Moro rebels reject government peace proposal
By Jill Beltran
August 24, 2011
MANILA — The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rejected Tuesday a government proposal for autonomy in the Philippines’ south as inadequate but said it will continue the peace talks.
Representatives from the MILF insisted on a substate for minority Muslims, chief government negotiator Marvic Leonen told reporters in a video conference from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where the talks were held.
He said the government position omitted the word “substate” because that would require a change in the Philippine Constitution.
Leonen said the government proposal called “three for one” contained autonomy but the rebels believed it did not go far enough.
The “three for one” proposal stands for “massive social services and economic development, political settlement with the MILF, and cultural historical acknowledgement,” Leonen said.
The proposal — the result of extensive consultations with different stakeholders in the Mindanao peace process — “seeks… to provide just and lasting peace to the troubled south.”
It also “wants to improve and uplift the lives of the people who have long suffered from the brutality of decades-long armed conflict,” Leonen said, adding it was “principled, realistic, and practical proposal.”
MILF vice chairman Ghadzali Jaafar said in a television interview, however, that the government proposal “does not address the real issues.”
“We want to first address the political issue,” he said. “This is a political problem, not an economic problem. We are not talking here about economic reforms, which are nothing if they are not given a political solution.”
The Moro rebels earlier gave up their demand for a separate state and said they are willing to work with the government on protecting Muslims’ rights in the predominantly Roman Catholic nation.
The government submitted its 20-page peace proposal to the MILF Monday night when talks opened in Kuala Lumpur. The Muslim rebel group informed the government panel Tuesday morning that it will advise its central committee to reject the proposal.
“The document was not returned,” said Leonen.
“It is not unusual in negotiations that one of the parties take a hard-line position on the contents of the initial document of another party,” he added.
He said his panel will go around the country to explain the contents of the government position and get further feedback.
Leonen said the MILF turned down the proposal since the group is asking for a “different framework.”
The MILF earlier proposed for the establishment of a Bangsamoro “substate” where Muslims in Mindanao would have control over major aspects of governance including legislature, courts, police and security in a federal set-up.
The central government, meanwhile, will have jurisdiction over national defense, foreign affairs, currency and coinage, and postal services.
A draft peace proposal of the MILF, a copy of which was obtained by Sun.Star, stated that the Moro rebel group needs two Senate seats for the Bangsamoro “substate” that shall be elected by a subsequent Moro district.
The MILF also wants all areas covered by the botched Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain to be included in the Bangsamoro substate and a six-year transition period before the creation of a “Bangsamoro government” and “assembly”.
These areas include the provinces and cities that are part of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (Armm), towns that voted for inclusion in the Armm and other areas where Muslims are predominant.
The Moro rebel group said it expects the Philippine government “to undertake immediate steps and appropriate measures available… to secure adoption of the Article of Amendment” by Congress.
Leonen said, however, that the rebels’ proposed substate “has some attributes of autonomy in it” that could be addressed by existing laws and without changing the current Constitution.
President Benigno Aquino III earlier rejected the call of MILF for a substate, saying it would compromise the Constitution, as Congress will have to amend it to accommodate the two additional seats the MILF is demanding. The Philippine Senate is composed of 24 senators elected at large.
“We think that the gap is very workable, and it’s not too far apart,” Leonen told reporters in Kuala Lumpur.
The government, he added, will work “with what is available and doable within the next few years” while recognizing the identity of the Bangsamoro.
Jaafar said, though, that the rebel negotiators wanted the government to comment on a proposal they had submitted earlier this year and “not to submit a framework or an entirely different proposal.”
“However, the rejection… does not mean the collapse of the negotiations,” he said.
Formal exploratory talks between the government and MILF resumed last August 22 and were scheduled to end August 24. The panel will report the development to President Aquino and it will wait for further instructions.
Also discussed during the talks was the status of Ustadz Ameril Umbra Kato and his group in the MILF.
Kato reportedly decided to create another organization and army, which he called Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF).
While the MILF said they only considered Kato as a “bougat” or a member who does not obey an order, Leonen said the government already considered Kato as “not within the MILF.”
“To this date, the government is considering Kato not within the MILF and that, of course, because he is no longer covered by the ceasefire arrangements then therefore the usual legal mechanisms will apply in his [case],” the government chief negotiator said.
He, however, could say categorically if the government will now pursue Kato, citing operational reason.
“We cannot accept that he is still part of the MILF,” Leonen said, as he described the atrocities being committed by the rogue commander as well his recruitment of child soldiers.
“If he is truly a splinter group, we would have to assess the situation together in a very serious and sensitive manner,” he said.
Mohagher Iqbal, MILF peace panel chair, earlier said that Kato remains to be a “challenge for the MILF.”
The MILF has asked the government to give them 10 days after Eid’l Fitr to resolve the Kato issue.
Eid’l Fitr is a three-day Muslim holiday that marks the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting. (With Edwin Espejo/Sun.Star Davao/Sunnex)
Source: http://www.sunstar.com.ph/manila/local-news/2011/08/23/moro-rebels-reject-government-peace-proposal-174928
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