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By Al Jacinto, Correspondent
ZAMBOANGA CITY: The Moro Islamic Liberation
Front (MILF), the largest Muslim separatist rebel group in the
country, accused Manila on Wednesday of delaying the peace talks.
Manila is negotiating peace with the MILF, an
army of about 12,000 rebels with millions of Muslim supporters.
Peace talks were stalled after both sides failed to sign an
agreement on the Muslim ancestral domain.
A senior MILF leader, Khaled Musa, accused
Manila of deliberately delaying the signing of the agreement on
ancestral domain, which he said had been approved by rebel and
government peace negotiators last February.
“The peace talks could have resumed
immediately after the Holy week but the government introduced
another delaying tactic by creating a legal team to study the draft
document on ancestral domain,” he said.
“The only purpose of this is to make a mockery
of the peace talks and delay its resumption while the government
works to secure as much funding for the rehabilitation of Mindanao,
which, however, fall mainly into the pockets of corrupt government
men.”
Musa said the delay in the peace talks is a
government strategy to pass the Muslim insurgency problems to the
next president of the Philippines. “It is a practice consistently
pursued by all changing presidents in this country,” Musa said.
He also criticized President Gloria Arroyo’s
peace advisor, Jesus Dureza, over a statement he made during the
recent 4th Asia-Pacific Dialogue in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Musa said Dureza’s statement about the peace
talks with the MILF in Cambodia was an empty rhetoric that has no
meaning at all, except to deceive the international community and to
create false hope.
Dureza, who previously headed the peace panel
negotiating with the MILF, was quoted as saying that the Philippine
government’s commitment has remained strong in upholding the
primacy of the peace process, particularly in Mindanao.
“As a long-term strategy to sustain the gains
of the peace process, our government has embarked on various
programs and initiatives involving the participation of civil
society groups, including schools and the media,” Musa, quoting
Dureza, said.
“What primacy of the peace process is Dureza
referring to?” Musa asked.
Mohagher Iqbal, chief MILF peace negotiator,
said the Philippine panel agreed late last year on the scope of the
ancestral domain, but later reneged on the accord that will
constitute a separate homeland for more than 4 million Muslims and
indigenous tribes in Mindanao.
Iqbal said the MILF is consistent with its
demand for a Muslim homeland. He said the government peace panel
must honor its commitment and previous agreement so the talks could
resume.
The MILF said government peace negotiators
headed by Rodolfo Garcia completely disregarded the agreement on the
Muslim ancestral domain and insisted once again that the granting of
homeland to Muslims in Mindanao would solely be through a
Constitutional process that the rebel group previously opposed.
The Philippine charter prohibits the
dismembering of the country. But Dureza previously said there is a
proposal to amend the Constitution and introduce a federal system of
government.
It is also what many opposition politicians fear
because Arroyo’s allies in the House of Representatives might use
the peace talks with the MILF as an excuse to amend the Constitution
to change the system of government from presidential to
parliamentary or federalism to allow the MILF to have a separate
state and eventually prolong her stay in power beyond 2010.
Under the presidential form of government,
Arroyo, who deposed President Joseph Estrada in a people power
revolution in 2001, is allowed only one six-year term.
In the charter change proposal suggested by her
political allies who dominate Congress, she can be elected as prime
minister should Congress approve a proposal to dissolve the Senate
and change the system of government to parliamentary.
The MILF earlier warned that hostilities might
erupt in Mindanao if the peace talks fail. The Philippine military
previously demanded MILF rebels to lay down their weapons before
peace talks could resume.
Malaysia, which is brokering the seven-year-old
peace talks, warned it would pull out its truce observers deployed
in Mindanao if there is no progress in the slow pace of the
negotiations.
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