Monday, October 01, 2007 MILF wants peace process included in national agenda
THE largest Islamic armed group in the country has renewed calls for the government to include the peace process in the national agenda, a rebel leader said.
Muhammad Ameen, chairman of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) secretariat, in a statement said the peace process policy of the Arroyo administration involves only a "monolithic approach."
"It lacks the active support of the legislative branch or Congress," he said.
Ameen asked the Philippine government--composed of the co-equal branches of the Executive, the Judiciary, and the Legislative-- to treat the peace talks as a "grand national agenda."
Ameen, who first made the call late last month, also urged the government to make the peace process a multilateral agenda involving all the political parties, especially the ruling party and the dominant opposition.
He observed that "by just being an executive agenda," the peace process "is being viewed by the other political parties with political color and therefore invites criticism from them."
When the MILF and government peace negotiators signed the 29 consensus points on ancestral domain aspect of the Tripoli Agreement of 2001, especially the future Bangsamoro Juridical Entity (BJE) some legislators and local executives lambasted the deal as a "sell-out" of the national territory, the statement said.
It cited two of the "harshest critics" of the peace process as Zamboanga City Mayor Lorenzo Lobregat and former North Cotabato governor Emmanuel Piñol.
The GRP-MILF peace talks remained stalled since September 2006 over the issue of territory. The rebels rejected the proposal of the government that areas under a Bangsamoro state be subjected to a plebiscite.
Possible resumption of peace negotiations this month is most unlikely, according to one member of the MILF panel who was not named in the statement.
The panel member cited no reason for the delay, it added.
But he said Arroyo wanted a resumption of the talks but the new government peace panel chairman, Secretary Rodolfo Garcia, "appeared hesitant without a clear mandate from the government on how to resolve the issue of territory."
In Isulan, Sultan Kudarat province, National Peace Adviser and Presidential Assistant for Mindanao Jesus Dureza last week said the government is working for the resumption of stalled negotiations.
Yet, he did not give a definite date when exactly the two parties would sit down at the negotiating table.
"We have people in the government moving for the continuation of the peace negotiations," assured Mr. Dureza, who was in Isulan town for a peace forum.
