Friday, August 29, 2008 Speak out: Mindanao conflict By Alvin Dizon Akbayan Citizens’ Action Party
THE resumption of hostilities in Mindanao must immediately stop.
Communities affected by the conflict should be assisted and restored to their homes. Both the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) must do everything necessary to restart the stalled peace talks.
We condemn in the strongest terms the atrocities committed against the people and communities in Lanao del Norte, Maguindanao, Shariff Kabunsuan, North Cotabato, Sarangani, Basilan and other areas of conflict.
We call for an independent and impartial investigation of said atrocities and the prosecution of guilty parties under International Humanitarian Law and an independent tribunal.
We call on the forces of MILF and the government to respect International Humanitarian Law and to use their political authority to ensure that civilians are protected.
We also call for the immediate disarmament of so-called civilian volunteer organizations and paramilitary groups, the intervention of which only deepens the conflict and violence in areas affected by the hostilities.
Negotiation
We affirm that peace in Mindanao cannot be achieved through war.
The solution to the Mindanao conflict is fundamentally political, achieved not by warfare but through principled negotiations, political will, and addressing deep social and historical injustices against the Bangsamoro and native inhabitants of
Mindanao, Sulu and Palawan.
The MOA-AD provides a good starting point for a deeper and more exhaustive dialogue on the substantive issues of historic rights, territory, resources, and governance mechanisms that will be crafted in the immediate future.
The MILF and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) must go back to the negotiating table.
Both sides have to avoid any action that compromises the possibility of the immediate restoration of order in Mindanao and restricts the space for a long-term and peaceful solution to the Mindanao conflict.
We urge both parties to re-institute the ceasefire agreement and extend the term of the International Monitoring Team whose tour of duty ends on Aug. 31, 2008.
The coming of Ramadan, a month of fasting and praying of the
Muslim Ummah this September, should be respected by silencing the guns of war.
The controversy surrounding the content and process of crafting the Memorandum on Agreement on the Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) by the Peace Panels has been exacerbated by an escalation of rhetoric.
Diplomacy
We call for sobriety and sensitivity in light of the heightening tension and violence in Mindanao.
1. We call on all local governments to fully support the peace negotiations, to be circumspect and avoid inflammatory statements that tend to agitate communities and peoples of different persuasions.
2. We call on the Catholic Church and religious leaders of various faiths to promote peace based on justice and reconciliation and renounce biases based on religious sectarianism.
3. We call on the media to be sensitive and objective in their reporting of the resumption of hostilities and become instruments of peace.
4. We call on the international donor community and embassies to exercise their moral suasion and use of diplomacy to bring both parties to the negotiating table.
5. We call on all stakeholders in Mindanao to come together for a real dialogue with the end view of discussing, discerning, sharing, and putting forward their insights into the proposed MOA-AD.
6. We call on all Filipinos to be more aware and sensitive to the plight of the Bangsamoro and Mindanaoans.
