Alas, for peace!

Over a stretch of time that spanned from the late dictator President Ferdinand Marcos all the way to incumbent President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, the government has been trying to forge a final and enduring peace agreement with Muslim rebels in Mindanao. More than four decades later, the government (GRP) is still struggling to come up with a peace pact with Muslim rebels who, up to now have not given up their bid to secede Mindanao from the Republic of the Philippines.

Modern Philippine history has shown determined efforts by our country’s previous leaders to achieve a long and lasting peace in our lands, including those with our brother Muslims in Mindanao. Alas, however, peace remains elusive.

During the Marcos era, he even sent his wife, former First Lady Imelda Marcos, to Libya that paved the way for the so-called Tripoli Agreement of the government with the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) headed then by Nur Misuari as chairman. It was a historic breakthrough as it paved the way for the MNLF to work out a peace settlement with the government to end their secessionist bid within the framework of the country’s Constitution.

Somewhere along the way, the peace talks during the Marcos regime with the MNLF got snagged and overtaken by the 1986 EDSA People Power Revolution. When former President Corazon C. Aquino took over the government, she sent her brother-in-law, Agapito “Butz” Aquino as her emissary to convince Misuari to return to the peace negotiations. At the same time, the Aquino administration tried to entice the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its military arm, the New People’s Army under the umbrella of the National Democratic Front into peace talks.

While trying to start the peace process with the CPP-NPA-NDF, the Aquino administration gave birth to a new rebel group called the Rebolusyonariong Alyansang Makabansa-Soldiers of the Filipino People- Young Officers Union (RAM-SFP-YOU). These groups were composed of disgruntled young military officers who were behind the EDSA-1 Revolution. The RAM-SFP-YOU led several failed coups d etat against Mrs. Aquino.

Alas again, even before any formal negotiations could start between the government and the CPP-NPA-NDF, assassinations of key communist leaders and counter assassinations of government officials shut down all avenues for the peace process to continue. So at the end of Mrs. Aquino’s term in 1992, nothing came out of the government’s peace efforts with the major rebel groups.

The peace process with various rebel organizations was continued by Mrs. Aquino’s “anointed” successor, former President Fidel V. Ramos. It was a feather in the cap of Ramos whose government successfully inked not just one but two peace accords. First, the Ramos administration concluded and signed a peace deal with the RAM-SFP-YOU. Ramos convinced Congress to approve a law that legalized the CPP. And in September 1996, the Ramos government secured a formal peace pact with the MNLF.

But credits to this 1996 GRP-MNLF peace agreement really should go to the late Gen. Manuel Yan. As the head of the GRP peace panel, Yan toiled to work out an acceptable and workable peace settlement with the Misuari-led MNLF. Yan passed away last month without seeing his peace efforts come into fruition.

This is because the splintered Muslim rebel group calling itself as the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) headed by Hashim Salamat refused to honor the GRP-MNLF peace agreement. Despite the GRP-MNLF peace pact brokered by Indonesia in behalf of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC), the MILF insisted to have their separate peace agreement with the GRP.

When he took over the government in June 1998, former President Joseph Estrada honored and implemented the GRP-MNLF peace pact and tried to continue the peace process with both the CPP-NPA-NDF as well as with the MILF. However, the street smart Estrada could not reconcile with both rebel groups after repeated attacks on government troopers and even harming the civilian population in their respective wars against the government.

While he was ready to resume the peace talks with the communist insurgents, Estrada declared an all-out-war against the MILF. This led to the capture of more than 40 MILF “camps” where government regained control of territories the Muslim rebels wanted to cut out of the Philippines and be called Bangsamoro nation under their own flag. That’s why, Estrada pointed out, he would rather deal with the CPP-NPA-NDF which merely advocate overthrow of government than to hold peace talks with the MILF that wages secessionist war to dismember and cut Mindanao out of the Philippine archipelago. “Instead of peace talks, I would rather have the MILF rest in peace,” Estrada declared.

On her eighth year in office, President Arroyo organized for the nth time a new composition of the government peace panel to resume the stalled peace negotiations with Muslim rebels. Mrs. Arroyo named Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Rafael Seguis to head the five-man GRP peace panel. It is still unclear, though, as to how soon the peace talks will resume as the freshly constituted GRP panel is still in the organizing stage and learning the ropes, so to speak.

The MILF reportedly rebuffed the appointment of the new members of the GRP panel and insisted on the implementation of the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) that was earlier declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. Rogue MILF commanders went on a rampage, killing of civilians and on bombing sprees again lately. This was long after the government, due to extreme reaction to that controversial agreement, was forced to scrap the MOA-AD. The latest casualties of these atrocities were six innocent civilians who were reportedly killed by renegade MILF militants who were trying to occupy their village in Sultan Kudarat on Christmas eve.

The CPP and the MILF were reportedly conducting their own talks to join forces against the government. In a statement released on its website, the CPP sounded out their offer to MILF, citing issues from the global financial crisis to the failed GRP-MILF peace negotiations, and moves by the Arroyo administration to amend the country’s 1987 Constitution. Alas, anew, we might never see peace in a piece of paper signed at any time soon.