Saturday, September 06, 2008 Opposition rejects Nograles’s proposal
THE United Opposition (UNO) on Friday dismissed the suggestion of House Speaker Prospero Nograles that they should sit with the administration in a renewed negotiation with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
"On the suggestion by the House Speaker that the opposition join in the negotiations with the MILF, this proposal, which on the surface appears as a positive development, is ultimately unworkable," UNO spokesman Adel Tamano said.
"In order to have bona fide negotiations, the negotiator must fully trust his principal, in this case President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, which is something that the opposition and the vast majority of Filipinos are unable to do," Tamano added.
He said the possibility of a successful peace accord with the MILF under the current administration is very remote, and the peace process would do well to “better wait for a legitimate president in 2010,” when Mrs. Arroyo’s term ends.
He said the “element of trust has been wasted thus making it more difficult attaining positive results.” He added that the opposition as well as the vast majority of the Filipino people is unable to trust the Arroyo administration.
Further, Tamano pointed out that the poor credibility of President Arroyo and the number of scandals involving the Chief Executive and her husband Jose Miguel “Mike” Arroyo, "the MILF would be much better off waiting for 2010 in order to deal with a legitimate president with a fresh mandate whom they can deal with in full trust and confidence."
Earlier, Liberal Party president and Senator Manuel Roxas II rejected the proposal for him to lead the renewed peace negotiation, adding that the task belonged to the executive department.
Roxas, one of the critics of the government’s stance regarding the peace negotiation, said he was determined to contribute to peace in the southern Philippines, adding that he believed in peace just as he believed in economic and social justice.
“We should give to our Muslim brothers the support they are entitled to," he said.
"But we should also bring to justice those who violated the human rights of the people in Mindanao," he added.
Fighting erupted in the region when MILF rebels led by commanders Ameril Umbra Kato and Abdullah Macapaar alias Bravo went on a rampage attacking civilian communities and military installation after the botched signing early last month of the memorandum of agreement on ancestral domain (MOA-AD) in Kuala Lumpur.
The MOA-AD would have paved the way for the creation of the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity (BJE), an expanded version of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (Armm) that can only be carried out by amending the Constitution.
It provides for the inclusion of about 700 villages in the proposed BJE.
It would also have granted Muslims wider economic and political powers, including 75:25 sharing of wealth from exploitation of natural resources.
But the signing of the agreement was deferred after the Supreme Court (SC) issued a temporary restraining order based on the motion filed by local governments in the areas that will be included in the BJE led by North Cotabato Governor Manny Piñol. (AH/Sunnex)
