Thursday, June 19, 2008 Esperon's positive note on peace talks a cliché
THE Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) described the positive comments made by new Presidential Adviser on Peace Process Hermogenes Esperon Jr. on the government's peace negotiations with the Muslim secessionist group, as a cliche.
In a report posted in www.luwaran.com, the MILF said statements like "within a year," "in year's time," "soon," or "for the next couple of months" are words that have lost its original effectiveness due to overuse.
Khaled Musa, deputy chair of the MILF committee on information, said these are the same words uttered by Esperon in his media interviews lately.
Musa meanwhile hoped that Esperon "is not wishing for the star to fall, but mean well and real."
He said Esperon is new to the job and has no track record similar to his predecessor, Press Secretary Jesus Dureza.
"We just hope Esperon would follow the footsteps of former government chief peace negotiator, Silvestre Afable, who is highly respected in the MILF especially those whom he faced across the negotiating table," Musa said.
Musa reminded Esperon that the government legal study team has spent three months and 22 days just to look at the "legality and constitutionality" of the 49 or so consensus points on the four strands of ancestral domain, before they submitted their findings to the President and her Cabinet on June 15.
"How long President Arroyo and her Cabinet will examine the document?" Musa asked even as he reiterated the MILF position that the review results have no bearing on the MILF.
The MILF said it recognizes only those decisions reached across the negotiating table. (BOT)
