Civil society groups press MILF, gov’t to speed up peace process
DAVAO CITY, Philippines—Civil society groups and community leaders from various parts of Mindanao started a two-day conference here Wednesday on how to exert more pressure on the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front to speed up the forging of a peace agreement.
Conference organizers noted that a basic agreement was signed last October but talks to flesh it out have not moved forward.
“It has been eight months since the historic signing of the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro (FAB) but the comprehensive peace pact that would pave the way for the creation of the new political entity envisioned in the preliminary accord has still to be completed,” Mary Ann Arnado, secretary general of the Mindanao Peoples Caucus or MPC, the conference’s main organizer, said in an interview before the conference got under way.
Both sides have announced that the talks are to resume in Kuala Lumpur on July 8 after stalling in March.
The peace panels had targeted completion of a comprehensive draft agreement by last December but “they have been off-target for six months now,” she added.
Arnado said the civil society community in Mindanao was concerned about the pace of the peace talks because their outcome was critical for the Transition Commission to begin working on the draft of the law creating the Bangsamoro, a setup that will take the place of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and expand its area of coverage.
The MILF and the government have agreed to replace the ARMM because it was “unacceptable” to the Moros. President Benigno Aquino himself has described the ARMM as “a failed experiment.”
Aquino had wanted the final peace agreement completed early so the new Bangsamoro government could be in place before his term ends on June 30, 2016.
Based on the government’s roadmap, the ARMM would be abolished when the law creating the Bangsamoro is ratified and its powers assumed by an MILF-led transition government. A Bangsamoro Assembly was envisioned to be in session by July 1, 2016, the day the Bangsamoro political entity would start functioning.
MILF political affairs chief Ghadzali Jaafar said that during the July 8 talks – the 38th since the exploratory talks began — the three annexes to the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro or FAB which were considered the most contentious would be discussed and ironed out.
These are the annexes on power- sharing, wealth-sharing, and normalization.
Going by previous statements by government and MILF negotiators, the annex on normalization could be easily achieved as both sides were in agreement. But they said the guidelines on how normalization – the period when the MILF is to implement the decommissioning of its military arm – would be left to the Transition Commission to formulate.
Arnado said civil society organizations were elated the talks would resume this month but she pointed out that resuming the talks and actually coming to terms on a final peace agreement were different things.
“We welcome this development. But we hope they will use the time to bring the negotiations to a conclusion,” she said.
The Lanao Peace Partnership, a group of Iligan-based peace-building organizations, had said that the Bangsamoro Basic Law needed to be passed by Congress “at the latest on Jan. 30, 2015” so that the plebiscite and other processes that would make this a functioning law “can catch up with the 2016 general elections.”
Arnado said the delay in the crafting of the final peace agreement will also affect the viability of the transition period and other processes for the establishment of the Bangsamoro government.
Mohagher Iqbal, MILF peace negotiator, had openly declared that the delay in the resumption of the peace talks was causing frustration among MILF followers.
Arnado said this frustration could easily translate into new hostilities.
“We are concerned that the delays in the peace talks could lead to a resumption of fighting in Mindanao,” Arnado said.
The decades-old Moro rebellion has caused the deaths of an untold number of people in Mindanao, dragged down its economy and polarized Muslims and Christians.
