The militant Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) fears the government has not entirely given up on the controversial memorandum of agreement on ancestral domain (MOA-AD), which the group sees as a ploy to change the Constitution to extend the term of the President.
People in the Visayas and Luzon are joining calls to stop the war in Mindanao after the peace caravan that traveled the whole stretch of the archipelago for seven days had open their eyes to understand the conflict for the first time, Gus Miclat, the executive director of IID, said upon the return of the caravan here.
The Bangsamoro’s age-old problem had something to do with self-governance. The Bangsamoro people, who used to be under the rule of a Sultanate, lost their self- governance when Spain included Mindanao in the sale of the Philippines to the United States in the Treaty of Paris in 1898, despite the fact that Spain never really conquered Mindanao as part of the colony.
Malaysian Consul Mustafa Kamal urged peace groups to keep working for a peace formula that will be acceptable to everybody after the memorandum of agreement on ancestral domain (MOA-AD) failed to generate support from some sectors in Mindanao.
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The young religious leaders, representing Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, Jain, Muslim, Sikh, Zoroastrian and other religions, are calling for the resumption of the peace talks between the government and the MILF, which collapsed after the failed signing of the memorandum of agreement on ancestral domain (MOA-AD) in August.
“The peace agreement is dead as far as the government is concerned but the MILF will continue to assert it. If we can’t assert it in the national level, then, we’re going to assert it internationally,” said the MILF’s Mohagher Iqbal, vowing to elevate the MILF position to the United Nations and the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC).
“The government will not implement what it has committed. So when it was not signed, our two commanders concluded that the government of the Philippines did not really want the peaceful process. So, they decided by themselves without the sanction of the high leaders of the MILF. That’s when the problem came.”
Presidential Peace Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr, said the government still insists on a ceasefire before the holding of the peace talks so that the rebels can prove that they are not terrorists, after all.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said the National Security Council has come up with a revised draft of the government’s position on ancestral domain to resume peace talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
