“Don’t give up hope. As soon as that happens, we’re finished,” Member of Parliament Paul Murphy said at a public forum, titled “Post-settlement and power sharing in divided societies: The experience of Northern Ireland and Insights for Mindanao and the Philippines,” held on Thursday at the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) in Makati City.

Murphy, a former secretary of State for Northern Ireland and Wales, served as “talks minister” for then-Prime Minister Tony Blair.

He said lessons learned in talks between England and Northern Ireland can be used in resolving the Mindanao question.

Murphy compared Mindanao to Northern Ireland, which suffered from violence for 30 years.

“It was clear that the people had had enough of war and the conflict. They realized that they didn’t want their children to see the same horrors that they experienced in their own lives.... You declare war in your own country, you don’t win,” he said.

Murphy identified “good signs” that point to the ripening of the peace talks. The MILF’s submission of a new peace proposal to the Malaysian third-party negotiator means they are ready to talk, he said.

Another positive indicator, he said, is a recent survey that majority of Filipinos are hopeful that a final peace agreement will be forged between the government and the MILF and that President Aquino’s meeting with MILF Chairman Al Haj Murad Ibrahim is also a step in the right direction.

It is important for the people to become invested in the peace process, Murphy pointed out.

The public forum was organized by International Alert with the support of the British Embassy and in cooperation with the AIM Center for Development Management, TeaM Energy Center for Bridging Leadership and the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process.

(Butch Fernandez)