COTABATO CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Mar. 31, 2012) – The Philippines’ largest Muslim rebel group Moro Islamic Liberation Front is unlikely to sign any peace deal with Manila, saying negotiations that would put an end to bloody fighting in Mindanao is going nowhere.
“The peace talks are going nowhere and the Philippine government seems not committed in forging a long and lasting peace in Mindanao. We don’t know what will be the outcome of these peace talks. There is a grim outlook here,” Mohagher Iqbal, the MILF’s chief peace negotiator, told the Mindanao Examiner.
Peace talks are set to resume soon after both sides ended negotiations in March in Kuala Lumpur without any concrete agreement. Malaysia, a member of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, is brokering the peace talks.
The MILF is demanding a Muslim sub-state in the southern region similar to Malaysia, but Manila flatly rejected this and offered the five-province Muslim autonomous region in Mindanao.
“We will stick with our demand for a Muslim sub-state in Mindanao and nothing more,” Iqbal said.
Iqbal has said they are unlikely to sign any peace deal despite Manila’s earlier statement both sides may be able to ink an agreement that would settle decades-old insurgency in Mindanao.
“The greater fear is that we might not even sign it at all if we are not firm on our resolve to push hard in our negotiation. Sad to note, however, that within the first two years of the Aquino administration, we have not signed anything of great consequence that we can show to our people and the world that indeed there is big happening in the current peace negotiation,” Iqbal said.
Ghazali Jaafar, the MILF vice chairman for political affairs, also expressed pessimism about the peace talks with the Aquino government, saying negotiations have been going on for a long time now, but nothing concrete has been achieved, except for the cease-fire agreement.
“We are very doubtful now whether we can sign a peace deal with government under this present administration,” he said following a caucus with senior MILF leaders in Mindanao.
“The assessment of the political officers was the recently concluded peace talks between the Government of the Philippines and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in Malaysia was very disappointing. What the government peace panel headed by Marvic Leonen did in the last talks was never our immediate expectation which is the reason why we are very much disappointed,” Jaafar said.
Marvic Leonen, the government chief peace negotiator, insisted on the government offer to MILF. But the MILF said the proposal was not comprehensive, but rather a framework for the integration of the Muslims into the existing Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao which comprises the provinces of Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, Basilan, Maguindanao and Lanao.
“Integration is opposite to the aspiration of the Bangsamoro people for self-determination and self-governance. Integration coupled with massive development will not solve the problem. If the (peace) agreement is not reflective of the real aspiration of the Bangsamoro people, then it is an exercise in futility. The MILF will not sign an agreement that will not solve the problem because even if we signed an agreement that is beneficial to us, but not acceptable to our people then the struggle will go on. We are nothing if the Bangsamoro people will not support us,” Murad Ebrahim, the secluded MILF chieftain, said.
The MILF is fighting for decades now for self-determination in Mindanao. (Mindanao Examiner)
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