SEN. Francis Escudero and Rep. Aliyah Dimaporo of Lanao del Norte on Wednesday separately urged the government peace panel to ensure that all stakeholders are consulted before it presents a counter-proposal to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front’s (MILF) call for the creation a sub-state in Mindanao in southern Philippines.

Escudero, the chairman of the Senate committee on justice and human rights, said that government negotiators should get the input of every stakeholder to avoid blunders made by the Arroyo administration when it forged the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) with the MILF.

The agreement was later declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.

“The road to peace in Mindanao is a delicate issue. Our peace panel should find the right approach that does not isolate anyone. The direct participation of local and religious leaders, representatives of tribes and clans should be solicited. Inclusivity should be one of the major bases for the talks,” he added.

The government peace panel said that it will present its counter-proposal to the MILF when peace talks resume on August 22 in Kuala Lumpur, and major stakeholders from different areas in Mindanao have asked the government to be transparent in its dealings with the Muslim rebels.

“I join the call for transparency. I am hopeful that our panel will lay down on the table what their counter-proposal is. The President has been very clear about his instructions to the panel and that is to come up with a proposal that will be presented to the people,” the senator said.

Rep. Dimaporo agreed but it would help the government negotiators if they also consulted Congress on the counter-proposal.

“They (legislators) should be consulted because all agencies should be involved (in coming up with the counter-proposal),” she said.

But when asked if she felt that the government was prepared to submit its own proposal for the peace talks in Malaysia, Dimaporo answered, “They are not at all (prepared), they are not even near it (coming up with one).”