GMA vows consultations before MILF talks are resumed

CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao – President Arroyo assured the people of Mindanao yesterday that they would be consulted before the government resumes peace talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

Speaking to reporters at Awang Airport here, Mrs. Arroyo said any final peace agreement must be acceptable to all sectors in Mindanao.

“There is no alternative to peace,” she said.

However, Mrs. Arroyo said the threats to the peace talks must be “neutralized” to ensure tranquility in the region.

“We cannot negotiate under threat,” she said.

Mrs. Arroyo said her administration is committed to “lasting peace” and “sustainable development” in Mindanao.

Local officials and other sectors would be given roles in the Mindanao peace process, she added.

Mrs. Arroyo said the government’s new peace panel, led by Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Rafael Seguis, is composed of members from across Mindanao. Seguis himself is from Surigao, she added.

UK peace negotiators

Two Britons who successfully negotiated peace between Britain and the Irish Republican Army in 1998 are in the country to try to revive the stalled peace talks between the government and the MILF.

“The purpose of the visit is to help the government and the MILF overcome current obstacles to resurrecting the peace process through exchanging ideas with the negotiators from the very challenging yet ultimately successful talks in Northern Ireland,” a Malacañang statement said.

Jonathan Powell, chief of staff of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and Gerry Kelly, a member of the Northern Ireland Parliament, are scheduled to meet with Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita at Malacañang today.

Retired Gen. Hermogenes Esperon Jr., presidential adviser on the peace process, said Powel and Kelly could use their experience in negotiating peace in Northern Ireland in resolving the long-drawn conflict in Mindanao.

The Geneva-based Center for Humanitarian Dialogue arranged their visit.

Talks between the government and the MILF collapsed in August last year after both sides failed to sign the memorandum of agreement on ancestral domain after the Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional. – John Unson, Paolo Romero, Jose Rodel Clapano and James Mananghaya