ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Sept. 3, 2012) – Government peace talks with Muslim rebels in the southern Philippines are gaining headway and Filipino officials called on citizens to support the negotiations.
Officials said they expect a major breakthrough in the negotiations with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the country’s largest Muslim rebel group fighting for self-determination in Mindanao.
Director Pollu Michelle Cunanan, a spokeswoman for Presidential peace adviser Teresita Deles, in a statement sent to the regional newspaper Mindanao Examiner, said the Aquino government is “positive that a peace agreement with the MILF is in the offing within the year and that the accord will be acceptable to all stakeholders in Mindanao.”
“The government’s peace initiatives with the MILF are gaining headway and now is the time for Filipinos to support the peace process so they can help shape the nation’s peace history,” she said in a talk with journalists in Manila.
Under the Aquino administration’s Daang Matuwid good governance program, our peace gains on various fronts have been building up, including the current peace negotiations with MILF,” Cunanan said.
“We have a President who is truly committed to attaining peace. The Aquino government is hoping to sign an agreement with the MILF within the year,” Cunanan added.
She said both peace panels are moving forward in crafting a possible agreement that would end bloody fighting in Mindanao.
“Now is the time for Filipinos to participate and extend their all-out support for the government’s resolve to bring a just and lasting solution to the decades-old armed conflicts in the country,” Cunanan said.
“As Filipinos, we need to be united amidst diversity. This is the best time to take part in the peace process, study it and participate in achieving our goal of attaining peace,” Cunanan said. “An equitable, just and lasting peace cannot be attained in Mindanao without the support of all the stakeholders in the area,” she added.
The MILF is demanding for the establishment of a sub-state in Mindanao and both sides agreed to the creation of a new political entity that would replace the existing Muslim autonomous region which is composed of Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, Maguindanao and Lanao provinces, including the cities of Lamitan and Marawi. (Mindanao Examiner)
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