Groups urge resumption of MILF-PH talks

President Benigno Aquino talks to MILF chairman Al Haj Murad Ibrahim during their meeting on August 4 in Tokyo. AP/Malacañang Photo Bureau

Iligan City—Peace advocates from various sectors throughout the country called on negotiators of both government and rebel group Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to immediately resume talks so they could narrow perceived gaps between their respective formula for a political settlement.

“It is by talking and negotiating that we are able to narrow the gaps of the two proposals at hand,” read a landmark manifesto of some 150 delegates to the recent Second National Solidarity Conference on Mindanao (NSCM 2) in Davao City.

The conference was jointly convened by the Bishops-Ulama Conference, Mindanao Solidarity Network, Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches, International Alert, Consortium of Bangsamoro Civil Society and the Mindanao Peoples Caucus.

It sought to provide an independent look at how the respective peace proposals of the government and the MILF could be made closer to each other.

The 14-year negotiations hit a snag because of a supposedly “heaven and earth” distance between the parties’ peace proposals.

According to a post in the MILF website, Malaysian facilitator Tengku Dato AB Ghafar Tengku Mohamed met with top Moro rebel leaders September 7 in a bid to patch things up through back-channel processes.

The manifesto, titled “Finding the Common Ground in the GPH-MILF Peace Talks: A View from the Stakeholders and Grassroots,” reminds the government and the MILF to stay the course of negotiations, and minced no words in issuing some reprimands.

The peace advocates told the government and rebel negotiators to seriously take into account the joint commitment of President Aquino and MILF chief Murad Ebrahim to fast-track the negotiations.

Murad had told reporters in a Sept. 5 press conference that Aquino wanted a peace agreement signed and started to be implemented by 2013.

The NSCM delegates also pointed out the need to take stock of currently high public expectations of the peace talks reflected in a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey results showing 8 out of 10 Filipinos are hopeful it would result in a political settlement.

“This is the time to lay down the cards on the table, roll the sleeves up and start the work of honest, discerning and determined negotiations,” the peace advocates said.

Partners

The peace advocates said that in the conduct of negotiations, the government and MILF panels must treat each other as partners instead of adversaries.

This way, “contentious and divisive issues… can be resolved,” they stressed.

They also raised the need to “increase confidence-building measures and cultivate the real essence of partnership” among the two parties especially at this critical stage of the talks.

“Accusations and counter-accusations will not help the seeming deadlock of positions,” the NSCM manifesto said.

The peace advocates reminded government to stop “pounding the rido problem on the MILF like it is a conditio sine qua non to negotiated political settlement…” as it “does not improve the call to develop genuine partnership.”

“We believe that the peace mechanisms on the ground such as the Joint Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities and the International Monitoring Team are much more effective and competent to deal with the ground issues while the peace panels focus their attention on bridging the substantive gaps of the proposals at hand,” they added.

Combine the drafts

To hasten the crafting of a jointly defined political settlement, the NSCM urged that both peace proposals be used to come up with a working draft of a comprehensive compact.

“What is lacking in one draft can be filled in by the contents of the other draft,” the peace advocates stressed.

They noted that the two proposals “are not diametrically opposed but could actually feed on some gaps that each proposal may be found wanting.”

“For instance, as the two proposals stand, it cannot simply be a choice between political solution or socio-economic development. Both proposals can go together and will be mutually beneficial,” they added.

The NSCM stressed the need for continuity.

“It is prudent and wise that the peace panels build and harness the gains of the negotiations by closely working on the consensus points as building blocks for a negotiated political settlement,” the manifesto reads.

Based on the Tripoli Agreement on Peace of 2001, a comprehensive compact shall be formulated after the parties have agreed on the issues of security, rehabilitation and development, and ancestral domain.

Since mid-2009, the crafting of a peace pact remains the only substantive agenda in the negotiating table.

“We are confident that both parties will not squander the long years of past negotiations by starting from scratch,” the peace advocates said.

The peace advocates point to some seven “peace outcomes” that they said government and rebel negotiators must bear in mind.

Principally, these include addressing the Bangsamoro aspiration for self-governance “in accordance with their distinct identity, culture, religion and way of life.”

The peace advocates also identified among the top outcomes instituting good governance, effective delivery of social services and fostering economic development “as soon as possible.”

Critique

“This is not the time for the parties to show off posturing or compete with each other’s intellectual prowess and superiority in terms of strategies and tactics in negotiation,” the peace advocates said.

They urged government to lay down its proposal “not only from the starting point but also up to the ending point in order to spare the parties from what could be an unnecessary guessing game.”

Earlier, the government panel said its so-called 3-in-1 proposal was only a starting point.

“It will save a lot of time and energies if the government panel… will respond squarely to the proposals of the MILF,” the peace advocates noted.

Turning to the MILF, the peace advocates criticized its panel for rejecting outright the government proposal.

They said it “was not faithful to the mutual understanding of the principals to fast-track the negotiations.”

“We urge the MILF to return to the negotiating table without pre-condition, extend the hand of dialogue and move heaven and earth in order to fulfill the political aspirations of the Bangsamoro people,” the peace advocates stressed.

Murad has said he would not allow rebel negotiators to meet their counterparts in the government if the latter did not revise its proposal.

Forward-looking

The NSCM especially asked government to put in place forward-looking measures that ensure a smooth peace transition.

Among others, the peace advocates wanted to see an activation of the government’s “Advisory Team especially those coming from the House of Congress and Senate and the Judiciary.”

They said it would be wise “that the other branches of government will already be on board and will hopefully cooperate in the eventual legitimatization process of the peace agreement.”

They also recommended the setting-up of a regular feedback mechanism and public consultations “that should be institutionalized in the local government units, national government agencies, including the legislative and judicial branches of government.”

The peace advocates said this is to prevent a repeat of the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA-AD) of 2008 which was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court because of, among others, lack of consultation.

A peace agreement that is “not only be signed but also implemented during the term of President Aquino… is the best legacy that the son of Cory and Ninoy… can give to the peoples in Mindanao,” the NSCM delegates said.