A leading Moro scholar has called on the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front to extend the mandate of a body that deals with criminal activities in Mindanao that tend to complicate or endanger the peace negotiations.
Without this body, called the Ad Hoc Joint Action Group (AHJAG), the existing ceasefire agreement will be difficulty to implement, said Abhoud Syed M. Lingga, executive director of the Institute of Bangsamoro Studies (IBS) based in Cotabato City.
According to Lingga, whose group monitors the peace process, the AHJAG “has been active in interdicting criminal elements.” It counts among its achievement the recent rescue of a German, Thomas Wallraf, his wife Mae Sharon Jackson, and their companions Consuelo San Juan and Diego Daniel Jr.. The four were kidnapped by armed men in Pikit, North Cotabato, last May 31.
Without the intervention by the AHJAG — which investigates incidents of violence or disturbance that, on many occasions in the past, complicated the negotiations — elements from the military and the MILF could easily engage in confrontation, given the often unknown or unclear origins of the conflicts particularly in the MILF areas in Central Mindanao.
Criminal syndicates operate in that area and their activities have often been blamed on the MILF, thus complicating the peace process and the implementation of the ceasefire agreement. Often, family feuds called rido are also a problem into which both the military and the MILF had been dragged unnecessarily — and this has been successfully dealt with by the AHJAG.
The AHJAG was established by virtue of the May 6, 2002, joint communiqu between the government and MILF, with functions to isolate and interdict criminal syndicates, kidnap-for-ransom groups, and so-called lost commands operating in Mindanao.
AHJAGs mandate comes from the government and MILF negotiating panels and is granted on a yearly basis. The last time both panels gave AHJAG a yearly mandate was during the 12th exploratory talks on May 4, 2006.
In its website (www.luwaran.com), the MILF disclosed that AHJAGs mandate is only up to June 21 and, unless extended, it will cease to exist after that day.
If AHJAG will cease to exist, we will lose one important mechanism in maintaining the ongoing ceasefire, Lingga said in a statement. We call on the (government) and MILF to reconvene the exploratory talks before AHJAGs mandate expires, he added.
The negotiations between the government and MILF peace panels have been suspended since September 2006 after an impasse concerning territorial and constitutional issues. The talks were supposed to resume early last month but the government canceled it at the last hour. (davaotoday.com)
Peace Process
