GRP-MILF peace talks

“Latest broadsheet reports seem to show that the Aquino government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) are gaining positive grounds in reaching a successful agreement. Majority of Filipinos and international stakeholders, who would like to see the end of the conflict between the Philippine government and the MILF, must be feeling ‘a closely guarded optimism’ about the forthcoming re-opening of peace talks after the MILF abandoned its demand for separatism, and instead, chose the option of creating a ‘sub-state.’”

This view is expressed in a letter written by Saeed A. Daof,  Philippine Constitution Association (PHILCONSA) vice-president for Mindanao to PHILCONSA president Manuel “Lolong” Lazaro, on the implication of amending the Philippine Constitution to achieve a speedy resolution of the conflict between the government and the MILF. A copy of Daof’s letter was sent to House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr.

 There is sense in Daof’s observation that “there is merit in looking into the possibility of amending the Philippine Constitution if the intended purpose is aimed and designed to benefit the country and people regardless of creed, cause, color, ethnicity, and religion. Such amendments could be enacted by Congress and ratified by the people through a national plebiscite.”

However, writes Daof, amending the Constitution simply to satisfy the demand of the MILF as a prerequisite to concluding and signing a GRP-MILF peace agreement will be open to public dissent and suspicion of a ‘sell-out’ of the patrimony of the nation because the silent majority of our people are opposed to the possible decapitation of the country as well as providing an avenue or opportunity to the MILF to secede in the future.

“If indeed it is true that the MILF is demanding a sub-state rather than a separate state, this is a good start in the re-opening of the peace talks.” But, he suggested, “Why not conclude and sign a peace agreement within the context and purview of the present constitution? In this manner, both sides can work together as a team and not as adversaries in proposing amendments to the constitution that are likely to be more acceptable to the silent majority. Remember that concluding and signing a peace agreement is just the beginning of the actual peace process in the grassroots level of society.”

According to Daof, the conflict between the government and the rebel group has been going on for more than 30 years, caused more than 100,000 deaths, brought tremendous losses and damage to public and personal properties; stymied the inflow of foreign investments; posed a great stumbling block to the expeditious development and reconstruction of Mindanao, and, to a large degree, sapped government resources that could have otherwise been put to good use during the more than ten years of negotiations that have not yielded any formal agreement.

The peace advocate noted that during those years of negotiation, discussions were focused on “recitals of the benefits and windfall of the peace process that could accrue to the MILF, its constituents, adherents and sympathizers, once a peace agreement is concluded and signed. The Philippine panel of negotiators during the last ten years did not, or was not able to, convince the MILF — as the previous negotiators did in the Tripoli Accord and the 1996 GRP-MNLF (Moro National Liberation Front) Peace Agreement — to formally affirm and recognize the sovereignty, territorial integrity and the Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines.”

Daof wrote that after affirming and recognizing the sovereignty, territorial integrity and the Philippine Constitution, “obviously the next thing to hurdle is enlisting and winning the full cooperation of both Houses of Congress in ensuring that appropriate laws, funds and external loan guarantees to implement the post-war economic development and reconstruction process are enacted within a reasonable time frame.”

This phase is very important as there must be specificity in the quantification of the post-war development process, promotion and development of a culture of peace among peoples emerging from conflict and trauma healing for those adversely affected by the war.  

To help enlighten the public about the Mindanao peace process and the implication of amending the Philippine Constitution, Daof , who is the current chairman of the Southern Philippines Development Authority, said that the early signing of a GRP-MILF Peace Agreement would greatly benefit Mindanao, and the country for that matter. He further said that PHILCONSA will be conducting “Forums on GRP-MILF Conflict Transformation.”

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On another front, perhaps of greater import than the coming home of President Noynoy with the five-year Millennium Challenge Corporation’s $434-million dollar compact aimed at reducing poverty through economic growth, is the announcement of the President’s progressive position on family planning, i.e., acknowledging the government’s obligation to inform citizens and assisting those in need of family planning methods.

The announcement is surely kicking up a storm within the Roman Catholic community which favors only the natural family planning method.

The response of reproductive health advocates to Noynoy’s position has been overwhelmingly positive. They have ammunition to pursue their fight to get a reproductive health bill passed in the 15th Congress.

Representative Edcel C. Lagman, as reported in the STAR’s issue yesterday, said Noynoy’s “endorsement would fittingly cap (his) administration’s first 100 days and mitigate early setback.”

House Bill No. 96 (the first of five bills filed in Congress) that he authored, guarantees “the right to make free and informed decisions” and promotes “without bias all modern natural and artificial methods of family planning that are medically safe, legal and effective.”

Lagman mentioned that maternal health and reduction of maternal mortality are one of the eight areas targeted by the Millennium Development Goal. The goal is to reduce maternal mortality by more than one-half by year 2015. Unfortunately, the Philippines is far from achieving that goal.

 “While the Philippines is the 12th most populous country in the world, its human development index ranking has slipped to 105th among 182 countries in the latest Human Development Report released by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in 2009,” said Lagman. “A high population growth rate of 2.04 percent impacts adversely on all indicators of human development like health, education, food security, employment, mass housing and the environment.”

Ben de Leon, president of the Forum for Family Planning and Development and member of the Catholics for RH Movement (C4RH), an alliance of Catholics who are for reproductive health coming from various parts of the country, says, “We are pleased that P-Noy has unwavered in his support for family planning. This is a clear pro-women stand of the President, and we support him.”

C4RH in Davao City member and the population program officer of the City Population Division  said the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, have expressed their disappointment over Noynoy’s position. “But as a Catholic I express my admiration for the President. The poor health of Filipinos, especially of women, has a lot to do with the lack of political will of leaders for many years.”

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