Former government chief negotiator now Supreme Court Associate Justice Marvic Leonen on Friday said the “harder work” in the peace process will be left to the military officers and men on the ground as they deal directly with the communities in transition from war to peace.
This was how government chief negotiator Miriam Coronel-Ferrer viewed the 35th exploratory meeting between government and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) peace panels, which started Monday in Kuala Lumpur.
The newly installed Army division commander has invited Moro rebel leaders to come to their headquarters to prove the military is supporting the Mindanao peace process.
The Moro Islamic Liberation Front said it would hold separate information drive on the Framework Agreement that it signed with the Aquino administration in the so-called controlled areas in Mindanao from November 5 to 15.
Respondents are almost equally divided over what the effect of the framework agreement would be to peace efforts in Mindanao.
Leaders of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front have been heartened by President Benigno Aquino III’s suspension of biddings for oil and gas exploration contracts in the proposed Bangsamoro until a wealth-sharing agreement has been reached by the MILF and the national government.
These peace ambassadors brought music and football to this northern Mindanao town that has seen strife and destruction for years and now hangs on to the promise of peace brought by the peace framework agreement forged by the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
The National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) warned the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) against easily giving up arms, even after the Moro group waging an armed rebellion in Mindanao for decades, signed the framework agreement with the government early this month.
The Philippines’ top rebel leader warned Saturday a peace deal signed by his group could only end the armed conflict if the wider Filipino Muslim community supported it.
Marvic Leonen has no qualms about leaving his job as the government’s top man in the peace talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in the event that he is appointed Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, as he was assured the peace negotiations were in safe hands.
Arriving in hauler trucks and cars, some 7,000 members of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) in neatly pressed fatigue uniforms and supporters gathered at the Crocodile Park here Sunday for a summit called for by their leader, Nur Misuari.
The chief peace negotiator of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) on Thursday assured Nur Misuari that the framework agreement he signed with the government on Monday was better than the deal the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) leader signed in 1996.
Celebrity peace ambassador Gerald Anderson canceled an out-of-town trip just to be at Malacañang last October 15 for the signing of the framework agreement between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front to create a Moro homeland.
