Moro Islamic liberation Front rebels patrol a village in the southern Philippines. (Mindanao Examiner Photo)MAGUINDANAO, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Jan. 13, 2011) – Philippine Muslim rebels have branded an adviser of President Benigno Aquino III as a “trouble-maker” after he was named “chief trouble-shooter” by the Filipino leader.
Khaled Musa, of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, said former senator and defeated vice presidential candidate Manuel Roxas, a political ally of Aquino, possesses innate hatred for whatever is associated with Muslims and Islam.
“Roxas is not the ‘trouble-shooter’ of Aquino but rather his ‘trouble-maker’ when it comes to the peace process in Mindanao,” he said.
Roxas, Aquino’s vice presidential in last year’s elections, is one of those who strongly opposed the land deal between the MILF and Manila in 2008.
The controversial deal also sparked massive protests from politicians opposed to the agreement that would have granted about four million Muslims their homeland in more than 700 villages across Mindanao.
Politicians and lawmakers, many of them wealthy landowners in Mindanao, opposed the ancestral domain deal and filed their petitions to the High Court and asked Manila to make public the rest of the agreement.
They claimed the accord was made without public consultations and the Supreme Court declared as unconstitutional the Muslim homeland deal initially signed by government and rebel peace negotiators in Malaysia which is brokering the peace talks.
The MILF said it considered Roxas as one of the main spoiler of the peace talks because of his staunch opposition to the signing of the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain. The failed accord triggered a rebel attack in Mindanao that left dozens of civilians dead and wounded.
It said it will not renegotiate the ancestral domain agreement. "It is already a done deal; we have already initialed the memorandum of agreement on the ancestral domain. We will not revisit or renegotiate the agreement," Mohagher Iqbal, the chief MILF peace negotiator, said.
Ancestral domain is the single most important issue in the peace negotiations before the rebel group can reach a political settlement with the Philippine government.
It covers the whole of the Muslim autonomous region – Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, Basilan, Maguindanao and Lanao, including Marawi City. And some areas in Zamboanga Peninsula, North Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat and Sarangani provinces in Mindanao where there are large communities of Muslims and indigenous tribes. And also Palawan Island, off Mindanao.
Last year, Tawi-Tawi Representative Nur Jaafar filed House Bill 4963 and former President Gloria Arroyo, now a member of the Philippine Congress, also filed a similar bill, proposing to divide the Muslim autonomous region into two – the South Western Autonomous Region and the Central Mindanao Autonomous Region – and that a plebiscite will be held in every village in the provinces of Sulu, Basilan, Tawi-Tawi, Zamboanga del Sur, Zamboanga del Norte, Zamboanga Sibugay and the cities of Isabela, Pagadian, Dipolog, Dapitan and Zamboanga.
And also in the provinces of Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Lanao del Norte, Sultan Kudarat, North Cotabato, South Cotabato, Sarangani and the cities of Cotabato, Marawi, Iligan, Kidapawan, General Santos, Koronadal and Tacurong.
Sulu Governor Sakur Tan said he wanted the Muslim autonomous region dissolved and its functions returned to the national government because of its failure to bring peace and progress to the five provinces under it – Sulu, Basilan, Tawi-Tawi, Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur.
Its regional governor Zaldy Ampatuan was jailed after being implicated, along with his father and brother and relatives in the 2009 mass killings of 57 people, including at least 32 journalists, in Maguindanao province. (Mindanao Examiner)
Khaled Musa, of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, said former senator and defeated vice presidential candidate Manuel Roxas, a political ally of Aquino, possesses innate hatred for whatever is associated with Muslims and Islam.
“Roxas is not the ‘trouble-shooter’ of Aquino but rather his ‘trouble-maker’ when it comes to the peace process in Mindanao,” he said.
Roxas, Aquino’s vice presidential in last year’s elections, is one of those who strongly opposed the land deal between the MILF and Manila in 2008.
The controversial deal also sparked massive protests from politicians opposed to the agreement that would have granted about four million Muslims their homeland in more than 700 villages across Mindanao.
Politicians and lawmakers, many of them wealthy landowners in Mindanao, opposed the ancestral domain deal and filed their petitions to the High Court and asked Manila to make public the rest of the agreement.
They claimed the accord was made without public consultations and the Supreme Court declared as unconstitutional the Muslim homeland deal initially signed by government and rebel peace negotiators in Malaysia which is brokering the peace talks.
The MILF said it considered Roxas as one of the main spoiler of the peace talks because of his staunch opposition to the signing of the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain. The failed accord triggered a rebel attack in Mindanao that left dozens of civilians dead and wounded.
It said it will not renegotiate the ancestral domain agreement. "It is already a done deal; we have already initialed the memorandum of agreement on the ancestral domain. We will not revisit or renegotiate the agreement," Mohagher Iqbal, the chief MILF peace negotiator, said.
Ancestral domain is the single most important issue in the peace negotiations before the rebel group can reach a political settlement with the Philippine government.
It covers the whole of the Muslim autonomous region – Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, Basilan, Maguindanao and Lanao, including Marawi City. And some areas in Zamboanga Peninsula, North Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat and Sarangani provinces in Mindanao where there are large communities of Muslims and indigenous tribes. And also Palawan Island, off Mindanao.
Last year, Tawi-Tawi Representative Nur Jaafar filed House Bill 4963 and former President Gloria Arroyo, now a member of the Philippine Congress, also filed a similar bill, proposing to divide the Muslim autonomous region into two – the South Western Autonomous Region and the Central Mindanao Autonomous Region – and that a plebiscite will be held in every village in the provinces of Sulu, Basilan, Tawi-Tawi, Zamboanga del Sur, Zamboanga del Norte, Zamboanga Sibugay and the cities of Isabela, Pagadian, Dipolog, Dapitan and Zamboanga.
And also in the provinces of Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Lanao del Norte, Sultan Kudarat, North Cotabato, South Cotabato, Sarangani and the cities of Cotabato, Marawi, Iligan, Kidapawan, General Santos, Koronadal and Tacurong.
Sulu Governor Sakur Tan said he wanted the Muslim autonomous region dissolved and its functions returned to the national government because of its failure to bring peace and progress to the five provinces under it – Sulu, Basilan, Tawi-Tawi, Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur.
Its regional governor Zaldy Ampatuan was jailed after being implicated, along with his father and brother and relatives in the 2009 mass killings of 57 people, including at least 32 journalists, in Maguindanao province. (Mindanao Examiner)
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