Wednesday, August 06, 2008 MILF: Agreement is binding By Froilan Gallardo
THE Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) is binding despite the issuance of a temporary restraining order (TRO) by the Supreme Court (SC) on the eve of its supposed signing, the MILF chief negotiator said Tuesday.
Mohagher Iqbal, MILF chief negotiator, said the MILF and the Philippine government already signed the agreement last July 27. He said what should have happened Tuesday in Putrajaya, Malaysia was "a matter of formality."
"But even without this ceremony, the document is already legally binding on the parties," Iqbal said on their website.
The agreement was signed by Iqbal and Secretary Rodolfo Garcia, Philippine Government chief peace negotiator, and Secretary Hermogenes Esperon of the Office of the Presidential Assistant on the Peace Process (Opapp).
This is the first time in the post-colonial history of the Philippines, wherein the government finally recognizes the Bangsamoro as distinct people with their own homeland to govern themselves.
Datuk Othman bin Abdulrazak, the chief peace facilitator of the Malaysian government, had been brokering the 11-year-old peace talks between the MILF and the government.
The Tripoli Agreement signed by the Philippine government and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), only recognized the Moro rights to "some areas in Mindanao for autonomy."
"We have initialed the text of the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral domain last July 27, 2008. The pact is a done deal. It is binding on the contracting parties who are obliged to refrain from acts that would defeat the object and purpose of their agreement," Iqbal said.
Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo pledged to convince politicians to drop their opposition to the accord aimed to ending the 40-years conflict that has killed more than 120,000 people, displaced two million residents, mostly Muslims, and kept the most resource-rich region of the country dirt poor.
Romulo, who flew to Malaysia for the ceremony, said the government was "very confident that eventually, hopefully soon, we should be able to return" to Malaysia to sign the accord.
"Eventually all the stakeholders will be familiar with the provisions," he told reporters. "They will understand... that it is for the good of all, for the peace, stability and development of the region."
Malaysia called on the Philippine government and the MILF to maintain peace in southern Philippines despite the TRO issued by the Supreme Court.
"There ought not to be violence," Malaysian Foreign Minister Rais Yatim told reporters in Malaysia's administrative capital, Putrajaya.
Expressing his disappointment over the halting of the landmark deal, Rais said he hoped that it was a "purely temporary impasse."
"This is a set back which should be overcome soon," he said.
Ill-informed
Lawyer Musib, MILF peace panel member, said the SC "may have been ill-informed as to what actually transpired."
"The MOA is a product of a long process of tedious negotiations and took about four years. This has been reviewed and discussed by both parties," he said.
Datu Michael Mastura, a senior member of the MILF panel, said the law on treaties says the agreement is binding on both parties and it is the duty of both parties to refrain from doing any act that would defeat the purpose of the agreement.
"The memorandum of agreement which was supposed to be signed today is... within the constitutional authority and within the legal authority," Romulo said.
"We stand by that, that is why we are confident our supreme court will find this to be resolved," he said.
Iqbal said the "initialing" of the ancestral domain agreement between the parties already "constitutes a signature of the Philippine government and MILF."
He said the "initialing was in fact done with a credible third party witness, the Malaysian government as facilitator of the talks since 2001."
"Adhering to diplomatic practice, the MILF peace panel and the GRP peace panel exchange the agreed on text to establish their consent," Iqbal said.
Iqbal said the Supreme Court TRO "is a product of the ongoing political intramurals within the GRP; therefore it is not binding on the MILF, which is a revolutionary liberation organization of the Bangsamoro people."
"The MILF gained a significant moral and political victory in this latest chapter of its historic struggle to resolve the conflict in Mindanao on the negotiating table. From such a victory, the MILF, as its policy dictates, will still pursue the peace process to bring an end to the conflict without, however, losing sight of alternative means to achieve freedom and justice for the Bangsamoro people," Iqbal said.
Iqbal said it is the Arroyo administration, which is shamed before the international community who sent their ambassadors to the Malaysian capital to witness the signing Tuesday, only to be told that it is cancelled at the last minute.
Among those foreign dignitaries already in Kuala Lumpur are US ambassador to the Philippines Kristie Kenney and Ambassador Sayed ElMasry, adviser to Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) Secretary General and Special Envoy for Peace Process in Southern Philippines.
Manila-based ambassadors of the United States, Japan and Australia also arrived in Malaysia Tuesday. (With Sunnex/AP)
