Resume talks with MILF before polls, Palace urged

COTABATO CITY – Maguin-danao’s political community is urging President Estrada to work out the resumption of peace talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) before next year’s elections.

Maguindanao Gov. Zacaria Candao, chairman of the Provincial Peace and Order Council, said the peace talks should resume even before the election period, which starts with the filing of certificates of candidacy in December.

"Otherwise, the peace talks with the MILF may again be overtaken by many events that will take place during the campaign period," Candao said.

The MILF earlier had said it was ready to reconstitute its peace panel if the government would agree to the holding of peace talks in a foreign country, preferably a member-state of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC).

Datu Toto Paglas, a prominent Muslim businessman who owns vast banana plantations in the second district of Maguindanao, said the government and the MILF also need to agree on a bilateral ceasefire before resuming the peace talks.

"The peace talks should resume soon, even before the elections next year because we are sure that the elections will be affected by continuing hostilities in Maguindanao," Paglas said.

The business sector here is hoping that the peace talks will resume before the electoral exercise and the 10th Mindanao Business Conference in March next year.

"The peace talks must resume soon because if businessmen from other areas will see the government and MILF panels meeting again, they will not hesitate to invest in Central Mindanao," said Antonio Santos, chairman of the Metro Cotabato Chamber of Commerce.

The two panels met last May at a local venue, and have since been holding backchannel dialogues, while state and rebel forces continue to fight each other in many flashpoint areas in Mindanao.