Working For A Just And lasting Peace

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Filipino Bishops "Satisfied" With Halting Of Agreement With Moro Islamic Liberation Front

MANILA, Philippines (AsiaNews / August 7, 2008) - The Filipino bishops are welcoming with "satisfaction" the Supreme Court's decision to block the signing of the agreement between the government and troops of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which would have set the boundaries of an autonomous, Muslim majority zone in Mindanao (the ARMM).

Dinualdo Gutierrez, bishop of Marbel, emphasizes that "the right decision" has been made, because not everyone "knows the content" of the agreement and the consequences it could have.
This position is also supported by the bishop of Digos, Guillermo Afable, according to whom it is not possible to rule out "fresh episodes of violence". Neither of the prelates is concealing his "concern", and the two are launching accusations against the administration of President Arroyo and the MILF, held guilty of wanting to "expand the territory of the ARMM without thoroughly weighing" the opinions of "Christians and Muslims", who are directly affected by the agreement.

Bishop Afable stresses that "a lot of people, particularly those in Mindanao, don’t know about the MoA [memorandum of agreement]", and he calls upon the government to clarify the main points "to prevent trouble” or sharpened tensions and conflicts.

He is echoed by Bishop Gutierrez, according to whom "the Philippines is a participatory democracy. All stakeholders should have been consulted". He recalls that "five provinces are against [the signing of the memorandum]", which is increasingly becoming a source of division.

Bishop Deogracias Iñiguez, president of the public affairs commission of the Filipino bishops conference, emphasizes that the government should have "published a draft of the agreement" before its possible signing, because the contents concern "Christians and Muslims", and are a decisive element for peaceful coexistence between the two.

Accusations against the government are, finally, coming from the archbishop of Zamboanga, Romulo Valles, according to whom "not even the citizens affected by the MoA know anything about its contents".

According to some experts, the real reason why the government is pushing for the signing of the agreement is President Arroyo's desire to "win approval" in view of the 2010 elections, using the peace agreement as a calling card for confirmation as the country's leader.

On Tuesday, July 5, in Kidapawan, in north Cotabato, more than 5,000 people participated in a protest demonstration against the failure to involve the people in the drafting of the agreement; wearing red T-shirts and headbands, they expressed their disagreement with "the annexation of various villages in north Cotabato, in the territory of Bangsamoro".

The previous day, a group of MILF rebels launched a dozen mortar rounds against government soldiers in the southern Philippines, ignoring the cease-fire order issued by the leaders of the guerrilla group.(Santosh Digal)

Moro Group Urges Govt To Educate Public On Bangsamoro Juridical Entity

COTABATO CITY, Philippines (August 7, 2008) - Moro militant group said government has the responsibility to explain and educate the public on the issue of Moro people's claim to ancestral domain.

Amirah Lidasan, national president of Suara Bangsamoro said in a statement that it is the responsibility of the government to correct the pervading notion that the Moro people are out to forcibly take the lands of the Christian settlers and the Lumads.

Lidasan said government should provide venue to the people to discuss the issue of ancestral domain and land rights of the people of Mindanao before the Memorandum of Understanding-Ancestral Domain signing.

She said the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity (BJE) is the Moro people's way of correcting historical injustice mentioning the decades of massive forcible evacuation and various human rights violations against the Moro people wrought by the government policies such as all-out wars, military operations and the accumulation of lands by the few business and landed elite families affecting Christians, Lumads and Moros alike.

Lidasan also stressed that even the settlers and lumads in Mindanao also lost their lands due to the same reasons.

Lidasan sees the importance of including the people to the peace process or any agreement that government entered into.

"The decision of which and how many villages should be included in the Moro people's territorial claims should not solely be at the hands of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo or be limited at the negotiating table of the GRP-MILF peace talks," Lidasan said.

However, the Supreme Court's issuance of a temporary restraining order (TRO) impedes the signing of MOA-AD scheduled today at Putrajaya, Malaysia. This development is a victory to the opposing groups on the inclusion of the 735 predominantly Moro areas on the BJE.

Protesters against the BJE in Iligan and Zamboanga City and North Cotabato are gaining confidence to win the battle. But Cotabato vice-governor Emmanuel Pinol said that their victory is just a temporary therefore, the battle against the inclusion of expanded ARMM continues.

Mohager Iqbal said in MILF website Luwaran, they do not consider the TRO as "setback" that could hinder the signing of the already initialed agreement today. He added that the MOA-AD is a done deal. (Sittie Monato)

Nur Misuari Accuses Manila Anew Of Failing To Honor 12-Year Old Peace Deal

Former Moro National Liberation Front rebel chieftain Nur Misuari is flanked by former MNLF rebels-turned-government soldiers and supporters as they marched to a mosque in Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines where he speak to about 200 unarmed followers. Misuari accused the Arroyo government of failing to fully implement the 1996 peace agreement it signed with the MNLF. (Mindanao Examiner Photo)

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / August 6, 2008) – The Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) has accused Manila on Wednesday of failing to implement the peace agreement it signed with the former Muslim rebel group more than a decade ago.

“We want freedom from the government. We don’t need a limited freedom,” Nur Misuari, leader of the MNLF who signed the peace deal in 1996, said in Zamboanga City where he met with about 200 former rebels and supporters, some from as far as Davao del Sur province.

“I have gone to all of the most dangerous places in Mindanao to tell our people to pray to almighty Allah for freedom. I call on our people to consolidate their unity and solidarity for freedom,” he said.

Misuari also spoke with his loyal MNLF leaders at the Lantaka hotel in downtown Zamboanga before attending a prayer in the nearby village of Santa Barbara.

Misuari, escorted by former rebels-turned-government soldiers, and supporters chanted “Allahu Akbar” or God is great, as they marched to the village. Security was tight for Misuari and Muslims entering the mosque to pray were frisked by soldiers for weapons.

“We really want our freedom back. The government was not really sincere in implementing the peace agreement it signed with us. We want our freedom and we want independence,” one of Misuari’s supporters, Abdulkadil Imdani told the Mindanao Examiner.

Zamboanga City Mayor Celso Lobregat also met with Misuari and they held a closed door meeting at the Garden Orchid hotel. Zamboanga was previously being claimed as part of the ancestral domain of the MNLF and residents had voted twice against the inclusion of their villages to the Muslim autonomous region.

Lobregat said he told Misuari that Zamboanga is a peaceful city and that residents had rejected two plebiscites in the past. Thousands of residents on Monday also rallied against attempts by Manila to include eight villages in Zamboanga City in the ancestral domain deal it signed last month with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), a breakaway faction of the MNLF.

“I have told the (MNLF) Chairman (Nur Misuari) that in Zamboanga, we always live in harmony and we always live in peace. We have no wall between us, we live in harmony and we are in unity, Christians, Muslims and Lumads (indigenous peoples) alike,” Lobregat told reporters.

The Supreme Court temporarily stopped the formal signing Tuesday in Malaysia of the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain after Zamboanga City Rep. Erico Fabian and other lawmakers filed a petition on Monday.

The MILF said the agreement was already approved on July 16 in Kuala Lumpur and that Tuesday’s signing was only a formal ceremony. But Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain, which seeks to expand the five-province Muslim autonomous region, will need enabling laws for it to be implemented.

He said the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain is part of a comprehensive peace agreement that Manila and the MILF will have to negotiate and conclude.

Manila is currently negotiating peace with the MILF, now the country’s largest Muslim rebel group which is fighting for a separate homeland in Mindanao.

Misuari said his group has nothing to do with the peace talks between the government and the MILF. “We are not involved in the peace process between the Government of the Philippines and the MILF. We are not part of any agreement between the government and the MILF,” he said, referring to the ancestral domain deal which would make up the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity that would grant Muslims a separate homeland.

“We are not involved (in the peace process). We are not a party to that. We are not bound by any consequences of any peace agreement,” Misuari said.

The MNLF, under Misuari, signed the peace deal with Manila in September 1996 ending decades of bloody war. After the peace agreement was signed, Misuari became the governor of the Muslim autonomous region. But despite the peace accord, there was a widespread disillusionment with the weak autonomy they were granted.

Under the peace accord, Manila would have to provide a mini-Marshal Plan to spur economic development in Muslim areas in the South and livelihood and housing assistance to tens of thousands of former rebels to uplift their poor living standards.

Misuari is now facing rebellion charges after his followers tried, but failed to overrun a major military base in Sulu province and another group held hostage over 100 people in Zamboanga City in 2001 in an attempt to stop the elections in the Muslim autonomous region. He fled to Sabah, his former refuge, but was arrested by the Malaysian authorities and sent back to Manila. Misuari is currently out on bail.

Early this year, the MNLF Central Committee said it removed Misuari as chairman of the former rebel group and installed Muslim Sema, the Front’s Secretary-General. But Misuari insisted that he is still the chieftain of the MNLF and accused Sema, also the mayor of Cotabato City, as traitor and so were those who supported Sema.

Misuari also earned the ire of the Malaysian government after he renewed calls of the claims of the Philippines to Sabah. In retaliation, Sabah Progressive Party President Datuk Yong Teck Lee, furious over the rumblings from Misuari, has called for stricter laws on Filipinos traveling to the oil-rich state.

The Malaysian official also said that the National Security Council should closely watch developments in the southern Philippines. Lee said the NSC and the Sabah State Security Committee should act on the problems brought about by Misuari’s revival of the Sabah claims.

He also urged Kuala Lumpur to suspend the ferry service between Zamboanga and Sandakan and impose bonds on incoming visitors and to require ferry passengers to have return tickets and to step up operations against illegal Filipino immigrants.

The Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo lays claim to Sabah. The Sultanate of Sulu was a Muslim state that ruled over much of the islands off the Sulu Sea. It stretches from a part of the island of Mindanao in the east, to North Borneo, now known as Sabah, in the west and south, and to Palawan, in the north.

The Sultanate of Sulu was founded in 1457 and is believed to exist as a sovereign nation for at least 442 years. The Sultanate of Sulu obtained Sabah from Brunei as a gift for helping put down a rebellion on the Borneo Island.

The British leased Sabah and transferred control over the territory to Malaysia after the end of Second World War. Even after Borneo became part of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur still pays an annual rent of 5,000 ringgit to the heirs of the Sultan of Sulu Ismail Kiram.

Misuari said what Malaysia pays to the Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo is but a pittance. (Mindanao Examiner)

Muslim Homeland Is A Done Deal, MILF Says

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / August 5, 2008) – Philippine Muslim rebels on Tuesday said the ancestral domain agreement they signed with government peace negotiators was a done deal despite a court order stopping the formal signing of the accord that would make up a separate Islamic homeland in Mindanao.

“We have initialed the text of the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral domain last July 27, 2008. The pact is a done deal. It is binding on the contracting parties who are obliged to refrain from acts that would defeat the object and purpose of their agreement,” said Mohagher Iqbal, chief peace negotiator of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

He said the agreement was already signed July 16 in Malaysia, which is brokering the peace talks, although a symbolic signing on Tuesday was cancelled because of the temporary restraining order issued by the Philippines Supreme Court.

The court issued the order after Zamboanga City Rep. Erico Fabian and other lawmakers who were opposed to the signing of the agreement filed a petition on Monday.

North Cotabato Deputy Governor Emmanuel Pinol last week also petitioned the Supreme Court to stop the signing. Pinol is opposing the inclusion of several towns in the province in the ancestral domain which would make up a separate Muslim homeland under the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity.

The MILF said the court order has no effect on the memorandum of agreement on the ancestral domain signed by both peace panels.

“The act of initialing the MOA-AD agreed text between the parties constitutes a signature of the Philippine government and MILF. Initialing was in fact done with a credible third party witness, the Malaysian government as facilitator of the talks since 2001,” he said.

Iqbal said he and Rodolfo Garcia, chief government peace negotiator, and Presidential peace adviser Hemogenes Esperon signed the agreement with Datuk Othman bin Abdulrazak, the chief peace facilitator, for the Malaysian government.

He said the cancelled signing ceremony in Kuala Lumpur was a matter of formality, but even without it, the agreement is already a done deal. He said the postponement of the signing would have no effect on the deal. “Nothing. This is not even a setback to the MILF. We are on the upper hand especially in the battle for moral ascendancy,” he said.

Iqbal said court’s TRO only shamed Manila because many dignitaries invited to the affair had to be informed about the cancellation of the signing of the agreement.

“It is the Arroyo administration which is shamed in the eyes of the international community. There are so many ambassadors already in the Malaysian capital to attend the signing ceremony, only to be told that it is cancelled at the last minute,” he said.

Among those already in Kuala Lumpur are US ambassador to the Philippines, Kristie Kenney and Ambassador Sayed ElMasry, adviser to the Organization of Islamic Conference Secretary General and Special Envoy for Peace Process in Southern Philippines.

Sayed ElMasry agreed to officially endorse the ancestral domain agreement, according to Iqbal.

Eid Kabalu, a senior MILF leader, said the court order will not affect the peace talks and that negotiators are optimistic about the peace process in Mindanao.

“It is already a done deal, the Tuesday signing of the ancestral domain (agreement) is just for formality. We are optimistic with the peace talks and we will pursue the peace process. We want to achieve peace and appeal to everyone to support the talks,” Kabalu said by phone Tuesday in Mindanao.

Peace talks was stalled since September last year after both sides failed to sign any agreement on the most contentious issue — ancestral domain – which refers to the rebel demand for territory that will constitute a Muslim homeland.

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.

The ancestral domain covers the whole of Muslim autonomous region and other areas in Zamboanga del Norte, Zamboanga del Sur, Zamboanga Sibugay, North Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat and Sarangani provinces where there are large communities of Muslims and indigenous tribes, including Iligan, Zamboanga and Isabela cities. And even Palawan province in central Philippines.

Philippine authorities have previously blamed the MILF for the spate of bombings and kidnappings in Mindanao in recent months. The MILF said the attacks were carried out by rebels disgruntled by the slow pace of the talks.

Kabalu said they are optimistic that the talks would lead to a peaceful solution to the Muslim secessionist problems in Mindanao.

President Arroyo opened peace talks with the MILF in 2001 and vowed to forge a peace deal with the rebels before her term ends on 2010.

The MILF is fighting for the establishment of a strict Islamic state in Mindanao Island, whose 18 million populations include about 4 million Muslims.

On Monday, thousands of people in Zamboanga and Iligan rallied against the inclusion of their villages to the ancestral domain. Zamboanga Mayor Celso Lobregat said Muslims and Christians are living peacefully and will not allow the city to be dismembered or become part of the ancestral domain. At least 8 villages in Zamboanga City have been included in the ancestral domain.

Esperon said only the predominantly island of Sacol would be included in the ancestral domain. He said that a plebiscite would be held in areas covered by the ancestral domain which would make up the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity.

Peace negotiators last month also signed an agreement in Kuala Lumpur that will empower the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity to build, develop and maintain its own institutions, inclusive of civil service, electoral, financial and banking, education, legislation, legal, economic, police and internal security force, judicial system and correctional institutions necessary for developing a progressive Muslim society.

Manila previously offered the MILF the Muslim autonomous region, which is composed of Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi and are among the poorest in the country torn by strife and clan wars since its creation in 1989. The MILF flatly rejected the offer and insisted on self-determination.

The MILF said it will only sign a peace deal with Arroyo government if it establishes genuine governance for Muslims either in the form of "state" or "sub-state".

But analysts fear that President Arroyo or her allies in the House of Representatives might use the peace talks with the MILF as an excuse to amend the Constitution to change the system of government from presidential to parliamentary or federalism to allow the MILF to have a separate state and eventually prolong her into power beyond 2010.

Under the presidential form of government, Arroyo, who deposed President Joseph Estrada in a people power revolution in 2001, is allowed only one six-year term.

In the charter change proposal suggested by her political allies who dominate Congress, she can be elected as prime minister should Congress dissolve the Senate and change the system of government to parliamentary. (Mindanao Examiner)

Zamboanga City Mayor Celso Lobregat hands over to Isabela City Councilor Peter Eisma the documents stating that the entire Isabela City is included in the proposed Bangsamoro Juridical Entity. Thousands of residents in Zamboanga City rallied rallied Monday, August 4, 2008 against the inclusion of 8 local villages to the Muslim ancestral domain.(City Hall Photo)