Arroyo adds 2 new peace panel members

PRESIDENT Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has named two new members of the government peace negotiating panel with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

Grace Rebollos and Antonio La Viña will take the posts of the two panel members who resigned recently.

Rebollos is a peace-building expert and educator from Mindanao while La Viña is a dean of the Ateneo School of Government.

Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Annabelle Abaya said Rebollos has worked with various non-government organizations (NGOs), including a stint East Timor.

As a development worker, Rebollos is involved conducting seminars on culture of peace and conflict transformation.

Aside from being a law professor, La Viña meanwhile is a known environment advocate and has written a number of books, reports, and articles on climate change, ecosystem management, and conflict and development, among others.

He has also worked with different government agencies and international groups in pursuing his advocacy for the environment

Abaya said Rebollos and La Viña replaced lawyer-businessman Tomas Cabili and General Santos City Mayor Adel Antonino who recently quit as GRP panel members.

Cabili’s resignation was allegedly due to his reflection that the government and MILF are “not genuinely undertaking an honest to goodness consultations” on issues concerning the peace talks.

He also pointed out problem in transparency in the negotiation process, which makes their effort in achieving peace futile.

Antonino, on the other hand, resigned two months ahead from Cabili citing similar observations of not achieving genuine peace talks.

Cabili was the Christian representative in the peace panel while Antonino represented the local government units (LGUs) and the business sector.

The five-man government peace panel negotiating with the MILF is headed by Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Rafael Seguis.

Dialogue Mindanaw

In other developments, Abaya said the recent consultations with different sectors in the country have put a necessary impetus to the resolution of the decades-old Mindanao conflict.

In an interview with Sun.Star, Abaya said the preliminary results of the “Dialogue Mindanaw” showed that the Filipinos have a clamor for consultations and dialogue on the ongoing peace process between the government and the MILF.

“We are really overwhelmed with the inputs and comments that the different sectors in various parts of the country have given to this initiative. Though it’s early to conclude but we can acknowledge that the people’s support to the sealing of lasting peace in Mindanao is swelling. People are more interested, more than ever, to know the root causes and of course give opinions or suggestions with regards to the peace process,” Abaya said.

She added that her office was only able to present initial findings due to delayed transmission of results from power crisis-hit Mindanao.

The consultations, which started last January and ended in Bongao, Tawi Tawi on March 15, had an estimated 4,158 participants during the two-month period, said Dialogue Mindanaw adviser Fr. Albert Alejo.

The number excludes the facilitators from seven partner-universities nationwide, he added.

“What is important here is that the people think. This is not a debate on which approach is better or not. The objective here is to consolidate information from various sectors and at the same time inform them on the issues surrounding the Mindanao conflict.”

Aside from information dissemination and securing feedback, the other objectives include creating a venue for the expression of sentiments on the issues and create interest and participation in the prospective GRP-MILF talks.

“We have to remember that in every day that there’s no peace, somebody dies (due to armed encounters),” he added.

The preliminary results meanwhile highlighted the following points:

* clamor for sincerity and transparency on the peace process
* holistic approach of the peace process
* inclusion of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and Lumad concerns
* effective dissemination of the results

“The dialogues have been instrumental in answering queries from different sectors with regard to the conflict. The questions ranged from what’s the difference between the MNLF and MILF up to the salient points of the proposals of the two peace panels,” Alejo said.

Abaya added that the opinions, proposals and other views received during the consultations will be consolidated and presented to the government peace panel negotiating with the MILF for consideration.

The peace adviser said the final results will be announced to media on April and copies will be handed to the peace panels.

“On the first week of April, we will convene the regional management teams, analyze the data and inform the media and of course the peace panels to take into consideration the inputs (of the dialogues),” Abaya said.

Aside from Jolo, the other areas where it conducted dialogues are Zamboanga City, Davao City, Cotabato City, Bacolod City, Koronadal City, Puerto Princesa City, Cagayan de Oro City, San Mateo in Rizal, Baguio City, Iligan City, Butuan City and Jolo, Sulu.

The participants include representatives from the local government units (LGUs), non-government organizations, religious, business, fisherfolk and farmers, women and youth, Christians, Lumads, and Muslims.

Abaya said the culmination of the “reflective dialogues” opens opportunities to work on to achieve peace in the troubled region.

Experts said the peace pact would eventually end decades of in-fighting in southern Mindanao. More than 120,000 people have died in repeated clashes with government troops that stalled economic progress.

The 11,000-strong MILF has been fighting for self-rule in the Muslim-dominated region. The Malaysian-brokered talks hit a constitutional snag in 2008 after the failed signing of an expanded Muslim homeland agreement (Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain).

Both camps however resumed talks this January after a year-long impasse, with an interim peace deal now in the works as the Arroyo administration conceded the securing of a final peace draft to the next government citing time constraints. (Jill Beltran/Virgil Lopez/Sunnex)