ILIGAN CITY, Philippines—Peace advocates are not giving up hope that the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) will be able to implement the peace agreement that they signed a year ago.
“There is every reason to push on with peace,” Lisa Ugay of Mindanao Solidarity Network said in an interview in Maguindanao.
Civil society groups led by Balay Rehabilitation Center, United Youth of the Philippines, Women and Moro Youth for Peace, marked the first anniversary of the signing of the peace deal on Friday with a psychosocial debriefing session among children evacuees in Maguindanao.
Still in shelters
“It’s ironic that we observe the CAB’s anniversary in an evacuation center. With the peace pact, we thought we are saying goodbye to this feature of life in central Mindanao; but here we are in this situation all over again,” lamented Ugay who, last year, was among the civil society representatives standing as witnesses to the signing of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) in Malacañang.
“However, this situation all the more proves that there is still much to be done to make peace take root in the conflict-affected communities. So, we still push on,” Ugay said.
More than 120,000 people have been displaced in Maguindanao due to the military’s all-out offensive against the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), which is believed to have coddled Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli binHir, alias “Marwan,” and his Filipino associate Basit Usman.
Marwan was killed by police commandos in an operation in Mamasapano, Maguindanao province, on Jan. 25, but Usman and another Malaysian-born terrorist, Amin Baco, escaped.
Forty-four Special Action Force commandos, 17 guerrillas from the MILF and three civilians died in a daylong gun battle that ended the secret police counterterrorism mission.
Going back home
Many families have started to go back to their communities as the military has scaled down the operation against the BIFF.
The military launched the offensive against the BIFF to get Usman and Baco.
“The Mamasapano tragedy had proven our vulnerability as a diverse society when deep respect and understanding of each other are still very fragile. Despite the advances, the current events are a stark reminder of the vulnerability of the peace process, especially when we are still halfway done,” the Mindanao Peace Weavers coalition said in a statement.
“We mark it (signing of the CAB) not simply because a year had passed but because a year gave us the chance to deepen our humanity. Hence, today, we draw strength in this journey on how we persevered and achieved the incremental gains of talking to each other all throughout the years,” it added.
The coalition noted that one year on, “we are still trying to bounce back after a string of setbacks we faced as a people, as a country from the circuitous route of legalization through the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), to the kind of legal scrutiny done by Congress as exemplified by some of its esteemed members who pounced the principals with issues in the BBL they can hang on to.”
Threat to peace
Lawyer Mary Ann Arnado, spokesperson for Mindanao Peoples Caucus, criticized politicians who threaten to scuttle the peace process.
“As Christians and Mindanawons, we cannot afford to simply allow the politicians to determine the kind of future that we and our children will have in Mindanao. We cannot afford to take back the hope that the CAB offers to our people,” Arnado said in a commentary published online.
“We cannot allow the call for peace in Mindanao to die in the hands of these senators, congressmen and bloodthirsty [journalists]. We need to stand and be counted in this major legislative work that will define our immediate future and the future of our children in Mindanao,” she added.
“The peace agreement is alive today because the Muslims, Christians and indigenous peoples have walked hand in hand to give birth to a peace agreement that will finally put closure to the armed conflict. Now, that peace agreement is facing slow death in the hands of our politicians who largely represent the interests of the status quo,” she added.
Stronger BBL
Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Teresita Quintos-Deles on Friday also expressed hope that the peace process “will emerge stronger despite recent challenges it faced particularly after the tragic Mamasapano incident.”
“I admit we are bruised and feeling battered but we are here to proclaim we still stand firm (in pushing the peace process),” Deles said at a book-launching event in Manila that marked the first anniversary of the signing of the peace agreement.
Deles admitted that the “past two months are psychologically and physically battering,” but added that the “outpouring” support for the peace process affirmed the negotiators took the right track.
“The results will be a stronger process and a stronger BBL with more people on board,” she said.