Monday, September 01, 2008 Gov: Emano's plan to talk with MILF not 'effective' By Annabelle Ricalde
GOVERNOR Oscar Moreno said the move by Vice Mayor Vicente Emano to hold separate talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to end the fighting in Mindanao will not be "effective".
Moreno issued the statement after Emano proposed that he and Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte will talk to the MILF leadership on how to end the fighting in Central Mindanao and Lanao del Norte.
Emano's proposal got an endorsement from the Cagayan de Oro City Council, which said that both Emano and Duterte "have the necessary credentials and necessary experience to help pacify the tensions."
The vice mayor even offered holding the peace talks in Cagayan de Oro.
But Moreno said changing the government negotiators midstream at the height of the crisis will not be effective.
"It's true that the decade-old conflict really affect the people of entire Mindanao including the Province of Misamis Oriental, but I think it's difficult to localize it and it will not be effective," Moreno told reporters.
Changing the Philippine government peace negotiators is the sole prerogative of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Moreno said.
Hermogenes Esperon earlier thumbed down the proposal of Emano, saying the government will not likely revamp the current line-up of government negotiators.
"It is good that everyone is interested to join this conflict. But the role of peace negotiators can only be assumed by the few who have been on the talks long enough that only them have the full grasp of the Moro problem," Esperon told Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro in a phone interview.
"It is unwise to change horses in midstream. The present panel members will stay unless the President replaces them," he added.
