source: LUWARAN

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) has asked the Philippine government to be serious in their 10-year old peace talks to solve the Mindanao Problem and end the sufferings of the people and arrest the bankruptcy of the government. Jun Mantawil, head of the MILF peace panel Secretariat, told Luwaran by phone that the government will not be short of pretentions why the talks is not moving but what it cannot hide is the fact that the remaining term of President Arroyo is not far away and even the ancestral domain aspect of the Tripoli Agreement of 2001 has not been hurdled by the two Parties, despite the excellent facilitation of the Malaysian government.

“Don’t dribble too much. 2001 to 2010 is too long for a decisive president to clinch an agreement with the MILF to address the problem in Mindanao?” he asked.

The talks remained impasse since September 2006, saying the government has practically kept changing not only its position on the territory strand of ancestral domain but also its peace negotiators.

Secretary Silvestre Afable Jr., who resigned for failing to get enough support from fellow cabinet members, was replaced by Father Eliseo Mercado Jr. only to refuse the appointment few days later out of delicadeza.  Former Senator Jun Magsaysay’s name cropped up, but he declined taking the job citing health problem and lack of in-depth knowledge of the Mindanao conflict.

Finally, retired Lt. Gen. Rodolfo Garcia, who became the deputy chief of staff o the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), was appointed new government chief negotiator.

He also served in the government Coordinating Committee on Cessation of Hostilities (CCCH) and at the time of his appointment as chief government negotiator was also member of the government peace panel.

The government has also initiated moves to postpone the talks twice, first on May 1-2, 2007 and second on August 22, 2007 citing flimsy reasons.

Mantawil said the December 1, 2006 and August 27, 2007 meetings are not resumption of the talks in the strict sense, stating that the first was merely a question-and-answer session wherein the MILF negotiators merely asked question on the latest proposal of the government offering right to self-determination (RSD) to the MILF for the first time, and the recent meeting in Cyberjaya, Selangor, Malaysia as mainly to extend the tour of duty of the International Monitoring Team (IMT) which expired August 31, 2007.

President Arroyo recently announced that the talks would resume this month, but after the recent meeting in Malaysia, the Parties discovered that their respective positions on territory are wide apart. A source, who declined to be named, described the government latest posture on territory as a watered down of their position formulated in June this year. He did not provide details.

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