MANILA, Philippines - The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) had already abandoned its quest for an independent state in Mindanao before its meeting in Japan with President Aquino last Thursday, the government’s chief negotiator with the rebel group said yesterday.
Marvic Leonen also said the government expects the MILF to match Aquino’s goodwill gesture by being sincere and realistic.
“To be sincere does not mean surrender,” Leonen said over radio dzRB.
He said the only agreement made at the meeting held in a hotel in the suburbs of Tokyo Thursday night was to fast-track the peace negotiations.
Unlike in the botched memorandum of agreement on ancestral domain (MOA-AD) between the Arroyo administration and the MILF in 2008, Leonen said the geographical areas that the MILF would like to comprise its “sub-state” would no longer cover highly contentious ones.
Many had opposed the MOA-AD because its implementation would have entailed amendments to the Constitution and place under MILF jurisdiction several barangays within Christian-dominated provinces.
Rogue elements of the MILF went on a killing rampage in some areas in Mindanao after the Supreme Court declared the MOA-AD unconstitutional in 2008.
Leonen said the talks would focus on achieving a “politically, economically and socially” feasible agreement.
Leonen added the government peace panel had done the needed spadework before the President’s meeting with Murad. This included meeting with political leaders, civil society groups and even the military to get their side on the issue.
He said only “political naysayers” would disparage the President’s gesture, which was a “positive step forward” as far as the peace talks were concerned.
Transportation and Communications Secretary Manuel Roxas II, a close friend of Aquino’s and a staunch critic of the MOA-AD when he was senator, said the President’s trip was his “personal effort” at securing peace for Mindanao.
MILF vice chairman Ghazali Jaafar said they were no longer seeking the creation of an independent state. “We want a nation but not separate from the republic. It must have power to govern but not above the power of the Philippine government,” he said in statement released a day after the Japan meeting.
“We told the President that we want Bangsamoro state not like the ARMM which is inutile,” he added.
“The peace process is now on the straight, sa matuwid na daan,” he said, echoing Aquino’s promise of a straight path in government dealings.
“We presented to the President our position on the peace process,” Jaafar said, referring to the meeting.
“We also presented our talking points to President Aquino and his party while his group also presented the government’s talking points,” he added.
“All that was discussed was about the peace process, how to find solutions and how to develop Muslim Mindanao,” Jaafar said.
MILF chief negotiator Mohagher Iqbal also said they would push for a “sub-state” instead of an independent state.
He explained that under a sub-state, Mindanao Muslims would have control over major aspects of governance, except national defense, foreign affairs, currency and coinage, as well as postal services.
Palace assurance
Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said the President’s meeting with the MILF should not be a cause for concern because it only “opened an opportunity to move the talks forward.”
“Let’s not get lost in the peripheral and the irrelevant and the unimportant. Let’s focus on what this (meeting) has done for the peace process,” Valte said over radio dzRB.
“From our point of view it’s not necessarily what you call spadework. Well, some people may agree that it was risky for the President (but) it shows you how much he values the peace process and how much it means to him to have a sustainable and lasting peace and he will do everything he can (to make things happen),” Valte said.
“We have extended our hand and we’ve shown that this government is really sincere. So we will see how the formal negotiations will go,” Valte said.
But Aquino’s allies at the Senate are divided over his decision to meet with the MILF leader in Japan.
“I think the President may have been ill advised to meet personally as he is not even his counterpart,” Sen. Francis Escudero said.
Escudero, who is with the so-called Samar faction in Aquino’s inner circle, called on Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Secretary Teresita Deles not to put the Chief Executive in a compromising situation.
“I hope Secretary Deles will protect the President from such things. She should just do her job and give her President deniability with respect to this early stages of negotiations,” Escudero said.
Sen. Francis Pangilinan, another Liberal Party ally but who is with the so-called Balay group, said the Chief Executive’s move is a clear signal that there is hope for lasting peace in Mindanao.
“We welcome this move, as it is a clear signal by no less than the Commander-in-Chief that we are serious in our pursuit of peace,” Pangilinan said.
“It is an out-of-the box solution and shows that the President is willing to step out of his own comfort zone to ensure that peace be achieved,” he said.
“Our country has been beset by conflict for over four decades, and this meeting is a giant leap toward the peace that our nation needs in order to move forward,” he added.
Pangilinan said he hopes there will also be a breakthrough in the peace negotiations with the National Democratic Front (NDF). He recently met with NDF panel chairman Luis Jalandoni and NDF chief political consultant Jose Maria Sison.
“This meeting between the President and MILF chairman Al Haj Murad Ibrahim has set a positive precedent that we hope will spill over to the NDF as well,” he said.
“Our countrymen are crying out for peace, and if we do things right we just might see it in our lifetimes, within this administration,” he said.
“With peace comes the foundations for progress, and it is high time that development spreads to those areas that had once been torn by conflict. If we all work to achieve peace now, the multiplier effect will be felt for generations to come,” he added.
Sen. Loren Legarda, who chairs the Senate committee on foreign relations, said the meeting in the “highest level on both sides has planted the trust and good faith so necessary for the peace process to prosper.”
“That the MILF reportedly dropped their secessionist agenda is a major milestone in the peace process,” she said.
“This can only augur well for the early conclusion of the peace process,” she added.
Japan or Malaysia?
Japan said it “heartily welcomes” the meeting between Aquino and MILF officials, describing it as “a meaningful opportunity for smoothly proceeding with the Mindanao peace process.”
In a statement, Japan’s foreign ministry also reaffirmed Japan’s commitment to continue its reconstruction and development assistance in Mindanao through the deployment of development experts for the International Monitoring Team (IMT), intensive implementation of Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Projects in the conflict-affected areas, and support for the peace process as a member of the International Contact Group (ICG).
Malaysia’s top diplomat in the Philippines, meanwhile, said he was unaware of the meeting in Japan between Aquino and the MILF.
“We were not involved. We’re silent about it because we didn’t know about the meeting,” Ambassador Dato Seri Dr. Ibrahim Saad told The STAR.
“I’m not in the know of the meeting,” he said.
The prospect of Japan hosting the talks instead of Malaysia appears to be more acceptable to some Mindanao officials.
“Japan is a neutral country with regards to its participation in the Mindanao peace process,” a local official told The STAR in a text message.
“It’s not casting aspersion on Malaysia. It’s just that meetings like that should be held in neutral countries,” the official added.
Malaysia has been helping facilitate the 12-year-old government-MILF peace initiative since 2003.
In an informal survey, 27 of 32 randomly selected local officials in North Cotabato and different parts of ARMM agreed that President Aquino made the right move when he met Murad in Japan and not in Malaysia or in any member-state of the Organization of Islamic Conference.
But mayors in Maguindanao do not agree with insinuations that Aquino had a serious reason for meeting Murad in Japan and not in Malaysia.
Mayor Hadji Tucao Mastura of Sultan Kudarat town in Maguindanao said the venue was secondary to the sincerity of the parties involved in the talks.
“After all, it’s the intention and sincerity of the MILF and President that will matter most in building lasting peace in Mindanao. We ought to thank all foreign states, including Malaysia, that helps the Mindanao peace process go through,” Mastura said.
Mastura and several mayors in Maguindanao, a known hotbed of the MILF’s activities, believe Aquino deserves praise for setting aside protocol and reaching out to the MILF leader.
What war?
The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), for its part, said Mindanao has been generally peaceful since the forging of a ceasefire in 2003.
AFP spokesman Miguel Jose Rodriguez said the landmark meeting between the President and the MILF leader is expected to further advance peace.
“By the decisive move of the President in meeting with Murad, this temporary peace in some areas of Mindanao will ripen into lasting peace sooner than expected,” he said.
Basilan Bishop Martin Jumoad expressed support for Aquino’s meeting with Murad but said transparency should not be sacrificed.
“When leaders come to the table and discuss issues, these gestures are good signs,” he said.
“There should be no commitments and secret deals particularly when it comes to favoring one group. People should be informed, as the ‘boss’ of the President,” he said.
“Let us learn from what happened when the MOA-AD came out. Let President Aquino be transparent particularly on the Mindanao peace issue,” he said.
For former North Cotabato governor Emmanuel Piñol, any agreement should not involve expanding the present ARMM and that its emphasis should be on socio-economic approach to attaining and keeping peace.
“There is no point expanding a region which is the poorest in the country and where governance is marked by massive corruption. Creating a sub-state on the basis of religion could also raise another constitutional question,” he said.
“Maybe it’s high time to shift to a new, more hands-on strategy in dealing with the MILF to hasten the attainment of peace and sustainable development in Mindanao,” Piñol said.
Piñol said the President’s meeting with Murad in Japan has “far reaching implications,” in the progress of the talks.
“First, it was held in Japan, not Malaysia. There is an underlying message that could be the reflection of the views of the mainstream Mindanaoans who question Malaysia’s motives in facilitating the talks,” Piñol said.
Piñol said whoever agreed to the idea of bringing in Malaysia as facilitator of the talks may have overlooked the Sabah issue.
Meanwhile, a group called Mindanao Peaceweavers also welcomed Aquino’s meeting with Murad in Japan.
“This augurs well for peace in Mindanao. We hope that this unprecedented meeting will lead to an unprecedented agreement and not only an unprecedented peace, but justice and progress as well in our beloved Mindanao,” the group said in a statement.
“It is about time that the peoples of Mindanao savor the peace that has eluded them for decades. It is now within sight,” it said.
“We pray that the peoples of Mindanao and the rest of the country become ever more vigilant against ‘spoilers’ from all sides who will brook at nothing to scuttle anew the peace at hand,” it added.
“We remember very vividly almost three years ago to this day how a seminal agreement on ancestral domain between the negotiating panels that could have paved the way for a comprehensive covenant was blocked at the last minute due to calls from sectors whose own political and economic interests felt threatened,” it said, referring to the MOA-AD.
“We offer the continuing support, input and engagement of our networks and our constituency in helping craft the final agreement between the government and the MILF,” it added. - With Christin Mendez, Jaime Laude, Pia Lee-Brago, Evelyn Macairan, Jose Rodel Clapano, Marvin Sy, John Unson