Palace vows to pursue peace at all costs

MANILA, Philippines - Peace at all costs.

Malacañang renewed yesterday its vow to pursue the government’s peace efforts with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) amid reluctance on the part of Muslim rebels, especially since President Aquino’s popularity is starting to dip.

“The government remains firmly committed to establishing enduring peace, which is built on a foundation of mutual trust,” Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. of the Presidential Communications Operations Office said.

He issued the statement following claims of MILF chairman Al Haj Murad that trust between the two panels has been affected after he was offended by Aquino’s failure to inform him about the Jan. 25 Mamasapano operation when they actually met days before.

The MILF official also predicts the stalled Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) bill in Congress will not be passed on time because of the waning popularity of Aquino, who is now the subject of public outrage over the killing of 44 elite police commandos by the MILF.

“What we know is that both sides continue to work on confidence-building measures and on seeing to it that an acceptable BBL may be enacted by Congress within the time frame set by the leadership of both houses,” Coloma stressed.

Aquino wants Congress to pass the BBL before June 4, when they resume sessions after their Holy Week break and when both Senate and the House of Representatives deliberate again on May 4.

Global support for Bangsamoro

The government peace panel said yesterday that global support for the Bangsamoro agreement belied the terrorist tag on the MILF.

“If the MILF was considered a terrorist organization, why does the international community, including the United Nations and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), support the peace process on the Bangsamoro?” asked government peace panel head Miriam Coronel-Ferrer.

Ferrer said that official statements of support were issued by several countries and multilateral bodies when the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro was signed. These include Singapore, Cambodia, Canada, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States, Japan, Brunei, Norway, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, European Union, and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, among others.?

“By forging the peace agreement with the government, the MILF has committed to renounce violence and terrorism as an ideology and way of life,” Ferrer said.

Genuinely Filipinos

Meanwhile, Malacañang downplayed reports that two officials of the MILF who have been dealing with the government peace panel are not Filipino but Malaysian citizens.

Coloma said that for 17 years of negotiations, the citizenship of Murad and MILF peace panel head Iqbal has never been questioned.

“In fact, both houses of Congress have recognized their legitimate roles in the peace process by inviting them to appear in congressional hearings,” Coloma said.

More peacekeepers

In Maguindanao, a new batch of Malaysian peacekeepers arrived on Saturday to replace a team of compatriots that helped enforce a ceasefire between Moro rebels and the national government for 12 months.

The leadership of the Malaysian-led International Monitoring Team (IMT) had been relinquished by its outgoing head, Maj. Gen. Abdul Samad Yaakub, to successor Maj. Gen. Sheikh Mokhsin Hassan.

The IMT, composed of soldiers from Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia and Libya and non-uniformed conflict resolution experts from Norway, Japan and the European Union, has been helping monitor the July 1997 Agreement on General Cessation of Hostilities between the government and the MILF since 2003.

Hassan, who will supervise the activities of the IMT-10 Mission, and his team arrived in Central Mindanao from Kuala Lumpur through Maguindanao last weekend.

A symbolic turnover of command, from Yaakub, head of IMT-9 Mission, to Hassan was initiated by both Malaysian Army generals immediately after the new peacekeeping contingent alighted from their C-130 plane.

Abad pitches for BBL

Budget Secretary Florencio Abad yesterday made a pitch for the BBL, which was envisioned to help lift some of the poorest provinces in the country out of poverty and put an end to conflicts in Mindanao.

“We must consider the prevailing conditions in the current Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). These include the 54 percent poverty incidence in the first semester of 2014, and the 81.5 percent simple literacy rate in 2008. These marks are one of the lowest in the country, so the region requires strong and consistent funding support to lift it out of poverty,” Abad said.

Three ARMM provinces – Sulu, Lanao del Sur and Maguindanao “ are among the poorest in the Philippines. – With Jose Rodel Clapano, John Unson, Zinnia dela Peña, Christina Mendez