Negotiator still upbeat on finalizing peace deal

Chief government negotiator Miriam Coronel-Ferrer. INQUIRER PHOTO / GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE

MANILA, Philippines–The chief government peace negotiator on Monday said the clash between police forces and Moro rebels was a “temporary setback” and should not derail the swift passage of a law allowing the formation of a Bangsamoro region in Mindanao.

“We’re both heavily invested in this. This unfortunate incident is grave, it’s terrible. But there are bigger causes and bigger objectives that we need to pursue, which is the total transformation of the situation,” Miriam Coronel-Ferrer said in an interview.

Ferrer spoke to reporters after a Senate hearing on the constitutionality of the draft Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) as accounts emerged of Sunday’s encounter in Maguindanao province that left at least 64 members of the Philippine National Police Special Action Force dead.

“This is not the first time we had this temporary setback,” she said. “We don’t stop just because we have this setback. We see greater reason why we need to strengthen the security mechanism and address criminality … as well as legislating the Bangsamoro Basic Law.”

“We trust in the shared intention of both houses [of Congress] in seeing through a new law that will transform that part of our country,” she said.

Ferrer agreed that the clash broke the ceasefire agreement with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), but that this had been restored.

“They were able to reinstate ceasefire. Everybody held back their fire except those who are not covered by the ceasefire agreement,” she said.

Otherwise, this was a police matter, she said.

Through channels, Ferrer said, the government and the MILF had assured each other that the incident should not stop them from pursuing the establishment of a Bangsamoro region in Mindanao.

“There’s coordination now on really minimizing the damage and also restoring the mechanisms so these things won’t happen again,” she said.

Congress is racing against time in passing a draft law setting up the Bangsamoro region, replacing the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, so this could be ratified in October, and the region’s new officials elected in May 2016.

Ferrer said the government and the MILF were pushing ahead next week with the signing of a protocol on the decommissioning of combatants and weapons in Kuala Lumpur.

Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago doubted the clash would affect the passage of the BBL.

Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who conducted public hearings on BBL in Mindanao as chair of the chamber’s local government committee, canceled two hearings in Zamboanga and Jolo set next month following the clash.

“I’m reaching out to the leadership of the MILF to tell me how exactly this happened and how will this affect what we are doing. Because it is very difficult to negotiate a peace process when one party is still at war. And I think the very first premise is that we lay our guns down, we talk, we come to an agreement and we implement that agreement,” he said.

He said the clash could delay the passage of the draft law.

“This does not help, that’s for sure. And I do not know precisely what exactly what would happen next. I would really depend on our discussions with the MILF and with the national government on what stance to take,” he said.

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