‘Palace scandals may derail peace accord’

GENERAL SANTOS CITY – The Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) expressed deep concern yesterday over the series of controversies nagging the Estrada administration which, they said, could further derail the implementation of the 1996 peace agreement.

"With these controversies where the government is facing a credibility crisis, how can the peace agreement be properly implemented?" MNLF lawyer and concurrent Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Executive Secretary Randolph Parcasio lamented.

Parcasio said amendments to the ARMM Organic Act are "still hanging in the air" as legislators shifted their attention to the scandals hounding the Palace.

Parcasio said the government has also apparently neglected important concerns in Mindanao, particularly the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) problem.

"We still have a big problem here in Mindanao, and if this utter neglect by the government to address them will continue, serious repercussions on security and inevitably on the economy will likely happen," he said. — Allen Estabillo