Undermining new peace initiatives

This is in reaction to Rigoberto Tiglao’s Aug. 18 column titled “Republic downgraded in Aquino-MILF meet.”

Tiglao is not only a die-hard GMA (Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo) apologist. The column completely reveals a fanatic, anti-Aquino “advocacy.”

Giving insurgents an opportunity to talk about the aspirations of our Muslim brothers is, to be sure, a most laudable act that needs to be encouraged. I can’t understand therefore why Tiglao considers it objectionable “when Mr. Murad Ebrahim addressed P-Noy Mr. President” and not “President of the Republic of the Philippines,” when both greetings carry exactly the same meaning and import of respect and deference.

Both Murad and P-Noy are unquestionably leaders in their own right; the former is a leader of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the latter is the leader of a sovereign state. However, it is terribly wrong for Tiglao to put the two on equal footing since one is the chief executive of a sovereign state while the other is still seeking concessions—e.g., to grant the Muslim people some leeway to exercise a measure of economic and cultural autonomy from the Republic.

Murad is a sincere and rational chieftain willing to open new doors to new possibilities in the search for peace. He has categorically declared that secession from the Republic is no longer an MILF objective, and they are open to keep the judicial, military and other core government functions under the authority of the central government. However, some economic concessions involving, say, natural resources in Central Mindanao may be devolved to the autonomous region. But Tiglao in his Aug. 18 column seems to have already conceded full autonomy by intimating that an independent Muslim state would downgrade our Republic and frustrate any fruitful outcome from peace talks between the MILF and government.

Tiglao obviously doubts a brother Muslim’s declaration that the MILF does not seek full independence from the Republic. He belittles government efforts to go into a well-meaning dialogue with the MILF. Tiglao’s column tends to undermine not only the confidence that the present government is painstakingly building with the MILF but also the new initiatives to attain a permanent solution to a decades-old problem.

—JACKLORD C. ALBA,

1235 Crumb St., Digos City