MILF rejects gov’t autonomy offer

Moro guerrillas on Tuesday rejected a government offer to expand autonomy instead of forming what the guerrillas termed as a sub-state in Mindanao but ranking guerrilla leaders said it didn’t mean the talks’ failure.

The rejection came on the second day of formal talks for a peace agreement between government and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) negotiators in Kuala Lumpur.

Marvic Leonen, head of the government negotiating panel, didn’t sound bothered by the rejection, however.

“It is not unusual in negotiations that one of the parties take a hard line position on the contents of the initial document of another party,” he was quoted as saying.

Ghadzali Jaafar, MILF vice chair, was also quoted as commenting that while the government proposal was not what the MILF expected, “the rejection does not mean the collapse of the negotations.”

The government panel, in a statement using carefully chosen words, said the government proposal was “honestly different” from what the MILF wanted.

“It is more in keeping with what the honorable chair of the MILF, Al Haj Murad Ebrahim, refers to as a problem solving approach,” the statement was quoted as describing the government proposal.

‘Three-in-one’

Leonen said the government listed “three important components for one solution to the Bangsamoro problem.”

These, the statement said, are a political settlement with the MILF, massive economic development in Mindanao and, without elaborating, cultural-historical acknowledgement.

In previous TV interviews, Leonen said the MILF demand for a substate should take into consideration the fact that President Aquino, whose meeting with Murad in Tokyo recently was touted as a gesture of determination to enter into a pact with the MILF, cannot offer anything that would violate the Constitution.

Experts have said a substate would require amendments to, if not a completely new, Constitution.

“The government proposal took a lot of views into consideration,” Leonen was quoted as saying. He said, however, that “this is still a first document, a work in progress.”

The panels also discussed in Kuala Lumpur two issues earlier thought to be internal to the MILF—the status of Ameril Umra Kato and clan wars involving MILF leaders and members.

Kato a ‘challenge’

“We cannot accept that he is still part of the MILF,” the statement quoted Leonen as saying of Kato, who formed his own guerrilla force called Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF).

The government statement quoted Mohagher Iqbal, chair of the MILF panel, as saying Kato continues to be a “challenge for the MILF.” The MILF central committee, Iqbal was quoted as saying, has declared Kato a “bougat or one who defies or does not obey an order.”

The MILF, according to the government statement, asked for 10 days after the end of Ramadan to deal with Kato. It wasn’t clear what action the MILF planned to take against the renegade leader.

Leonen was also quoted as saying another key concern of the government panel were clan wars involving MILF members and leaders, mostly over land. The fighting, Leonen said, has displaced close to 8,000 people in six villages in Palembang, Sultan Kudarat.

Aquino dare

Just as the panels were meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Mr. Aquino was also quoted yesterday as challenging the MILF to help stop terrorism as a gesture of its capability to handle self-rule.

The MILF had been accused of offering shelter to terror suspects, which the group repeatedly denied and described as military propaganda.

In Davao City, a consultant of the MILF panel said the autonomy that government was offering wasn’t clear to her.

“It would seem that the government uses ARMM as the starting point but it is not clear what it is offering as a longer-term political arrangement,” said lawyer Raiza Jajurie.

“This leaves me wondering whether there is any intent to move further from autonomy,” she said.

Peace run

In Zamboanga City, the 28 Boholanos who started a 452-kilometer run to Cotabato City continue to rally Mindanaoans to support the peace process. Many Boholanos have migrated to Mindanao, where they are actively involved in peace activities.

On Monday, they entered Tungawan town in Zamboanga Sibugay, where they were “warmly welcomed by people,” said Augusto Miclat Jr., director of the International Initiatives for Dialogue (IID).

The Boholonas, which call themselves Bisdak or Bisayang Dako Alang sa Kalinaw, were expected to reach Cotabato City next week.

“The violence and war in Mindanao are also being felt by our neighbors in Visayas,” said Judito Cabusao, IID program director. With reports from Norman Bordadora in Manila and Ryan Rosauro, Nash Maulana and Julie Alipala, Inquirer Mindanao and AP