Monday, January 15, 2007 Moro rebel group hails Arroyo's speech at Asean gab By Ben O. Tesiorna
THE Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) expressed a positive view on the peace efforts when President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo announced to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) the government-MILF peace talks as a "model of cooperation."
Muhammad Ameen, chair of the Front's Central Committee Secretariat, said "Arroyo's optimism for the peace process is helping a lot in generating more international interests to bring the talks to a successful conclusion."
He was reacting favorably to Arroyo's speech before Asean leaders wherein she said that, "from the Filipino point of view, I believe we bring that focus in our own peace model in Mindanao as an example of how nations working together can make positive things happen."
In her opening statement at the Asean leaders retreat Saturday at the Mactan Shangri-la Hotel in Cebu City, Arroyo thanked the leaders who have been helping in the peace process in Mindanao.
"I want to reiterate my thanks to the Asean leaders who have been helping in the success of the Philippine model for dealing with the flashpoint area of Mindanao," Arroyo said.
She said confidence-building measures have been put in place through inter-faith dialogues and cultural awareness, investments in infrastructure, and mutual security arrangements with the secessionist group.
President Arroyo said the peace process was being advanced with the help of international organizations and governments including Sweden, European Union, Japan, Malaysia, Libya, Indonesia, Brunei, and other countries of the Organization of Islamic Conference.
Some of these countries have representatives to the international team monitoring the ceasefire agreement between the government and the MILF.
"This broad-based coalition is working to keep the peace, isolate general security threats and promote the economic well-being of Muslim and Christian residents of Mindanao," she said.
"This is a model setting of positive example. It is something we all wish to share with the rest of the world. It will lead to a permanent peace in Mindanao," added Arroyo.
Ameen however said it is too early to sound very optimistic because "the government-MILF peace talks is passing through a difficult phase, given the difficult nature of the territory strand of ancestral domain aspect of the Tripoli Agreement of 2001."
"Everybody wants to celebrate the signing but it is still time to work to overcome all the obstacles in the talks," he said.
The government and MILF peace panels have subdivided ancestral domain into four strands namely, concept, territory, resources, and governance.
They have already signed 29 consensus points on the four strands, but are now locked up in debates on the implementing details of the consensus points.
The consensus points are mere sets of principles, which the parties are trying to provide detail mechanism for implementation.
Currently, the peace talks are at an impasse and resumption is yet to be set by both negotiating panels.
