Secret pacts spoil Philippine peace
By Stella Gonzales
MANILA - About 100 people have been killed or injured and more than 130,000
others displaced since hostilities resumed this month between government troops
and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels, said to be "frustrated" by a
new hitch in a peace agreement.
The 2003 agreement had sought to end the decades-old insurgency in Mindanao
that had cost 120,000 lives and up to 270 billion pesos (US$5.9 billion) in
losses. Instead, this product of secret negotiations (leaked to the public just
days before the scheduled signing of the agreement) created a backlash and is
now being blamed for triggering the violence.
Former president Joseph Estrada told the government to pursue
an "all-out war" against the MILF, similar to what he tried out during his term
in office. But former presidents Corazon Aquino and Fidel Ramos have advised
the two parties to instead return to the negotiating table, a position shared
by the human rights group Karapatan (Alliance for the Advancement of Human
Rights).
Karapatan deplored the attacks on civilians and reminded the separatist MILF
that in advancing the interests of the Bangsamoro people, the rebels should
also respect the rights of civilians. Karapatan expressed concern for those
displaced from their homes as a result of the fighting. "The two sides must
stop the hostilities and return to the negotiating table to resolve the thorny
issues," said secretary-general Marie Hilao-Enriquez.
Representatives of the government and the MILF were scheduled to sign a
memorandum of agreement (MOA) on ancestral domain last August. The MOA, which
took almost five years to craft, had already been "initialed" a week before by
peace negotiators from both sides following meetings in Kuala Lumpur. The MOA
would have paved the way for the expansion of the Autonomous Region in Muslim
Mindanao (ARMM) to include about 700 villages. It would have given Muslims
wider economic and political powers.
But on August 4, the Supreme Court issued a restraining order stopping the
signing of the agreement after local executives from Mindanao filed a petition
claiming that the agreement would result in the dismemberment of the country
and was unconstitutional. The aborted signing of the MOA was said to have
angered some MILF commanders, prompting the attacks on several towns.
The government later said it would not sign the MOA in its present form and
would instead renegotiate the agreement. It also wanted the MILF to surrender
the MILF commanders who were responsible for the attacks.
But MILF chairman Al Haj Murad Ebrahim said the MOA was "a final document, a
done deal" and was subjected by the government to "legal review by experts for
almost four months".
In the MILF website, Murad said the MOA "is just a framework agreement and not
the final compact" and that the necessary public consultations, congressional
actions and enactments, and plebiscite would be conducted for the people's
final decision.
Much of the blame for the breakdown of the peace negotiations is being placed
at the door of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Politicians who had
petitioned the Supreme Court said the government did not consult them regarding
the MOA.
The leftist group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan), or New Patriotic
Alliance, said Arroyo "negotiated in bad faith and raised the expectations of
the MILF and the Moro people".
"The MOA, while recognizing on paper the Moro people's right to
self-determination ... was calculated to flounder and fail in the face of legal
challenges and the unfounded outcry that it would dismember the Philippine
Republic," said Renato Reyes, Bayan secretary-general. He said the government
knew that the agreement would require an amendment to the Constitution - a very
unpopular move in the Philippines - and that the Supreme Court was very likely
to intervene.
Bayan questioned the involvement of the United States in the peace process and
in the forging of agreements. Reyes said that in doing so, Arroyo had
"undermined national sovereignty".
The US, which fears that Mindanao could turn into a base for militants linked
to al-Qaeda, has promised millions of dollars in aid to Mindanao once a final
peace agreement is signed. In fact, the US ambassador to the Philippines flew
to Malaysia to witness the (now aborted) signing of the MOA.
The involvement of third countries adds to the already "daunting task" of
reconciling seemingly clashing interests of the government, the MILF,
politicians and local oligarchs, said political analyst Bobby Tuazon of the
Center for People Empowerment in Governance.
According to Tuazon, "the peace process, which reveals the craftsmanship of the
US, purports to offer the MILF a political authority and a degree of ownership
over ancestral lands and maritime resources". But, he pointed out, politicians,
landlords and oligarchs cannot be expected to "disengage from power politics to
make way for MILF juridical power".
He said there was a need to re-examine the peace process between the government
and the MILF. The peace talks, he said, fall into the "peace process paradigm"
of capitalist countries that is similar to the United Nations' "peace
building", "conflict resolution" or "dispute settlement".
"The trouble is, not all 'peace processes' are success stories," Tuazon said.
He said talks between the two parties should be conducted independently "with
no interference by external parties, except to facilitate as in the case of
Malaysia and to monitor the truce, as in the case of the International
Monitoring Team (IMT)".
The IMT, composed of mostly military officers from Malaysia, Brunei, Libya and
Japan, acts as mediator on violations of the ceasefire agreement between the
government and the MILF. The IMT, which has maintained a presence in Mindanao
since 2004, is ending its tour of duty at the end of the month. There are
last-minute negotiations for an extension of its stay, which many parties see
as crucial in the peace process.
"I think the core issues of the peace talks should be considered as a national
concern," said Tuazon. "More democratic dialogues, deliberations and forums
should have been conducted to distill the dichotomy of diverse positions and
competing interests."
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