misuari is
finally extending his congratulations to the GPH and the MILF for successfully
concluding their negotiations through the CAB.
Misuari earlier reportedly opposed the CAB because of claims that it will
abrogate the 1996 Final Peace Agreement between the MNLF and the government,
which has been consistently debunked by the GPH.
“We congratulate the MILF for reaching this stage of the negotiations,” said
Cerveza, stressing that he talked with Misuari before attending the conference
and that he met with leaders of the MILF prior to his engagement in said event.
http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=651652
