Arroyo Committed To Peace In Mindanao

PEACE SUPPORTERS: United Nation's Resident Coordinator Nileema Noble, left, and Moro National Liberation Front's Hatimil Hassan shake hands, as President Gloria Arroyo's peace adviser Jesus Dureza and Kyo Naka, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Deputy Resident Representative, look on, before the start of the first Program Coordinating Committee Meeting for the ACT for PEACE Programme in Davao City.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo looks forward to an early and honorable peace settlement of the Mindanao conflict in accordance with the Constitution and respect for cultural diversity.

"The President is committed to an honorable and peaceable settlement of the decades-long separatist problem in Mindanao in line with the constitutional provisions of territorial integrity and respect for cultural diversity," Press Secretary and concurrent Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye said.

The government and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) peace negotiators held last week formal talks in Kuala Lumpur centered on the contentious issue on ancestral domain. [ READ THE FULL ARTICLE ]