Mindanao traders hail ceasefire accord

DAVAO CITY — Mindanao businessmen welcomed yesterday the signing of a ceasefire agreement between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in Libya last Friday which brought a glimmer of hope for peace to finally reign in the country’s southern region.

The Mindanao Business Council (MBC) said the truce was a positive step toward the creation of the right environment for local businesses to recover.

"Mindanao’s economy has been badly battered by the peace and order problem. We hope this ceasefire agreement would cause the economy to improve," said MBC chairman Joji Ilagan Bian.

Leaders of the government and MILF peace panels signed in Tripoli, Libya a peace agreement that includes a cessation of fighting, rehabilitation of war-devastated areas and the start of negotiations on the return of Muslim land held by government troops.

The agreement was signed by Jesus Dureza, presidential assistant for Mindanao, and Al Haj Murad, vice chairman of the MILF. The accord is expected to bring economic development in Mindanao where the MILF has been waging a decades-long armed rebellion for an independent Muslim state.

Bian said the people of Mindanao have suffered for a long time already from the fighting between the rebels and the military.

Aside from the MILF, government troops are hunting members of the Abu Sayyaf, a bandit group still holding around two dozen hostages in Basilan province.

Bian noted that investments have stopped coming to Mindanao because of the hostilities. "Even foreign-assisted projects were stalled because of the problems with the MILF and the Abu Sayyaf," she said.

Bian added that Mindanao’s economy is highly vulnerable to the effects of negative publicity.

"But we hope the ceasefire agreement would improve everything. We hope it would not be limited only to the cessation of hostilities but that it would result in a lasting peace accord," she said.

MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu said they hope the agreement would bring an end to skirmishes between Muslim guerrillas and government forces.

"We hope skirmishes can be avoided, but we cannot promise that it would be 100 percent avoided in reality," he said.

Former President Joseph Estrada had ordered an all-out war on the MILF, launching offensives in areas being controlled by the rebel group. The offensives resulted in the capture of several rebel camps.

The MILF’s rebellion has left more than 120,000 people dead from clashes in the last 30 years.