Swiss envoy sees strong local support for peace talks

COTABATO CITY - Swiss Ambassador Ivo Sieber was delighted with how local sectors are supporting the peace efforts of the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

Sieber was here Saturday for the launching of the Swiss-led Transitional Justice and Reconciliation Commission (TJRC).

The TJRC was bilaterally constituted last month by the panels of the government and the MILF as an independent outfit that would study and recommend measures needed in addressing the historical and political grievances of Mindanao’s Bangsamoro people.

The TJRC is chaired by Mo Bleeker, special envoy from the Swiss Department of Foreign Affairs.

Sieber said he was fascinated with the participation in their first public activity here on Saturday morning of stakeholders to the GPH-MILF peace overture and representatives of different civil society organizations engaged in various peace-building activities in Central Mindanao.

He said he is optimistic that, with public support, the TJRC can effectively keep up with its mandate to come out with “doable and relevant recommendations” on how to address justice and reconciliation issues besetting the Moro communities, which stand to benefit from the Comprehensive Agreement on Bangsamoro (CAB).

The CAB, crafted by the Aquino administration and the MILF on Mar. 27, 2014 in Malacañang, is the final peace compact between the rebel group and the government.

“There is good support from stakeholders and they are ready to be engaged,” Sieber said, referring to the groups that participated in the discussions on the operational intricacies of the TJRC during a four-hour forum at the Al-Nor Commercial Complex.

Also present were GPH chief negotiator Miriam Coronel Ferrer and her MILF counterpart, Muhaquer Iqbal, Jonathan Sisson of the Swiss government, and two volunteer TJRC officials, lawyers Ishak Mastura and Cecillia Jimenez, representatives of the MILF and GPH, respectively.

Iqbal is also the concurrent chairman of the Bangsamoro Transition Commission.

“There is also willingness on both sides (GPH and MILF) to work together,” Sieber said.

He said they will initiate another similar TJRC activity within the month in Metro Manila.

Representatives from the Malaysian-led International Monitoring Team, a multinational contingent helping enforce the government-MILF ceasefire in flashpoint areas in Mindanao, and an observer from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland, Kimmo Kiljunen, also joined in the symbolic launching of the TJRC.

Ferrer said the TJRC will also study and recommend programs meant to hasten the reconciliation of the different communities affected by the Mindanao Moro uprising.