Saying it does not want to go through another war, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) on Monday told the government to solve the Bangsamoro problem rather than manage it.
Speaking to reporters inside the rebel group’s main lair, Camp Darapanan, MILF chair Murad Ebrahim said the government was not solving the problem but only “managing” it with its proposal of enhancing the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).
In a statement posted on the MILF website on Sunday, Murad described as “detached from what the two parties had (earlier) agreed upon” the government’s counterproposal, which focuses on institutional reforms in the ARMM, contrary to the rebels’ demand for a substate.
Murad insisted that a political settlement with the government must be built on what had already been achieved over the negotiating table in the past 14 years.
MILF chief negotiator Mohagher Iqbal earlier explained that based on the Tripoli Agreement on Peace of 2001, both panels must build consensus on three issues—security, rehabilitation of war-torn areas, and ancestral domain—before crafting a comprehensive compact.
A ceasefire has been in place since 1997, while a development arm has already been in operation for five years to take care of postwar reconstruction. In the case of the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD), which was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 2008, the parties agreed in July 2009 to “reframe the consensus points” toward drafting the peace deal.
During the August 22 exploratory talks in Kuala Lumpur, the government panel presented its proposal for an enhanced ARMM as a starting point for a political settlement.
“Government is not solving the problem, they are managing the problem. If that is only the intention of President Aquino, then this will just be another pattern (of the former negotiations). There will be no negotiation at all. We should focus on dealing with the root cause of the problem,” Murad said.
“With our clamor, the entire Bangsamoro people is behind us. We have gone too far in the political struggles. In 14 years, we have accomplished so much, and all will be reduced to nothing? We don’t want to go to another armed struggle,” he said.
The substate, which the MILF envisions, is designed within the context of the Philippine republic, Murad said. “A region outside the operations of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, that can stand alone without Malacañang’s administration and funding support,” he said.
The substate will be a special region with increased powers and calls for the inclusion of Moro-dominated villages contiguous to the present ARMM territory upon consent of majority of residents in a plebiscite.
“The substate we want is just complicated with people’s thoughts as its context is not defined in the Philippine Constitution. But it’s a real autonomy, far different from the ARMM,” Murad said.
Murad warned of the possible formation of another dissident faction to advance the aspiration of the Bangsamoro people if the government continues to ignore the conditions they have set in its proposal.
He called on spoilers, including former President Joseph Estrada who led an all-out-war campaign against the rebels in 2000, to support the peace negotiations.
“We are exhausting all means in this process. We want everyone to be on board in this peace process. It’s important that they won’t hinder the process,” Murad said.
The MILF observed that with the conciliatory gestures dragging on, the solution to the Bangsamoro question was not in sight and could result to the creation of a new generation of fighters.
The younger generation has become more militant, and is inclined to be more violent, Murad said. “They were born in time of war. The new generation is exposed to violence, war.”
The slow-moving process proved hard for the MILF, he said.
“That’s the reason some sectors lost hope in the peace process. This is the reason why the group of (Ameril Umra) Kato decided not to thread the path of peace. The MILF continuously adhere to the guidance of our revered leader Salamat Hashim that the peaceful, democratic and civilized way to resolve the conflict between the Bangsamoro and the government is through negotiations,” he said.