American support for MILF ‘no secret’

THE Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) made no attempt to hide the fact that the United States supported their cause of establishing a a Bangsamoro Juridical Entity in Mindanao in 2008.

Mohagher Iqbal, MILF chief negotiator for the Mindanao peace process, said Washington’s role in their struggle to create the entity recently exposed by Internet whistle-blower group Wikileaks was no secret.

He said the MILF sought assistance from the Americans whom they believe owed them after they ceded Bangsamoro land to the Philippine government when it was still part of the US Commonwealth.

“Had they not separated Mindanao from the rest, this wouldn’t have happened,” Iqbal said in a briefing on the Mindanao peace process yesterday.

He said since the Americans didn’t listen to them, they have to solve the Mindanao problem.

American involvement began when former Moro rebel chief Hashim Salamat sent a letter to president George W. Bush on Jan. 20, 2003, asking for assistance in establishing an agreement between the Philippine government and the MILF on the creation of an independent Moro territory.

WikiLeaks documents reported that the letter triggered the US Institute for Peace’s interest in Mindanao and the intervention of the US Embassy in the peace process between Mindanao and the Government of the Philippines (GPH).

Iqbal said he hopes this partnership will help speed up their claim for self-governance, delayed when they rejected GPH proposal presented in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The MILF Peace Panel said they rejected GPH’s proposal because it had no meeting points and prolongs rather than solves the armed conflict in Mindanao. They decided not to go on with the peace process with Malacañang and bring their concerns to the MILF central committee.

He said while they were disappointed with the administration of former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, they have not lost hope in achieving autonomy.