Originally published in Philippine Star on September 6, 2011
In a press conference in Camp Darapanan on 5 September 2011, Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) Chairman, Al haj Murad Ebrahim expressed his strong disappointments on the current status of the peace talks.
“The peace talks will just be an exercise in futility if the direction of the peace process will not represent the aspiration of the Bangsamoro people,” Murad argued.
For the MILF, enjoying the right to self-determination is the real aspiration of the Bangsamoro people - something that is not fully guaranteed in the “3 in 1” peace proposal of the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GPH).
Originally, the MILF regarded the right of the Bangsamoro people for self-determination to mean a creation of an independent and separate Islamic state.
But Murad stressed that the MILF already relaxed its concept of self-determination to mean a creation of sub-state – a Bangsamoro state “within” but “independent” of the Republic of the Philippines. He explained that a sub-state “is a fully autonomous political entity that is self-governing and can stand alone.” He said that the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) “is a failed experiment” because “it failed to stand alone” for having been just an administrative arm of Malacanang.
For the GPH, however, solving the armed conflicts in Mindanao must be consistent with the 1987 Philippine Constitution – something that the MILF regards as a big stumbling block in the peace process. The GPH argues that the MILF concept of a sub-state poses a challenge to the existing constitution. The government is bound by the terms of the constitution in the peace negotiation.
The 1987 Philippine Constitution says that the Philippines is a unitary state. Thus, the MILF concept of a sub-state is unconstitutional.
Apparently, there is a now a huge gap between the GPH and the MILF in their understanding on how to solve the armed conflicts in Mindanao.
This gap is now creating an impasse in the current peace talks.
If not mutually resolved by the two parties, this impasse can develop into a deadlock that can pave the way to the resumption of hostilities in Mindanao, something that we, stakeholders of peace, do not want to happen.
But Murad said that “we are not yet at a deadlock.”
He underscored that “The MILF continues to adhere to the guidance of our revered leader, the late Salamat Hashim, that the peaceful, democratic and civilized was to resolve the conflict between the Bangsamoro and the Philippine Government is through negotiations.”
Murad lamented, however, that “As the negotiations drag on with no solution to the Bangsamoro Question on sight, some sector of the Bangsamoro society lost hope in the peace process.”
According to Murad, the MILF has been negotiating with the Philippine Government for the past 14 years. In these long years of negotiation, Murad said that the MILF already made its clear stand on how the Bangsamoro people can achieve their right to self-determination. Murad said that in the present negotiation, there is no need to reinvent the wheel. But the GPH peace proposal, he argued, “is bringing the negotiation back to zero.”
It is very sad to note that after 14 years of negotiations, what we have seen are more talks and less peace.
Maybe more talks are not enough. We need much more talks to finally achieve more peace in our land.
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