ARMM council wants LGUs involved in peace talks

SHARIFF AGUAK, Maguin—danao — The Regional Peace and Order Council of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) appealed anew to the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to involve local government units in the ongoing peace process.

Lawyer Oscar Sampulna, ARMM executive secretary, said allowing LGUs to be represented in the peace talks would give both panels a chance to hear the real sentiments of different sectors on the ancestral domain issue now being resolved by both sides.

Such a position, according to Sampulna, is in line with the policy of ARMM Gov. Zaldy Ampatuan of maximizing the participation of all sectors in strengthening Moro autonomy in the South.

Ampatuan earlier had asked the Organization of Islamic Conference, during his recent trips to the Middle East, and in a recent meeting with Iranian Ambassador Jalal Kalantari in Manila, to look into the clamor of local government leaders in the autonomous region for representation in the peace process.

"The constituents of the more than 100 mayors and the five provincial governors in the ARMM are the main stakeholders in this peace process and as such, must have a voice in the ongoing negotiations," he said.

The ARMM covers Moro-dominated Marawi City, Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur, which are in Central Mindanao, and the island-provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.

The MILF wants to group Muslim areas in the South under a Bangsamoro juridical entity.

Government and MILF negotiators failed to iron out the ancestral domain issue during the formal negotiations in Malaysia last Sept. 5-7.

Highly placed sources in the government and MILF peace panels confirmed that both sides reached a "deadlock" on the ancestral domain issue.

Both panels did not even issue a joint statement, as they normally do, that could have provided a glimpse of what transpired during the three-day discussions.

In the MILF website (www.luwaran.com), MILF peace panel head Mohagher Iqbal blamed the government for the impasse in the talks, saying that it was treating the peace process "as a mere counter-insurgency measure by seeking to restore peace in Mindanao without really addressing the real cause of the conflict."

Meanwhile, the Bishop-Ulama Conference of the Philippines (BUCP) has expressed concern over the slow progress of the ongoing peace negotiations. According to luwaran.com, the BUCP, headed by Davao Archbishop Fernando Capalla and Dr. Mahid Mutilan, has invited government chief peace negotiator Silvestre Afable Jr. and Iqbal to a meeting regarding developments in the peace talks. — With Edith Regalado and Lino de la Cruz