Despite Doubts by MILF, ‘Peace is Still Possible’

Published on March 31, 2008

Dureza said the government is currently working on another draft on the ancestral domain clause that will hopefully be acceptable to the MILF to break the deadlock in the peace negotiations.

BY GERMELINA A. LACORTE
Davao Today
Posted by Bulatlat
Vol. VIII, No. 8, March 30-April 5, 2008

Sec. Jesus Dureza, the President’s adviser on the peace process, said he remains hopeful that peace is “still possible” even as he admitted the administration may be running out of time with the Presidential elections barely two years away.

“The President’s strong commitment and the openness of the MILF is reason enough to be optimistic,” Dureza said.

He said the government is currently working on another draft on the ancestral domain clause that will hopefully be acceptable to the MILF to break the deadlock in the peace negotiations.

“For days, we have been meeting with the President,” he said. “We’re formulating a new draft that hopefully will be more acceptable,” he said. He said that the government was merely trying to respond to the demands of the Bangsamoro people without going beyond the Constitutional bounds. “It’s not going to be easy,” he said, “But we’re giving it our best shot.”

The Malaysia-brokered talks with the MILF reached a deadlock on Dec. 15 after the rebel group’s panel pulled out of the negotiating table to protest the alleged unauthorized insertion made by government negotiators in the draft agreement on ancestral domain territory.

Mohagher Iqbal, MILF chief negotiator, said in an earlier report that the government peace panel inserted the phrase “constitutional process” in the draft agreement after it had been reviewed for finalization by both panels.

Towards the end of the three-day expanded central committee meeting in Butig, Lanao del Sur Tuesday, the MILF leadership expressed serious doubts in the government’s sincerity to pursue the peace talks before the end of Arroyo’s term.

Al Haj Murad Ebrahim, MILF chair, was quoted saying that the uncertainty of concluding a peace pact with the government has been causing anxiety among the Moro people. “Given the delays in the resumption of the peace talks, whether circumstantial or not, the prospect of signing is already held suspect.”

According to the MILF official website luwaran.com, the doubts were echoed loud among MILF ground military commanders, who accused the government of “dilly-dallying” just to gain time. But there were also those who viewed the peace talks as “incremental” and cannot be concluded overnight, according to the website.

Khaled Musa, deputy chair of the MILF committee on information, said the Arroyo administration is running out of “material time” to conclude a peace agreement in Mindanao.

“Next year would be a busy year for her in choosing the best bet in 2010 presidential elections, who will protect her, family, and their wealth from possible suits or confiscations from a hostile new president,” Musa said in a statement to MILF’s official website. Davao Today / (Bulatlat.com)