OPAPP: Consider peace process when picking poll bets

MANILA, Philippines - The Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process has asked voters to consider their candidates' stand on peace when casting their ballots on May 9.

“Sana naman isipin niyo yung paninindigan, o walang paninindigan ng kandidato tungkol sa prosesong pang-kapayapaan. Walang shortcuts sa kapayapaan,” Presidential adviser Teresita Quintos-Deles said in an OPAPP press release.

“Naghirap tayong lahat in the last six years na mailagay ang peace process kung nasaan siya ngayon. Hindi pa tapos. Marami pang gagawin but certainly we are in a much better place than when we found it,” she also said.

The OPAPP has been advocating passage of the Bangsamoro Basic Law, which will create a new entity that will be part of the Philippines, but whose government will have more autonomy than the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

She said that convergence of the peace processes with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and Moro National Liberation Front, which has signed separate peace agreements with the government, would have been achieved had the BBL been passed.

Passage of the BBL has been put on hold because of doubts raised by critics on whether the proposal is constitutional, on lack of quorum at the House of Representatives, and by Congress being on break for the elections.

Critics of the proposal have also said that the BBL, which is based on the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro with the MILF, should include the MNLF.

"If the BBL had been passed, the MNLF would be given equitable representation in the Bangsamoro Transition Authority—the temporary government that will bridge the ARMM and the Bangsamoro —as well as encourage them to field candidates for the elections in the envisioned parliamentary region," OPAPP said, citing the recent conclusion of a tripartite review of the peace deal with the MNLF.

Deles said that aside from the peace processes with the MILF and MNLF, the next administration will also have to handle peace talks with the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army-National Democratic Front.

“[I]mportante na tignan doon sa mga kandidato [kung] ano ba ang kanilang pagtingin, ano ba ang kanilang commitment tungkol sa dalawang major na lamesang ito. Sana pag-isipan natin sino ba dito ang may klarong pag-intindi sa naganap na at sino ang mukha talagang wala pa,” Deles said.

She noted that peace processes with other groups have also been progressing. She said that the bulk of the work in the peace table with the Cordillera Bodong Administration-Cordillera People's Liberation Army has already been done.

“Doon naman sa RPM-P/RPA/ABB [Rebolusyonaryong Partido ng Manggagawa-Pilipinas/Revolutionary Proletarian Army/Alex Boncayao Brigade], tinatapos na lang ang ilang mga detalye [pero] operational na dahil, politically, ay nagkasundo rin naman between [government] and RPM-P/RPA/ABB at inaasahan pa rin natin na mapipirmahan iyan. The implementation of that agreement, in fact, ay naumpisahan na in several areas,” she said.