Sunday, June 22, 2008 MILF: Gov't dragging the peace talks
THE Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) described government's approval of the draft proposal on the ancestral domain issue in Mindanao as another scheme of the government to make fool of the Moro rebels.
Calling it as a "paikut scheme," the MILF said the government is simply dragging the peace talks "inconclusively until President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo steps down in 2010 and passes on the legacy of war in Mindanao to the next president."
The government is proposing to submit to Congress at least six points in the said proposal for legislation before the whole memorandum of agreement (MOA) on ancestral domain can be implemented or enforceable.
These include the redefinition of the word "freedom," control over natural resources, including strategic minerals, self-governance, and territorial waters.
In a report posted at www.luwaran.com, Khaled Musa, deputy chairman of the MILF committee on information, said the MILF does not want the government to violate its Constitution by undertaking whatever necessary legal steps to implement any agreement with the MILF, but this should not be done on piece-by-piece basis.
"We can sign the memorandum on agreement on ancestral domain and then let the government undertake a constitutional process as its internal requirement to comply with commitment. That is perfectly good," Musa said, adding that there must be timetable to do that in order to have accountability and fixed timeline to comply.
Reacting to statements that the proposed draft practically sealed by the parties after the Malaysian chief facilitator made his last shuttle between Manila and Darapanan on February 19 to 22, 2008 is "unconstitutional," Musa retorted: "Even ordinary resolutions presented to Congress are unconstitutional until they are passed into law. How much more for agreement, which is extra-constitutional right at the start."
He also cited the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) with the United States of America, saying before it was ratified, it was not constitutional.
Musa urged the government and its leaders to be fair enough and open their eyes and use their good senses to look around and see for models around the world, in Northern Ireland, in Sudan, in Bougainville, and even in Aceh, Indonesia.
"Why can Sudan do this thing and the Philippines can't, because the Sudan government is Muslim and the Philippines Christian?" he asked. (BOT)
