Bayan Muna Rep. Teddy Casiño warns on US interest in peace talks

Bayan Muna Rep. Teddy Casiño warned on Saturday that US interest in the peace talks between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) could end up in Washington interfering in Philippine affairs.

“Peace is doubtful with US meddling,” he said.

On Thursday, White House officials said the Obama administration would take up the conflict in Mindanao with the 57-member Organization of the Islamic Conference, which has been supporting the peace process.

“Though we want peace in Mindanao, the US should not use the current conflict to once again meddle in our internal affairs,” Casiño said in a statement.

He said the United States had long wanted to interfere in the peace process because of its economic, political and the military interests in Mindanao, given its rich resources and strategic location.

“There are those in the American government who would not mind an Islamic substate or even independent state carved from Mindanao, as long as it would be pro-US,” Casiño said, pointing to the aborted 2008 deal on ancestral domain.

In Cotabato City, MILF spokesperson Von Al Haq said there was nothing wrong in Washington’s concern about the Mindanao situation.

“Is it meddling? I believe it is not the case,” he said, adding that the MILF welcomed international participation in the resolution of the Moro conflict.

Al Haq said that for the MILF, what would constitute US meddling would be the deployment of US soldiers in the operation against MILF rebels. With reports from Orlando Dinoy and Jeoffrey Maitem, Inquirer Mindanao