Less than three years before President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo gets out of the presidential palace in 2010, one high ranking official of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) is skeptical whether she is really determined to leave behind a legacy of peace in Mindanao by signing a peace pact with the MILF that really addressed the Bangsamoro Problem. Muhammad Ameen, chairperson of the MILF Secretariat, told Luwaran by phone that he doubts very much the decisiveness of Arroyo on this matter, saying that as far the peace process with the MILF is concerned three cabinet members are now the ones steering it to an unknown direction.


He said there are many spoilers of the peace process especially in Mindanao, but all those are secondary and the main or worst spoilers are those in the government itself.

He said that he received very reliable report that Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, Secretary Ronaldo Puno, and Secretary Norberto Gonzales are the ones setting the direction of the peace process with the MILF.

Sometimes in 2003, representatives of non-government organizations (NGOs) based in Mindanao had an audience with President Arroyo in Malacanang and the subject of appointment was about the peace process in Mindanao.  Knowing this as the matter of discussion, Arroyo called for Ermita, a veteran of the peace process in Mindanao, to be at her side. One of the questions asked was about the GRP-MILF peace negotiations. Instead of answering the question, she it tossed to Ermita, who quickly answered, without knowing that some of those present were sympathizers of the MILF, said: “Gaya rin ng MNLF, paikutin lang natin ang MILF” (Like the MNLF, we will just tricked the MILF).

The MILF and government peace panels have just returned from Malaysia for a special meeting on August 27, to discuss the extension of the tour of duty of the Malaysian-led International Monitoring Team (IMT) which expired last August 31, 2007.

The two Parties agreed to extend the IMT’s mandate to one more year up to August 31, 2008.

However, they failed to schedule the next round of talks after a preliminary and informal discussion on territory, which after all caused the impasse of the talks since September 2006, yielded uncompromising positions by both sides.

They ended their meeting with the understanding that they will continue to find common grounds on territory in order to resume their exploratory talks.

Secretary Rodolfo Garcia headed the government peace team while Mohagher Iqbal led the MILF delegation.

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