Whatever is happening to the peace talks between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front? It looks like the two panels are taking their own sweet time with the people in the conflict areas and the stakeholders waiting in limbo. The government is missing the opportunity to get the MILF to come to an agreement, given the political upheaval, better known as “Arab Spring,” in most of the countries that for the past decades had been aiding the secessionist movement in Mindanao.
When funds are scarce, it is not farfetched for some MILF elements to turn to local sources and employ means that would only aggravate the situation in Mindanao. We believe that the number of kidnap-for-ransom incidents could only be due to the scarcity of funds needed to sustain all MILF units. This does not augur well for the region, and the protracted peace negotiation will only bring the conflict areas deeper into the quagmire of uncertainty.
We are for the stability and normalcy in the conflict areas, which are practically all within the domain of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). Given the length of time and the inputs invested by both panels in the negotiations, we are certain that they have covered every issue of concern and it is high time to give peace a chance and for normalcy and reconciliation to start. The delay is unconscionable and the negotiators are doing the displaced families and the present and future generations gross injustice.
Like them, we too have become weary waiting for the peace talks to bear fruit. Right now, the framework for maintaining peace and order in the region is almost useless. Government peace-keeping forces cannot pursue criminal suspects that make use of MILF territories as their sanctuaries. This sounds incredible but that is the fact because the ceasefire agreement bars government forces to enter MILF-held territories. The MILF had been issuing motherhood statements like it will help the government to run after the suspects. But it has yet to back these words with action.
Despite this lackadaisical attitude of the MILF toward criminal suspects in their territories and ranks, the government has chosen to exercise extraordinary patience. But this is now perceived as weakness following the massacre in several ambuscades of government forces in pursuit of criminals.
It is believed that government forces yield to the atrocities committed by rogue elements of the MILF because they do not want to disturb the ongoing peace talks. If the government negotiators can suffer the delay because they are the least affected since they are mostly residents of Manila, we from Mindanao do not have their kind of endurance. It’s now time for them to talk the talk and walk the walk.
—RINA DE JESUS,
rina_de_jesus@yahoo.com