As the newly-created Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) takes its initial steps towards its full operation, President Rodrigo Duterte is eyeing another peace agreement, this time with the once largest separatist Muslim group in the country.
Last Monday, Duterte met with Moro National Liberation Front chairman Nur Misuari at Malacañang in an effort to strike a peace deal with the MNLF. The Moro leader is willing to return to the negotiating table, according to the president.
Well, we already knew the MNLF is the same group the government had negotiated with during the Aquino and Ramos administrations. The peace talks were successful despite the opposition of other Moro rebel groups such as the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
Filipinos had thought peace would finally reign in Mindanao as the success of the negotiation paved the way for the creation of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, whose first governor was Misuari himself.
However, mismanagement and allegations of corruption derailed the ARMM, whose primary role was supposedly to improve the lives of those living in its area of responsibility, where some of the country’s poorest provinces are located. Added to the problem is the refusal of other groups to honor the autonomous region.
We do not yet know how the government’s peace talks with the MILF rebels will go. But Filipinos are really hoping that any negotiations with the Misuari group should conform to the BTA, the interim governing body of the newly established Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
The government has been religiously doing its part for Mindanao’s eventual peace. But the problem, it seems, lies in those Moro rebel groups because of their refusal to unite in the peace negotiation efforts.
We all want a lasting peace for Mindanao for it to economically take off eventually. And, as we see it, the government is on the right track in its peace efforts. Now, those Muslim separatist groups should also do their part.