Gov’t sees talks with MILF to resume after Ramadan

09/16/2009

After lamenting the scuttling of its earlier anticipated return to the negotiating table with the communist rebel group, the government is now looking forward to resuming peace talks with the country’s largest Muslim separatist group, which it said it expected to happen after the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

Government chief negotiator, Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Avelino Razon Jr. yesterday told AFP that both sides were hammering out "the scope and parameters of the talks" aimed at ending the Moro Islamic Liberation Front’s (MILF) 31-year separatist insurgency.

"We will have something very positive to announce after Ramadan. We are just awaiting word from the Malaysian government as to the actual (date) of the resumption of peace talks," Razon said.

Malaysia, an influential member of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), had been brokering and hosting the peace talks between the two sides until August last year, when the government suspended the negotiations.

Filipino Muslims celebrate the end of Ramadan on Monday next week, although Razon did not say how soon afterwards the talks were expected to start.

MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu also told AFP by telephone from his base in Mindanao that the group remained committed to the talks.

"We are hopeful that something will happen before (President) Arroyo steps down," next year, Kabalu said, confirming that both sides were "working out the terms and reference" for the next round of talks.

The previous round was halted last year after two senior MILF commanders launched coordinated attacks across several mostly Christian towns and provinces in the southern region of Mindanao.

They did so after the Supreme Court rejected a proposed deal granting the rebels control over their so-called "ancestral domain" that covers more than 700 towns and villages.

In the ensuing year of fighting between the two sides in Mindanao, more than 300 civilians and combatants died and about 750,000 residents in the South were displaced in what aid agencies called a humanitarian crisis.

But a ceasefire has been in place since July and Razon said the MILF’s honoring of that "was a very positive indication of their commitment to the talks."

To accommodate the MILF, he said the government may opt to amend a law to expand the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

The ARMM was established after a 1996 peace agreement was forged between the government and the Moro National Liberation Front, a former rebel group from which the MILF split in 1978.

Meanwhile, President Arroyo asserted that peace remains a major priority program of her administration even as it nears dissolution next year, when she ends her term.

"Whether it is a peace deal with the MILF or our ongoing fight against the communist insurgents, I am confident we will be able to achieve peace," she said in a radio interview in Cotabato province.

She said the best weapon against terrorism and insurgency is "soft power" which is shown through investments in infrastructure and social services to improve the lives of the people and give them hope for the future.

"We will use ‘soft power’ to ensure that we continue moving in the direction of permanent peace," she said.

She said her government is pursuing peace negotiations with the MILF and that "there is reason to be optimistic."

"As you know, there are previous signed accords between the MILF and the government. If both sides can implement the provisions of these agreements, then there is more than an even chance that we can successfully conclude the negotiations," she said.

Arroyo further said her government also remains open and ready to resume formal negotiations with the communist rebel group headed by the National Democratic Front (NDF).

"This (resumption of talks) should have happened in the last week of August. But the NDF refused to go back to the negotiating table unless their 14 ‘consultants’ were released by the government. But we can not grant this. We view this unreasonable demand of the NDF with sadness because they have raised preconditions that prevent the talks from resuming and require the government to subvert its judicial system," she said.

Arroyo made the statements on the eve of her scheduled departure for Turkey, where she mainly will push the country’s bid for an observer position in the OIC.

Malacañang said in Turkey, she is expected to meet with OIC Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu and update him on the progress of the Mindanao peace process.

Arroyo is set to leave today for Turkey to co-celebrate with the country’s officials the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Philippines and Turkey this year.

From Turkey, she is scheduled to proceed to the United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia also for official visits. AFP, with a report from PNA

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