Marvic Leonen, head of the Philippine peace panel negotiating peace with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, and Presidential peace adviser Teresita Deles during an interview with journalists in Zamboanga City in Mindanao on Friday, May 18, 2012. Manila hopes to sign a comprehensive peace agreement with the country’s largest separatist Muslim rebel group this year. (Mindanao Examiner)
ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / May 18, 2012) – The Philippines on Friday expressed renewed optimism that it would be able to sign a peace accord with the country’s largest Muslim rebel group Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
The MILF is fighting for self-determination in Mindanao where security forces are battling Muslim and communist insurgents.
“We are hoping to sign a comprehensive peace agreement with the MILF this year,” Marvic Leonen, the chief government peace negotiator, told journalists in Zamboanga City
Leonen arrived in Zamboanga City
He said President Benigno Aquino wanted to sign a peace accord early with the MILF early so the government can immediately focus its peace and development efforts in the mineral-rich, but troubled region of Mindanao .
“”It is better to sign the peace accord sooner than later. We don’t want to sign it on the last minute of the President’s term (in 2016) and then let the next administration fulfill this (accord),” Leonen said.
Last month, peace negotiators signed the “10 Decision Points on Principle” in Malaysia, which is brokering the talks, and included in the agreement is the creation of a new autonomous political entity that would replace the existing Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao comprising the provinces of Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, Maguindanao and Lanao.
The MILF said the new autonomous region is actually a Muslim sub-state, but the detail of how this would be governed is yet to be defined.
Mohagher Iqbal, the MILF chief peace negotiator, said: “(Just like) the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity, (the) sub-state, New Autonomous Political entity” (as termed by Philippine government) are descriptions, not specific names. In the end, the two (Philippines
Iqbal said peace talks would resume this month in Malaysia
But Leonen insisted that what was agreed upon by the peace panels is only an autonomous region and not Muslim sub-state. “We can only sign what we can deliver and that is the instruction of the President,” he said. “Whatever agreement we shall sign should not be an appeasement, but rather to address the problems of Mindanao .”
When asked if Manila would ask Congress to change the Constitution to allow the shift from the current Presidential form of government to Parliamentary, or amend or pass a law similar to Republic Act No. 6734, also known as the Organic Act, that created the ARMM in 1989, Leonen said “a plebiscite is likely to be held in areas covered by the new autonomous region.”
Deles, for her part, said government is committed to the peace process and to pursue peace and development efforts in Mindanao .
“The President is committed to resolving the problems in Mindanao and we wanted to sign a peace agreement with the MILF soon so we may achieve true and lasting peace and purse development in the region,” she said.
Murad Ebrahim, the secluded chieftain of the MILF, said the transition mechanism of the new autonomous political entity will translate the rebel group’s political aspirations into pragmatism and how these would lead to the actual empowerment of the Muslims to exercise self-governance is part of the larger agenda.
The MILF has previously said it would not sign a peace deal unless the Aquino government agrees to its demand for a Muslim sub-state in Mindanao . (Mindanao Examiner)
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