EDITORIAL - Weak republic

If the government wants to release P25 million for the development of impoverished conflict areas in Mindanao, it should release the money to local governments or non-government organizations with a good track record in working for peace. The government should not dangle the money to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front as a reward for turning in its two commanders who led the raid on several villages in Mindanao following the scrapping of the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain.

Those raids, and the subsequent failure of the MILF leadership to rein in its violent elements, betrayed the lack of control of the separatist group’s peace negotiators over their members. Unlike in the past, MILF leaders have not disowned the raiders as members of “lost commands.” The leaders have also announced that they would not turn in the two commanders, Ameril Umbra Kato and Abdurahman Macapaar, alias Bravo, but would instead subject the two to MILF sanctions.

Separatist aspirations are fueled in large part by poverty. Intolerance and the failure to achieve peaceful co-existence with other cultures often arise from illiteracy or mis-education. Even with peace negotiations stalled, the government should focus on intensifying efforts to bring development to the conflict areas of Mindanao. Aid and development projects must also be poured into the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, which is composed of provinces whose people voted for inclusion in a special region that operates within the framework of the Constitution. The full promise of Muslim autonomy has not yet been realized in the ARMM. The original peace agreement forged with the Moro National Liberation Front more than 10 years ago should be made to work.

Kato and Bravo must be hunted down like the common criminals that they are, and then punished for mass murder, arson and thievery. If MILF leaders do not want to turn over their fugitive commanders, they are harboring criminals, and their sincerity in forging peace can only be doubted. They must not be bribed with P25 million to do the right thing. Only a weak republic, unable to enforce the law in its own territory, makes such an offer.