Arroyo Should Exercise ‘Political Will’ to Salvage GRP-MILF Talks: Expert

COTABATO CITY — A prominent Bangsamoro analyst and civil society leader has appealed to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to exercise her political will to salvage the peace talks between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

This, said Prof. Abhoud Syed M. Lingga, could prevent the possibility that the conflict situation in Mindanao would slide back to violent confrontation between government forces and the Bangsamoro liberation forces.

Lingga, the executive director of the Institute of Bangsamoro Studies, a think tank based in Cotabato City, urged the government to sign with the MILF the consensus points reached between the two negotiating panels for the last three years in order for the negotiations to move forward. “The consensus points are good starting points for government and MILF to talk on any power-sharing arrangement,” Lingga said.

He said that “to resolve sovereignty-based conflicts, like the conflict between government and the Bangsamoro people, there is need for new political thinking on the part of government.”

“The problem in Mindanao is political in nature, and what is needed is political decision on the part of the highest leadership of the country,” Lingga explained. “If there are legal problems the leadership has to initiate the reinterpretation, repeal, or amendment of laws that are obstacles to the political decision.”

The peace talks between the government and MILF arrived at a snag last December 15, 2007 when the MILF negotiating panel refused to meet the GRP negotiating panel because the government draft of a proposed memorandum of agreement on ancestral domain did not contain much of the consensus points earlier agreed by the two parties, and the GRP added a provision which provides that implementation of the agreement will have to follow constitutional process.

The MILF is objecting any provision requiring observance of constitutional process because it is a violation of the “gentlemen’s agreement” reached by the GRP and MILF to re-start the negotiations in 2001.

“Just to have the talks re-started in 2001 after the all-out war in year 2000, the GRP and MILF had the understanding that the issue of Philippine sovereignty and territorial integrity over the Bangsamoro homeland as well as the use of the Philippine constitution as basis of the negotiations should not be raised by the Philippine peace panel,” Lingga said. “On the other hand, the MILF should not table the discussion on the issue of Bangsamoro independence.”

Because of the phrase “constitutional process” in the 1976 Tripoli Agreement, the talks between the GRP and the Moro National Liberation Front were dragged for twenty years, Lingga observed. He also noted that the phrase “constitutional process” is what made the 1996 peace accord ineffective in resolving the Bangsamoro issue.

Lingga doubted the position of government that the consensus points will infringe on the constitution because government is now offering federalism to the MILF which is not provided in the constitution. If government can offer federalism, why it cannot sign the consensus points, he asked. (pinoypress.net)