Thursday, September 29, 2005
Maxey: Peace pact
By Ram Maxey
Bar None
"There is nothing wrong with peace that is anchored on justice and trust. Let's get on with it".
THE Arroyo administration says that a peace pact with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) will be signed by the end of 2005.
MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu says the MILF is in no hurry to sign a peace pact.
What gives?
According to Kabalu, the MILF has learned a lesson from the 1996 peace agreement between the government and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), several provisions of which have remained unimplemented.
"We do not want to end up like the MNLF wherein questions and problems arise along the way when it comes to the actual implementation of the agreement," Kabalu said.
He has a point there, although he failed to state what those provisions are that the national government has failed to carry out. This leaves the general public in a quandary. The Filipino people have a right to know the reasons why the 1996 peace agreement did not turn out to be the final solution to the Moro problem.
One cannot fault the MILF if it has its misgivings about the ongoing peace talks in the light of the failed 1996 peace pact. This time around, both sides have signified their willingness to sit down across each other at the negotiation table and thresh out the contentious issues that stand in the way of a final agreement.
In the pursuit of a lasting peace through negotiation, sincerity, diplomacy and a willingness to see and understand the problem from the point of view of the opposite side and forge a compromise thereby are the ingredients of a lasting peace pact.
Perhaps, the Arroyo government's pronouncement that an agreement will be signed by year's end is a bit too optimistic, considering the contentious issues that are still unresolved--and the MILF's misgivings.
Still, better late than never, as they say. Too much blood has been shed, too many families forced to flee once peaceful communities, too much time wasted in a protracted and seemingly endless armed conflict.
There is nothing wrong with peace that is anchored on justice and trust. Let's get on with it.
For Bisaya stories from Davao. Click here. (September 29, 2005 issue)
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