Summit for peace in Mindanao

The conflict in Mindanao is not limited to the hostilities between Christians and Muslims, but rather envelopes Christians and Muslims and other ethnic groups, and between Muslims and Muslims. How can there be peace when war seeths in the hearts of the people, when an all-consuming anger and prejudice prevail over day-to-day dealings among the inhabitants of Min-danao?

It's heartening that there are organizations that work for peace through dialogue among the peoples of Mindanao. Among these is the Mindanao People's Peace Movement (MPPM) which is sponsoring the 2nd biennial Peace Summit on the theme, "Tri-Peoples‚ Vision for a Lasting Peace in Mindanao," which will be held at the Southern Christian College (SCC) in Midsayap, Cotabato From Dec. 17-20. SCC and the Rotary Club of Midsayap are co-hosting the significant event which will be participated in by some 500 delegates and observers.

Participating in the summit are some representatives of MPPM and SCC, government agencies, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), National Commission on Indigenous Peoples, and observers from East Timor, Burma, USA, Canada, Europe and South Korea.

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Dr. Erlinda Senturias, president of SCC, says the Peace Summit will bring together Indigenous peoples' Bangsamoro people, and Mindanao settlers and their descendants. "It is our hope that we can discover how best we, the tri-peoples in Mindanao can sing our songs for a just and lasting peace in Mindanao," she says. "The Peace Summit hopefully will come up with innovative ideas and practical ways and means that we can begin to adopt as part of our peace and development education and activities at SCC. Hopefully, just like Mary (in the story of the Magnificat) the reflection and the people's platform for peace will enable us to chant our own song."

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Alvero O. Senturias Jr., consultant, Institute for Peace and Development Studies and chair of the Mindanao People's Peace Movement, gives us the background of the conflict in Mindanao. The Bangsamoro, he says, have been struggling for their right to self- determination, and have used all means, including armed struggle, to assert what they believe is a right that has been deprived them by successive American and Philippine governments.

The acceptance by the Moro National Liberation Front of autonomy by signing the Tripoli Accord in 1996 led to the formation of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which continues to fight for an independent Bangsamoro State. The subsequent signing of the Jakarta and Manila Accords in 1996, between the Philippine government and the MNLF, has helped defuse the tension in Mindanao.

However, with the incarceration of former Autonomous Governor Nur Misuari and the divisions in the ranks of the MNLF, the situation is still not stable. Meanwhile, there are strong moves from certain quarters calling for the establishment of a Muslim state as part of a Federal Republic of the Philippines.

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The main agenda of the Peace Summit in Midsayap is the proposal for a UN-supervised referendum on political options in Mindanao. The proposal calls for a UN-supervised referendum to be held in the ARMM area and areas contiguous to it which are predominantly Muslim-populated. The referendum, says Al, will enable them to decide whether the Bangsamoro people would remain with the Philippines whether as an autonomous region or a federal state, or whether it would constitute itself as an entirely separate and independent political entity or state.

There is need for people who will be affected by the referendum to be thoroughly informed about the issue, and advocates of the federal state or independence as well as government representatives who are for the status quo, must be allowed to campaign in all the areas, free from any harassment by any political group. The process of information-education will take about five to seven years. At the same time, there must be a commitment by all groups to enter into a period of restrained military operations.

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The idea of a referendum as a peaceful and democratic way of solving political problems is not new, says Al. It has been tried with success in Czechoslovakia, where it resulted in the peaceful partition of the country into the Czech and Slovak Republics. In Quebec, Canada a referendum has been held twice during the last several years to ascertain whether Quebec would like to be independent or remain with the Canadian Confederacy. More recently, a UN-conducted referendum ended a war of independence waged by the people of East Timor against the Indonesia forces of occupation. (More on the Summit in Saturday's column)

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