MANILA (Mindanao Examiner / Oct. 10, 2012) – Saying that they had had enough of the tragedies of war, the five governors of the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) have declared their all-out support behind President Aquino’s initiatives to forge peace with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
In a media statement released by the Office of the Presidential Peace Adviser, it said the ARMM governors said they were optimistic that the Framework Agreement forged by government with the MILF would provide the “ road map for lasting peace in Mindanao.”
They stressed that government should never again adopt the “all-out war” policy because “it will never be a solution” to the decades-old Mindanao armed conflict.
“We, the ARMM provincial governors, support this Framework Agreement reached between the Aquino government with the MILF because it will peacefully resolve the armed conflict in Mindanao through democratic process and constitutional ways. It is not like the ‘all-out-war’ policy which solves nothing and merely prolongs conflict and causes deaths,” said Sulu Gov. Sakur Tan. “We should learn lessons from the past.”
Tan said there was “nothing to worry or fear in the Framework Agreement which is a roadmap for an inclusive and transparent peace process being pursued now by the Daang Matuwid (good governance) policy of President Aquino,” he added.
“The rights of the people will be respected and they will be asked in a plebiscite. The process (of replacing ARMM with Bangsamoro) will be very democratic. It will pass constitutional test,” said Tan.
The other ARMM governors are Maguindanao Gov. Esmael “Toto” Mangudadatu, Lanao del Sur Gov. Mamintal Adiong, Basilan Gov. Jum Akbar and Tawi-Tawi Gov. Sadikul Sahali.
Tan said he and his fellow ARMM governors were “optimistic of the efforts of both the government and MILF to achieve just and lasting peace in Mindanao. “We will monitor the developments in the peace process,” he said.
For his part, Adiong said his constituents in Lanao del Sur were happy with the peace initiatives, “because the Framework Agreement will pave the way for solving the (armed conflict) problem in Mindanao.”
“We fully trust President Aquino and we support the Framework Agreement with the MILF. This is good because it will pave the way for peace in ARMM,” he added. “We don’t want the repeat of the all-out-war that happened in 2000 that severely affected our region. To move forward, we want the Framework Agreement to succeed because its end goal is to usher peace and development in the autonomous region.”
Tan said there was positive feedback from the public on the proposed creation of a Transition Commission that will draft the Basic Law for the Bangsamoro as provided for in the peace agreement.
“The Transition Commission is a good idea because it will be manned by people in ARMM, unlike before where the (creation of the ARMM Organic Act) was done by people who are not from ARMM. So this is good,” the Sulu governor explained.
Tan revealed that ARMM governors were not surprised by the President’s announcement on the Framework Agreement “because we were part of a series of consultations conducted by the government panel on the peace process.”
Tan said the ARMM governors joined the 28th GPH-MILF formal exploratory talks held last May in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to observe the negotiation process between the two parties. It was a month after the signing of the Decision Points on Principles was made public and stated that the Parties agreed on a creation of a new autonomous political entity that will replace the ARMM, Tan said.
Meanwhile, ARMM Officer-in-charge Regional Governor Mujiv Hataman said “ARMM officials hailed the announcement of Aquino of the Framework Agreement by the government and MILF that would pave the way to the region’s new political entity named the Bangsamoro.”
Affirming his support to the peace process, Hataman said that “since we took office December of last year, the regional government has been very supportive of the ongoing peace talks between the government and the MILF.”
“In fact, the current regional government has noted, several times, that it is willing to serve as a transitional government in case a peace pact is inked in the near future,” he added.
Hataman said the “reforms that are being undertaken in the region are also geared towards helping the government and the MILF eradicate the problems on corruption, poverty, and an unstable peace and order situation.
“We also call on our people, the ARMM constituents, to support the ongoing talks, to rally behind the idea of having a Mindanao free of conflict and violence,” Hataman said.
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