THE reported recruitment activities of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front  (MILF) amid ongoing peace talks with the government does not sit well with the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
“They are taking advantage of the negotiations to build up their forces, which is a violation of the peace talks,” Lt. Col. Randolph Cabangbang, the spokesman of the military’s Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom) said on Tuesday.

Efforts to recruit new MILF fighters also violates the ceasefire agreement, he added.

But Cabangbang quickly clarified that the move was not really a violation per se of the peace process, but rather a kind of disres–pect on the efforts of the MILF and government peace panels to come out with a mutual agreement on how to end the decades-old conflict in Mindanao.

Cabangbang called on the MILF leadership to stop their recruitment activities or the military may be compelled to file a formal protest.

The spokesman said that the Armed Forces would find out how extensive the recruitment moves were before filing a complaint.

In its website, the MILF admitted to accepting 120 fully-armed members of Nur Misuari’s Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF).

On January 9, the Government of the Philippines (GPH) and the MILF peace panels resumed formal peace talks in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, confident that they would be able to forge a final peace agreement within the first quarter of the year.

The matter about the proposed Muslim sub-state remains to be the most contentious issue in the talks, although both panels have committed to remain at the peace table until an amicable settlement is reached.

Marvic Leonen, the government’s chief peace negotiator, has personally set a first-quarter target for the signing of a peace pact.

MILF chief peace negotiator Mohager Iqbal, however, had said that he was not optimistic about that target, even as he stressed that it would be in the best interest of the two parties if they could come up with a deal during that period.

Under the proposed sub-state, the government would not interfere in the internal affairs of Muslims in Mindanao.

Iqbal stressed that the MILF was just asking for the creation of a sub-state, not independence, citing Scottish and Hong Kong models of self-governance.

“So it’s not independence, not about integration. We will see the kind of autonomy [that] the government is talking about,” he said.

The GPH peace panel, on the other hand, has submitted what they described as a “3 in 1” counter-proposal.

This proposal, Leonen explained, has “three important components for one solution to the Bangsamoro problem,” which include a political settlement or a peace accord with the MILF, massive economic development in Mindanao and cultural-historical acknowledgement.
The MILF rejected proposal.

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