A ‘reunion’ in Japan

HIROSHIMA—Soon after his meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Tokyo, President Aquino took a chartered flight with some Cabinet members and media to this city.

After laying a wreath at the Memorial Arch commemorating the thousands who died in the first atomic bombing shortly before the end of World War II, he proceeded to the Sheraton Hotel and addressed the participants of the Consolidation for Peace for Mindanao (COP6). After his address, he proceeded to a restaurant for dinner, then flew home to Manila right after.

It was, commented someone in the President’s party, “as if we had just taken a field trip.”

Why did P-Noy go through all the trouble to visit this city after his talks with the Japanese leader? One word: peace.
The President recalled an earlier trip he made to Japan almost three years ago to meet face-to-face for the first time with Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) chair Al Haj Murad Ebrahim. That meeting he described as a “turning point in our narrative to achieve a just and lasting peace.”

For P-Noy, for Murad, and even for the Japanese hosts, it was a move fraught with risks, for at that time, P-Noy explained, “there was no certainty that the negotiations would succeed.”

The meeting, he said, happened at a crucial time, with the talks with the MILF reaching a “difficult standstill.” But having broken the ice and the distance, “trust was established between brothers, and genuine dialogue was possible.”

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Fast-forward three years, and the President was speaking in a room filled with former MILF combatants, consultants, leaders, along with a smattering of other concerned observers: academics, civil society leaders, business people, government officials and media representatives.

Most significant, sharing the same stage as P-Noy were Murad, MILF chief peace negotiator Mohagher Iqbal, Presidential Peace Adviser Teresita “Ging” Deles, and chief government peace negotiator Miriam Coronel Ferrer.

Joining them were the organizers of COP6: Malaysian professor Dr. Kamarulzaman Askandar of the Universiti Sains Malaysia, and Dr. Akihiko Tanaka, president of the Japan International Cooperation Agency.

It must have been difficult, in that first face-to-face between P-Noy and Murad, to imagine such an event ever transpiring. Indeed, even in the most recent COP gathering in 2012, the fulfillment of the peace process seemed an unattainable dream. But here were all the players now: the signing of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro some months ago bringing the prospect of peaceful cessation of conflict and the pursuit of development closer to reality.

But in the three days (the conference drew to a close Wednesday evening) of impassioned talks and discussions, what became immediately clear was that “peace” was not a fixed destination, but rather a journey, the road stretching far ahead of those following it, filled with, as peace panel member Senen Bacani remarked, potholes, detours, twists and turns.

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Among the difficulties littering the road are the many challenges to governance: the setting up of an infrastructure of governance, including a civil service; the conversion of former armed combatants into a police force, and the turnover of arms to government; the preparation of a development plan, complete with a detailed budget; etc.

A particular dilemma is that the Bangsamoro entity remains still in the realm of the possible, with a Bangsamoro basic law still to be submitted to Congress for possible passage; and the holding of a referendum in the affected areas. In the intervening period before the 2016 elections, a Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) will lay the groundwork for the autonomous government.

And yet, the wheels of governance grind on. The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, which will be phased out once the BTA is up and running, is managing affairs in the region. But if the BTA is—to use an old metaphor—to hit the ground running, even now it must deal with the nitty-gritty of government programs and projects, including the preparation of detailed, realistic budgets.

As became evident in the COP6 discussions, such issues still need a lot of threshing out, with glints of a lingering distrust on both sides emerging.

Fortunately, the COP6 organizers had also sought the presence of foreign advisers and officials who are familiar with and indeed even helped bring about a peaceful resolution in conflicts such as in Aceh, from which the players in Bangsamoro could learn many valuable lessons.

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One realization in the course of COP6: how much the international community is invested in the peace process in Mindanao.

In a press conference, Ging Deles was asked by Japanese media why their government was spending so much “taxpayer money” on Mindanao. To which Deles replied that the settlement of the conflict is a ray of hope in a world still mired in insurgency and sectarian conflicts.

The Philippines is holding up a torch of peace that other countries could learn and benefit from. But we couldn’t have done it without friends like Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, Norway, Libya, the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Canada, Australia, the United States, New Zealand, Sweden, the European Union and international organizations and agencies.

And, of course, Japan which agreed to host the “breakthrough” meeting that made this peace deal possible, and hosted the “reunion” that, it is hoped, will jump-start the post-peace period of development; and which has played an indispensable role in peacekeeping, monitoring and even humanitarian and infrastructure work in the Bangsamoro.

As P-Noy expressed in his speech: “My people… will forever be grateful for such kindness… and I say on their behalf, arigatou gozaimasu.”