By Leila M. de Lima
At the heart of this conflict really isn’t the failure of the BJE to materialize, or the breakdown of the negotiations of the MOA-AD. It is not the rogue armies that the AFP must hunt. These are causes. The heart, the heart — bled profusely — of this conflict is the civilian.

In a post at the MILF’s official website, the front lists the damage caused by the military offensive, both in terms of actual cost and lives lost/affected.

Bangsamoro Youth Leaders Forum
Press Statement
August 19, 2008
MORO YOUTH LEADERS PUSH FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE
The Philippine government is once more trying to dupe the Bangsamoro people in its persistent desire to suppress the Moro’s inherent and legitimate right to govern themselves in accordance with the prescriptions of the Holy Qur’an. Still not contented with giving us [...]

Responsibility for the escalating armed conflict in Mindanao should be laid squarely on the US-backed Arroyo regime. Through its self-serving and deceitful maneuvers, the Arroyo regime has severely damaged the peace process, provoked armed confrontation, and allowed escalating foreign intervention in the country’s internal affairs including armed conflicts.

Reiterating the government’s crackdown on the forces of Commanders Umbra Kato and Bravo, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said Tuesday that the rampage of lawless MILF elements calls for resolute military and police action.

By Carlos H. Conde
Arroyo has been faced with a dilemma: whether to salvage the peace process, or abandon it and deal with the rebels much more forcefully, as her predecessor, Joseph Estrada, had done. Either way, according to analysts and experts, there are big political risks.

By the Policy Study, Publication, and Advocacy
Center for People Empowerment in Governance (CenPEG)
Peace is not just the absence of war. It is the outcome of settling an armed conflict by addressing its fundamental roots toward a just and lasting peace. Unless the causes are addressed, any peace that is forged is just a means of preserving an unjust status quo leading to bigger tensions. The peace process can bring about a simulated peace -– but not the ultimate solution to the Bangsamoro people’s historic and just grievances.

By Alan Davis
Philippine Human Rights Reporting Project
The question we need to ask these pundits on the airwaves and in the populist print is how many of them are taking time out to come here to listen, learn and see for themselves at first hand the things they are talking about? How many are platforming their own personal prejudices in place of helping audiences to understand and appreciate more? What are their practical suggestions? War and killing?

By Carlos H. Conde
“Clearly the MILF are really frustrated. After years of back and forth negotiations, breakdowns in talks, etc, they finally reached a territorial deal. But the Supreme Court imposed an injunction, stating that the agreement could be unconstitutional, something that I have warned about. For the MILF, it is not checks and balances of democracy but evidence of a fundamental lack of commitment to the peace process by the government.”

By Carlos H. Conde
Almost instantly, the other aspect of the peace deal that had riled many Filipinos prior to the attacks –- the allegation that the agreement was a Trojan horse designed to keep Arroyo in power beyond 2010 –- was nearly forgotten.

By Benjie Oliveros
So much controversy has surrounded the signing of the Memorandum of Agreement on ancestral domain between the Arroyo government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). Instead of engendering peace, it has led to the escalation of the conflict; instead of bringing about unity and the community of peoples, it has led to tensions between the MILF and the affected communities of North Cotabato.

By Ronalyn Olea
After a High Court justice branded as “patently illegal” the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain, the U.S. Ambassador was quick to deny any involvement in the aborted signing of the pact. But critics have pointed to the prominent role that the U.S. had played in the GRP-MILF peace negotiations.

The MOA has conditions that effectively exempt from the ancestral domain and BJE authority the mining, forest, and other resource areas covered by existing laws, executive agreements, and policies in favor of foreign corporations, local landowners, and other non-Muslim stakeholders. Likewise, the central government can always invoke “emergency situation” and “national interest” to exercise authority over energy resources.

“The Arroyo government, like its predecessors, is led by big landlords and compradors who have vast and entrenched economic and political interests in most of what the MOA defines as the Bangsmoro homeland. It is inconceivable that the national government as well as the local warlords and other vested interests who benefit tremendously from the present set-up would easily give up the Bangsamoro homeland to the Moro people.”

The Philippine Human Rights Reporting Project through journalist Vincent Sawabi listened to different voices in Sulu – the young and old, the politicized and otherwise, the believer and the cynical – on the impact of the recent kidnapping to their province and to their lives. Listen to know if peace will remain elusive to their island, once known for its bountiful natural riches and culture.

For Mohagher Iqbal, the chief negotiatior of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, Malaysia’s pullout from the International Monitoring Team (IMT) in the peace talks with the Philippine government means the negotiations are “shaky on the ground.” In this Q&A with Bulatlat, he explains the implications.

Asia Report N° TK 14 May 2008
The Philippines: COUNTER-INSURGENCY VS. COUNTER-TERRORISM IN MINDANAO
Executive Summary and recommendations
U.S.-backed security operations in the southern Philippines are making progress but are also confusing counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency with dangerous implications for conflict in the region. The “Mindanao Model” — using classic counter-insurgency techniques to achieve counter-terror goals [...]

Analysis | Without the IMT, or even if it is still there but with reduced personnel, the risks of increased violent encounters between GRP and MILF forces will be high. Past experiences also shows the possibility of another major war to happen is something that cannot be dismissed.