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Monday, June 18, 2007
MILF wary to talk peace with priest
Says it is not too comfortable with the prospect of talking peace with a priest
Fr. Eliseo Mercado takes over as chair of the government's negotiating panel dealing with MILF
DAVAO CITY – The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) said Sunday it does "not auger well" for a priest to head the government's negotiating panel.
Although the rebel group holds him in high regard, it is not too comfortable with the prospect of talking peace with Fr. Eliseo Mercado OMI, new chairman of the government's negotiating panel dealing with the MILF.
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Mercado replaced Silvestre Afable who resigned Friday as government's chief negotiator over President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's alleged lack of support for the peace talks.
"He has our highest regard and respect. Ang problema, negotiation is a state matter. It does not augur well for a priest to head the negotiating panel," MILF negotiating panel chair Mohagher Iqbal said in a radio interview.
But Iqbal also said the MILF has not received any formal communications from the government informing it that Mercado has replaced Afable.
Presidential adviser on the peace process Jesus Dureza said Friday Mercado, a peace advocate from Mindanao, would take over Afable's position.
Iqbal said he considers Mercado "a personal friend," having worked with him on the peace process.
However, he voiced concerns that Mercado's appointment as negotiating panel chairman may violate the Constitution, which decrees that Church and State be separate.
"In the Philippines there is a separation of Church and State," he said.
Peace negotiations between the government and the MILF bogged down in 2000 when then President Joseph Estrada declared an all-out war against the MILF, leading into the capture of scores of MILF camps, including their main headquarters Camp Abubakar.
Talks between the two sides resumed shortly after President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo assumed the presidency.
However, formal peace negotiations hit the impasse in August last year on the substantive issue on ancestral domain.
"Changing horse at the middle of the stream is an intriguing decision," Iqbal said.
Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said Afable, despite his resignation, would stay on as adviser of the panel.
Both Bunye and Dureza were silent however on the reasons behind Afable's resignation or if the abduction of father Giancarlo Bossi by alleged member of the MILF had anything to do with it.
But Bunye said Afable's resignation came at a time when the government is already "closer than ever to finally ending decades of conflict in the south and launching a new era of peace and progress for Muslim Mindanao."
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita earlier said informal talks are on going in Malaysia in anticipation of the resumption of the formal talks, which is expected following the conclusion of the mid-term elections last may 14.
Ermita even expressed confidence that contentious issues, particularly the one on ancestral domain, would be ironed out in the informal talks in time for the formal negotiations.
Bunye said Afable had talked to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo about his resignation and had discussed the matter thoroughly with her.
"Secretary Afable has spoken with the President about relinquishing his post as chairman of the government panel in the MILF talks, after three years of a largely unbroken ceasefire and significant advances towards a final peace agreement," he said.
Dureza however revealed that Mercado would take over the chairmanship of the GRP panel, confident that the change in panel leadership would not affect the talks.
"The assumption of Fr. Mercado as the new panel chair will ensure a seamless transition and a continuity in government efforts to move forward the peace process with the MILF," he said.
He described Mercado, former president of Notre Dame University in Cotabato, as an experienced peace-builder in Mindanao.
Mercado, who used to be a member Southern Philippines Council for Peace and Development (SPCPD) and was the convenor of the Kusog Mindanaw.
He also chaired the National Movement for Free Elections-Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (Armm) in 2005. Dureza said Mercado is a "welcome addition" to the peace efforts of the panel with the MILF.
"He is a peace-builder in Mindanao who is familiar with the peace process. He has been advising me in my work for quite sometime now," he said.
However, MILF peace panel secretarial head Jun Matawil clarified that he has the highest respect for Mercado as "a person, friend and as a priest."
Mercado is the president of the Notre Dame University in Cotabato City since 2002. Mantawil described negotiation as a clear-cut state matter and a "highly partisan" activity that clergymen should not involve themselves in deference to the separation of church and state in the Philippines.
He also said appointing a non-government high official would make it uncomfortable to the Malaysian facilitator who is of Cabinet rank. Datuk Othman bin Abdu' Razak, the chief facilitator of the GRP-MILF peace talks, is of Cabinet rank being holding a special adviser to the Prime Minister of Malaysia.
"There is protocol in the negotiation that all the parties especially the state actors must follow," said Mantawil, even as he pointed out that choosing negotiator by either party, government or the MILF, is not an absolute prerogative.(Sun.Star Davao/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Pampanga.
(June 18, 2007 issue)
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