Military silences guns in Sulu for six days due to OIC visit

ZAMBOANGA CITY — Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said the Armed Forces suspended yesterday military operations in Sulu for six days to facilitate the work of a high-level fact-finding team from the influential Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) to evaluate the progress of the implementation of the 1996 peace agreement with the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF).

Brig. Gen. Alexander Aleo, chief of the anti-terror Task Force Comet based in Sulu, said the suspension was upon the request of the MNLF to allow its commanders and members to meet with the OIC representatives.

The suspension took effect last Wednesday, or three days prior to the OIC team’s arrival in Sulu. It will remain three days after its departure from the island province.

The OIC team is scheduled to visit different parts of Mindanao, including Lanao, Maguindanao, Cotabato, Davao and Zamboanga, to monitor the progress of the 1996 peace accord in connection with the government’s bid to attain observer status in the 57-nation body.

Presidential Adviser to the Peace Process Jesus Dureza expressed optimism that the results of the fact-finding mission would be favorable to the country’s bid. 

The OIC team came upon the invitation of the Philippine government. The last time such a delegation came to the country for the same purpose was three years ago.

The OIC played a key role in the peace talks between the government and the MNLF.

Reports said the delegation, led by Ambassador Sayed Kassem Al-Masry, adviser to the OIC secretary-general, urged the government to make significant improvements in the implementation of the peace agreement.

Meanwhile, MNLF founder Nur Misuari met with the OIC representatives and called on them to "look deeper" into the colonization of the Moros, or the Mindanao’s indigenous people, which he said is one of the root causes of the secessionist problem.

In its website luwaran.com, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) said the OIC team held a brief dialogue with Misuari in a Quezon City apartment where he is under house arrest.

The government reportedly allowed Misuari to talk to the OIC team for only three minutes.

"Chairman Misuari did not attack the government in his talk with the OIC representatives. Instead he explained to them the long-term bad effect to the Moro people of the colonization of Mindanao, which already had sultanates even before the Spaniards came to the country in the 15th century," said a ranking MNLF leader, who asked not to be named. — With John Unson and Lino de la Cruz