‘Use of superior force alone won’t solve Moro conflict’

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. (PDP-Laban) batted for a three-step solution to the recurrent Muslim rebellion as he asserted that the use of superior force alone will not solve the problem.

Speaking at a forum on federalization sponsored by the Kusug Mindanao at the New World Hotel in Makati City last Friday, Pimentel said the use of all-out force against the Muslim uprising has never brought and will never bring peace to Mindanao unless a comprehensive plan is put in place to address the fundamental grievances of the Bangsa Moro as a people.

Noting the military’s effort in crushing armed assaults by followers of Nur Misuari, Pimentel proposed the following steps:

• In the short run, declare a ceasefire at an opportune time;

• In the middle run, negotiate with the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and continue the negotiations with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) but not with the Abu Sayyaf bandits.

• In the long run, offer to the Bangsa Moro a federal state of their own as part of a federal republic.

Pimentel said the government has the right and duty to assert its superiority over those who challenge it with the use of force. But he said this should only be tactical, not strategic, in the matter of dealing with armed Muslim uprisings.

"Otherwise, the use of force will result only in establishing the peace of the graveyard, not the just and lasting peace that we all want for Mindanao and the rest of the country," he said.

Pimentel decried that the past governments and the present one tended to oversimplify the Moro problem by pursuing "shallow" solutions that scratch the surface of but do not address the fundamental issues inherent in the problem.

While saying that there is nothing inherently wrong with using superior force, he said this move "to suppress the just aspirations of the Moro people is good only up to a point."

"Misuari is not the cause of the incessant and recurring Muslim rebellion on the island. Misuari is merely a symptom of the malaise afflicting Mindanao since the Spanish colonial era up to the present," the opposition senator said.

Pimentel said the proposal to adopt a federal form of government is meant primarily to provide the foundation for a just and lasting peace in Central and Southern Mindanao.

He said this is also meant to provide an equal opportunity for the development of the regions to counter the perception, if not the reality, that Metro Manila is favored over other regions in matters of development.

"The adoption of the federal form of government would give the Bangsa Moro a fuller opportunity to promote their own identity and culture and economic development at their own pace without the need to secede or declare their independence from the republic," Pimentel said.