UP prof heads peace panel

MANILA, Philippines - President Aquino has appointed University of the Philippines professor Miriam Coronel-Ferrer as the new chairman and chief negotiator of the government peace panel with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

Ferrer will replace former UP law dean Marvic Leonen, who was appointed Supreme Court associate justice.

Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Teresita Deles said Ferrer’s appointment would ensure “continuity and harmony in the peace talks and is crucial towards the completion of the comprehensive agreement this month.

“Her appointment as panel chairperson is well-deserved, given her competence and credentials as a peace negotiator,” Deles said.

She said Ferrer has been with the peace panel since 2010 as adviser of the technical working groups on power sharing and normalization.         

Deles said Ferrer is also a staunch advocate of human rights and an expert in conflict resolution and justice.

“She served as the director of the Program on Peace, Democratization and Human Rights and also the deputy director and subsequently director of the Third World Studies Center at the University of the Philippines,” Deles said.

Ferrer also co-chaired the Non-State Actors Working Group of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines from 1999-2004. She joined fact-finding missions of international non-government organizations that investigated violence in Cambodia (1993, 1997), East Timor (1999, 2000), and Nepal (2003).

She also served as visiting professor at the Hiroshima University in Japan, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in Korea and Gadja Madah University in Indonesia.

She has written several articles on Philippine civil society, politics, regional autonomy and peace processes published in international and local journals and books. – With Jose Rodel Clapano

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