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THE Moro
Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) has accused the Arroyo
administration of allegedly reverting to a total war
policy after it refused to abide by consensus points on
ancestral domain that the government and MILF peace
panels had worked on for more than three years.
In its
official web site, the MILF based its claim on the
government’s alleged persistence in eluding the issue of
ancestral domain, and said it is prepared to go to war
if necessary.
“President Arroyo is reversing her policy from all-out
peace policy to all-out war,” Luwaran.com quoted
Muhammad Ameen, chairman of the MILF secretariat, as
saying.
Ameen
added: “This is a tragic decision. She has done an
irreversible damage to the pacific ways of resolving
conflict, which the two parties, the Malaysian
government, Libya, Brunei and Japan and other members of
the international community have nurtured for years. She
will be hounded by her conscience, if she has one, until
she dies for abandoning the peace talks in favor of a
bloodbath in
Mindanao.”
He said
the MILF does not favor war, “but those who want peace
to prevail must prepare for war.”
“Readiness and preparedness are normal tasks in a
revolutionary struggle such as the MILF,” Ameen said.
Responding to the MILF claim, Press Secretary Ignacio
Bunye said: “We will never stop waging peace in
Mindanao. Without peace, there can be no progress.”
Deputy
Presidential Spokesman Lorelei Fajardo said in a
statement: “We wish to reiterate that it is not the
policy of the Arroyo administration to ‘revert’ to war.
It is the desire of this administration to pursue the
path of peace. We are optimistic that this can still be
achieved with the MILF.”
She,
however, warned against the “unfounded” allegations of
the MILF against the government, which are not conducive
to peace negotiations.
Presidential Peace Adviser Jesus Dureza on Sunday
conferred with key officials and local leaders in
Cotabato
City
and discussed the impact of the phased pullout of the
Malaysian contingent in the International Monitoring
Team (IMT).
The
Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process
said in a press statement that with the local peace
stakeholders demonstrating greater determination in
sustaining peace, “the downsizing of Malaysian peace
monitors” will lead to a breakdown in the “cease-fire
mechanism.”
The
government and the MILF are locked on the issue of
ancestral domain as the latter is pressing the
government to agree to its resolution outside the
framework of the Constitution while the government has
maintained that it cannot agree to an unconstitutional
peace agreement.
Fearing
that the withdrawal of
Malaysia
from the IMT would renew hostilities in Mindanao, a
militant legislator is seeking a House investigation on
the status of the peace talks between the government and
the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
Party-list Rep. Risa Hontiveros of Akbayan has filed
House Resolution 571 urging the House Special Committee
on Peace to investigate why the government suddenly
backtracked from the consensus points on issues
surrounding ancestral domain, governance mechanism
through the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity (BJE), and
territories claimed by the MILF, thus stalling the peace
process.
“There
are fears that the pullout of Malaysia would renew
hostilities in Mindanao, especially in light of the
coming elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim
Mindanao,” said Hontiveros.
The IMT
has actively mediated to prevent armed encounters
between government forces and the MILF.
Hontiveros claimed the impasse is the reason behind the
withdrawal of the Malaysian peacekeepers.
Also,
Hontiveros said that the pursuing peace is consistent
with the country’s adherence to the International
Humanitarian Laws and the Geneva Conventions and
Protocols under the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights. |
