Sunday, December 21, 2008 MILF ready to start peace talks with gov't
THE Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) urged the National Government to reconstitute its peace panel as calls for a resumption of the stalled peace process mount.
Eid Kabalu, MILF spokesperson, said the front's peace panel is ready to restart talks to stabilize the situation in conflict-affected areas.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo recently appointed Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Rafael E. Seguis as head of the peace panel. However, the government peace panel still has to compose its members.
Arroyo abolished the peace panel headed by retired military general Rodolfo C. Garcia in September.
Kabalu said peace talks cannot resume if the government has an incomplete panel. Malaysia brokered the peace talks that collapsed after the Supreme Court (SC) declared the controversial memorandum of ancestral domain unconstitutional.
"We are not interested in the personalities that would compose the government's peace panel. What is important is that they will have the mandate to negotiate with us," Kabalu said in a radio interview.
He described Seguis as a "good choice" to head the government peace panel, citing the latter's vast experience in diplomatic work.
Seguis has served as the Philippine Ambassador to Indonesia, East Timor, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Iraq and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.
"He is very qualified for the job," Executive Secretary Eduardo R. Ermita said in an earlier statement announcing the appointment of Seguis.
In the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (Armm), Governor Zaldy U. Ampatuan has recommended his executive secretary, Oscar A. Sampulna Sr., as a member of the peace panel.
Ampatuan said that President Arroyo wants the Armm government to take an active role in the peace process.
Once peace negotiations resume, Kabalu said the front would refrain from discussing disarmament, aside from demobilization and rehabilitation, which the government peace panel as ordered by Arroyo would pursue.
"Disarmament should be discussed only when there is already a peace agreement in place," he noted.
Kabalu added that laying down of firearms after forging a peace agreement would "prevent the flare up of new hostilities."
This developed as three governors of Central Mindanao -- Suharto T. Mangudadatu of Sultan Kudarat, Miguel Rene A. Dominguez of Sarangani and Jesus N. Sacadalan of North Cotabato -- called on the government to restart amity talks with the Moro rebels.
Mangudadatu said the Regional Peace and Order Council, which he chairs, supports the southern peace process, noting that stability is vital to attract further investments to the island. (BSS)
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