EDITORIAL - Beyond peace agreements

In case anyone has forgotten, a peace agreement is already in place with Islamic secessionists, and an autonomous Muslim region created, as approved in a plebiscite, to address rebel aspirations for a Bangsamoro homeland. The head of this original secessionist group, Nur Misuari, was installed as governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. His group, the Moro National Liberation Front, was allowed to keep its weapons following the signing of the peace pact 13 years ago. Many MNLF members were integrated into the military and police. The peace agreement, also brokered with the help of the international community, is recognized by the Organization of Islamic Conference.

Misuari, who flopped as ARMM governor and then staged a mini rebellion that left over 100 people dead from Zamboanga to Sulu when he was about to lose his grip on power, is complaining that certain provisions of the peace agreement have not yet been implemented. The government cannot rush into signing a separate peace agreement with a group that broke away from the MNLF, just so President Arroyo can point to something as her legacy, without considering the implementation of the original peace pact.

The government needs to be particularly careful in forging a separate peace agreement with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in the face of reports of its duplicity. The latest case involves the kidnapping of Irish priest Michael Sinnott, which security officials have blamed on MILF members. As in previous cases when their members were tagged in criminal acts, MILF leaders who are involved in the peace process disowned the kidnappers and offered to help secure Sinnott’s release. Sinnott walked to freedom accompanied by MILF members and was presented to the public on the day that US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, whose government has been actively pushing for a peace agreement, arrived in Manila. Sinnott cleared the MILF in his kidnapping, but Philippine intelligence officers, citing the priest’s debriefing, said he had identified two MILF negotiators among his kidnappers.

While sorting out these matters, the government must remember that it has a 13-year-old agreement still to fully honor and implement. As the MNLF experience has shown, making a peace pact work can be as difficult as the road to its signing.