24 Oct 2009

Peace with MILF seen as doomed

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A PEACE advocate yesterday said a political settlement between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front is no longer possible because of the ruling of the Supreme Court on the memorandum of agreement on ancestral domain.

Dr. Abdulhusin Kashim of the Institute for the Study of Peace in Islam said the SC decision last week which declared the agreement unconstitutional has set a precedent.

"There can be no more political settlement because every time the executive negotiates, a citizen can bombard it, because of the precedent established by the ruling of the Supreme Court," he said.

"And because there can be no more political settlement in the South, where can we see peace in the South? It’s no longer in the parties to the conflict but among us people who live in the society," he said.

Kashim spoke at the forum "In search for peace in Mindanao" sponsored by The Peacemakers’ Circle of which he is a board trustee.

The agreement was supposed to be signed early August but the Supreme Court, acting on petitions questioning the constitutionality of the MOA, issued a temporary restraining order.

The government later dropped the MOA and announced a shift in policy in dealing with rebel armed groups, with the focus now on consultations and dialogues with stakeholders instead of the previous peace negotiations.

Hashim said people can build the "golden bridge" through the concept of authentic dialogues that President Arroyo has announced.

Kashim expressed disgust over what happened to the MOA.

"What did we do to the MOA-AD despite the fact that it was a product of moral imagination that would have probably given us the first step towards peace? We bombarded it," he said.

The petitioners in the Supreme Court were areas opposing their inclusion in the coverage of a Muslim homeland that the MOA proposed to create. Among others, the petitioners said they were not consulted about their proposed inclusion in the Bangsamoro homeland which will they said would be governed practically by the MILF through the proposed Bangsamoro Juridical Entity.

Kashim said several possibilities could have likely led to the opposition to the MOA. One of them, he said, was that the people are not ready for it.

Kashim said it was also possible that vested interests that control Mindanao wanted the agreement shot down because they want to "perpetuate themselves." He did not give names.

He said a third factor is that hostility between the Christians and the Muslims has yet to be removed. He said people fear that the Muslims are being given their own territory and their own territorial force.

Kashim also pointed to "politics" as among reasons for the fate of the MOA. He said with the 2010 elections nearing, "politicians who have presidential ambitions were riding on the issue."

The Philippine National Red Cross said the government should continue helping the people affected by the hostilities in Mindanao even if the global financial crisis eventually affects the country.

Last Wednesday, the secretary general of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Bekele Geleta expressed concern that the global crisis might affect donors.

Corazon Alma de Leon, PNRC secretary general, said the government should spearhead aid and rehabilitation efforts, with non-government organizations playing only a supportive role.

"We are not asking for any international assistance in this… we (Philippines) want to be on our own here," she said at the sidelines of the International Human Law meet hosted by the PNRC.

The PNRC said some 500,000 residents have been displaced since August when rogue MILF commanders launched attacks in civilian communities in parts of Central Mindanao.

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