STATEMENT OF THE MINDANAO PEOPLES CAUCUS (MPC)

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MOA-AD: Build not Destroy

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PRESS STATEMENT: IBS

August 22, 2008

By Abhoud Syed M. Lingga
Executive Director, Institute of Bangsamoro Studies


We call on the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to extend the mandate, which will expire on September 8, 2008, of the International Monitoring Team (IMT).

The GRP and MILF peace panels came to an agreement on the establishment of the IMT in 2001. The functions of the IMT are to observe and monitor implementation of cessation of hostilities and the socio-economic development aspects of signed agreements.

Malaysia lead the IMT with contingents coming from Brunei, Libya and Japan.

After the deployment of the IMT in conflict-affected areas in Mindanao clashes between government and MILF forces declined significantly from 698 and 559 incidents in 2002 and 2003, respectively, to only 15 in 2004, 10 in 2005, 13 in 2006, 7 in 2007, and one in the first quarter of 2008.

After the number of IMT monitors was significantly reduced when Malaysia decided to pull out 21 of its peacekeepers, clashes between government and MILF forces surge resulting to deaths of combatants from both sides and civilians, and displacement of hundreds of thousand of people.

Recent events show once again the urgency of third party monitors to sustain the ceasefire in order to keep the peace process on track.

We also call on the Malaysian Government to reconsider its decision to pull out from the IMT.

We see it necessary at this point in time for the GRP and MILF to observe ceasefire and work out mechanism to sustain the cessation of hostilities.

- End –



Abhoud Syed M. Lingga
Fax: (+63 64) 4213551
Email: aslingga@yahoo.com

STATEMENT: Muslim religious leaders call for peace, justice in Mindanao

Muslim Religious Leaders
Friday, 22 August 2008 06:15

We, the Ulama[1] of North Cotabato, Maguindanao, Sharif Kabunsuan, Sultan Kudarat, South Cotabato, Sarangani Province, General Santos City, Davao City, Davao Provinces, Zamboanga del Sur, and Cotabato City, having gathered for the regional consultative forum of the “Empowering the Ulama of the Philippines” project[2];

Deeply alarmed about the fragile peace situation in Mindanao aggravated by the controversies surrounding the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domains (MOA-AD) between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF);

Believing that resorting to violence, will just worsen, rather than resolve the problem;

Profoundly convinced that peace is the only way out of this current predicament; and that such peace must be just and comprehensive;

Do hereby:

1. Call upon all parties to exercise restraint and sobriety amidst heightening tensions in Mindanao;

1. Appeal to all parties to honor the agreement on mutual cessation of hostilities of 2004 and avoid escalation of conflict;

1. Ask the Philippine Commission on Human Rights and other regional and international human rights organizations to monitor the conflict and ensure that internationally accepted agreements on war are adhered to;

1. Call upon Muslim national leaders to show their commitment to peace in Mindanao by supporting the MOA-AD;

1. Oppose plans to revisit or renegotiate the MOA-AD and instead urge government to honor its commitments as stipulated in the agreement which was negotiated by its legally constituted panel of negotiators;

1. Urge the high court to lift the temporary restraining order (TRO) it issued on August 4, 2008;

1. Call upon the government to demonstrate its sincerity in achieving peace in Mindanao; and, urge the immediate signing of the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domains (MOA-AD) between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF);

1. Appeal to national government officials, political leaders and other personalities to refrain from issuing irresponsible and inflammatory statements that may deepen the crisis and cause unnecessary conflict among the different religious and ethnic groups in Mindanao; further, the Muslim community will reject any attempts to hijack the peace process for political opportunism;

1. Call upon media to be more responsible and avoid exacerbating the already tensed situation;

1. Advocate a public education campaign on the provisions of the MOA so as not to cause undue misunderstandings.

SIGNED by the 43 Muslim religious leaders and scholars who are attending the Regional Consultative Forum of the “Empowering the Ulama” project in the province of Sarangani from August 18 to 19, 2008.

1. ABDULATIP, Ali

2. ABDULGAPOR, Mohamad Taha

3. ALABAT, Abdulsalam

4. ALI, Abubakar

5. ALI, Anshari

6. ALILAYA, Faidza

7. ALI, Jaafar

8. ALI, Mansor

9. AMERIL, Muslemin

10. ARAB, Sarip

11. BADRODIN, Albaya

12. BARRA, Hamid

13. BAWARI, Arabie

14. BILON, Alivic

15. BUTO, Ali

16. CANACAN, Abdurrahman

17. DIDATU, Maimona

18. DIMAPORO, Samsodin

19. EDZA, Bong

20. EDZA, Mohammad Taha

21. ESMAEL, Ebrahim

22. IBRAHIM, Bajunaid

23. KAMAL, Abdulaziz

24. KANDA, Guialil

25. KUDANDING, Mukhalidin

26. KUSIN, Bai Amira

27. LAGUIALAM, Abdulbayan

28. MALA, Ahmad

29. MOHAMAD, Zakaria

30. MOLAO, Samson

31. MUNIB, Jamal

32. PAGABANGAN, Anisa

33. PAGAYUKAN, Nasrul Yakin

34. PAIRAT, Abdulwahab

35. PANGAWILAN, Abdulbasit

36. PASIGAN, Mohammad

37. SALIC, Abdulmajid

38. SAMEDON, Zulkarnain

39. SANDIGAN, Ibrahim

40. TANDO, Anas

41. TOBIAS, Saide

42. TUYA, Mohalidin

43. YUSOP, Badrana



[1] Ulama is a term used to refer to Muslim religious leaders and scholars.

[2] The project is the initiative of the PHILIPPINE COUNCIL FOR ISLAM AND DEMOCRACY (PCID) with support from the British Embassy and the Royal Netherlands Embassy. The three-year project is intended to provide the ulama of the country the opportunity to present a unified voice and a venue to discuss important issues that affect the Bangsamoro.

STATEMENT: Moro Youth Leaders push for Peace

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STATEMENT: Arroyo regime renders impossible formal talks between GRP and MILF

Prof. Jose Maria Sison/NDFP
Thursday, 21 August 2008 23:11

Contrary to the propaganda issued by the psywar experts of the Arroyo regime, I am not in any position to issue orders to the New People's Army (NPA) to undertake tactical offensives in sympathy with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). My role as NDFP chief political consultant is assisting peace negotiations and not issuing military orders to the NPA.

In a recent interview, I merely commented as follows: that there is a longstanding alliance between the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) and the MILF and that the leadership of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and command of the NPA which are both based in Philippines have issued declarations (through www.philippinerevolution.net) that NPA tactical offensives are in the interest of the Filipino people and are also in sympathy with the Moro people and MILF who are under attack by the armed forces of the GRP.

It is the Arroyo regime that is accountable for the escalation of the armed conflict in Mindanao and in the entire Philippines. It agreed with the MILF to formally sign the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) in Malaysia on August 5. But long before the Supreme Court issued the temporary restraining order, the regime all along had the malicious intent of withdrawing from the scheduled signing and had already mobilized and deployed military forces for large-scale offensives against the MILF.

The Arroyo regime's multiple acts of betraying the MILF have rendered impossible the opening of formal talks of the GRP and MILF. By announcing that it wants to review, further negotiate and revise the MOA-AD, the Arroyo regime veritably tells the MILF to bend and break by giving up what it has gained on paper through many years of informal talks and indefinite ceasefire. The clear message of the regime to the MILF is to keep the ceasefire and never to expect the signing of the MOA-AD.

The regime is using against the MILF the same stratagem (devised by Arroyo, General Ermita and NSA Gonzales) that it is trying to use against the NDFP. The GRP negotiating panel agrees to a draft and then freezes it with demands for revision, while requiring the MILF to submit to informal talks and prolonged ceasefire or, in the case of the NDFP, while pressuring it to submit to indefinite ceasefire that lays aside the substantive agenda and amounts to capitulation and pacification.

Apparently, by pretending for a while to be for MOA-AD and then backing out, the Arroyo regime has calculated that it shall have inflamed the armed conflict in Mindanao to the point of justifying martial law and charter change in a bid to prolong itself in power. Blinded by hubris, the regime misses the fact that it is besieged by a severe economic and financial crisis, that the MILF can fight back effectively within its own territory and that it is self-defeating for the regime to fight on two war fronts, one against the MILF in Mindanao and another against the NDFP in the entire country.

The reactionary armed forces have been overstretched and fatigued by so many years of Oplan Bantay Laya. In recent months, even former GRP president Fidel V. Ramos has observed this fact. The concurrent military offensives of the the Bangsamoro Islamic Liberation Army (BILA) and the New People's Army have the potential of breaking the backbone of the reactionary armed forces and encouraging the reasonable elements therein to support the ouster of the fake president and serious negotiations with the MILF and NDFP.

STATEMENT: Arroyo's policy shift in peace negotiations will intensify conflict in Mindanao

InPeace Mindanao


August 21, 2008


Mrs. Arroyo's policy-shift in her administration's peace negotiations to 'disarmament, demobilization, and rehabilitation' will spell more disaster than bring about peace especially in Mindanao.

Already, Malacañang has hinted at reneging on with its Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front through a policy of 'review' and 'non-renegotiation.' Now, government reportedly wants to directly relate with communities, side-stepping revolutionary organizations if they refuse to lay down their arms.

Disarmament and demobilization should logically be at the tail end of any negotiated political settlement, after the more substantive agenda such as economic, social, and political rights and welfare are resolved. Mrs. Arroyo wants to short-cut the substantive agenda in its talks with the MILF and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP). This policy practically shatters the building blocs that were conscientiously built by the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and other protagonists in the armed conflict.

At worse, this policy negates confidence-building with parties across the negotiating table which is direly needed at this hour. At worst, it is totally abandoning the framework that political and social justice are prerequisites to peace.

This move, like Arroyo's reported laptop-throwing fit in Malacanang, shows that she wants swift, militarist solutions. Arroyo is showing contempt against legitimate armed social movements of the MILF and the NDFP that have existed for decades because of poverty, hunger, and repression.

In other words, Arroyo is adopting an ahistorical approach to peace; and for this she would repeatedly fail like previous administrations which have adopted an all-out war approach to the armed insurgency.

By abandoning the peace process with the MILF and NDFP, Arroyo is laying the ground for localized martial rule in many conflict areas. Arroyo's plan to "directly talk to communities" instead of revolutionary movements representing constituencies is a mere cover up for "localized peace talks," an approach that has sought to divide-and-rule communities instead of address the roots of insurgencies.

Arroyo's localized peace talks dovetails into sinister moves of local governments and landowners to arm civilian populations supposedly to deter armed attacks by Moro rebels. Armed vigilantism is a throwback to the days of Martial Law when landlords and politician-warlords fanned Muslim-Christian conflict to their benefit. We fear that instead of pushing for GRP and MILF accountability for violations of human rights and international humanitarian law, arming civilians will lead to the further breakdown of law and order.

Peace advocates insist that the negotiating table, not all out war, is the most viable option to ease tensions on the ground and properly seek justice and indemnification for slain and displaced civilians. The people of Mindanao refuse to be dragged into anarchy and a contrived discord between Muslims and Christians. The people likewise refuse to be dragged into Arroyo's Cha-Cha dancefloor. We say 'No to All-Out War!'

Atty. Beverly Selim-Musni
Convenor
Cell No. 09209893390

STATEMENT of Waging Peace Philippines: Let the broader dialogue on the MOA begin!

Waging Peace in the Philippines
Saturday, 09 August 2008 00:47

So much furor has been generated by the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) on Ancestral Domain being forged between the Philippine government and the MILF. Tragically, the lack of transparency and consultation, and the contentious political context of President Arroyo's questioned legitimacy, have led to intense negative reactions that may even fuel more conflict. Yet after four decades of armed conflict, the majority of people long for peace in Mindanao. In recent years, many citizens have also been doing their share to build peace : establishing peace and development communities and sanctuaries of peace, monitoring ceasefires, sustaining interfaith dialogues, celebrating the annual Mindanao Week of Peace, understanding ourselves as a nation of nations..

Let us first then, amidst the anger and confusion, affirm our support for the peace process. Let us also insist that utmost effort should be taken to ensure the integrity of that peace process, built on the informed participation of the widest constituency.

Now that the MOA has been revealed, let us fully take the opportunity and time to understand, discuss, and dialogue on its actual content and implications.

The Waging Peace Philippines, a national civil society network advocating for a comprehensive peace, believes that the mechanisms for the broadest consultations should now be quickly put in place in order to give peace through the MOA a chance. The nationwide provincial consultations organized through the National Unification Commission in 1993 serves as a possible model. But more care will have to be taken to discuss the MOA soberly, thoroughly, with open minds and the participation of all stakeholders. It is especially important to listen to those who are not often heard in the majority-dominated media: the youth, women, Bangsamoro and indigenous peoples.

Hopefully the MOA will be understood as a product of many years of peace negotiations, embodying the aspirations of the Bangsamoro struggle, and the commitment of the government to some form of reparation for historic inequalities. In a struggle in which many lives have been lost on both sides, the negotiation that honors those lives can never be easy.

Therefore it is even more important that the peace process and the MOA, should not be used for any other agenda, like charter change for regime extension. We will join the people in resisting any attempt for such constitutional change before 2010.

In the end, the MOA, no matter how terrible or wonderful it is, will only be realized with the acceptance and participation of the people, if they can take it into their homes and hearts. We must all decide: how can we help to implement the MOA? or: If not this MOA, what are we willing to do to achieve peace in Mindanao?


For the Waging Peace Philippines convenors,

Karen N. Tanada

Peace Advocates' Appeal for Sobriety

The intense reactions to the planned signing of the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front has already reached an alarming stage. In the last few days we have seen how the unarmed civilians from both sides of the conflict have lost properties and even lives due to attacks or harrasments by either side. The current situation has started to create social disorder brought about by some hostile posturing both from supporters and opponents of the proposed Bangsamoro Juridical Entity (BJE) which is the essence of the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain. With the Supreme Court issuance of Temporary Restraining Order today to stop the signing of the MOA in Kuala Lumpur, the situation on the ground points to more violence especially in Central Mindanao.

The Mindanao Peaceweavers (MPW), a network of major peace groups and coalitions in Mindanao appeals for sobriety and urge the parties in conflict to desist from any act that will aggravate the situation. And more importantly, for both government and MILF to observe and ensure enforcement of the ceasefire agreement at all times.

With the MOA signing taking a backseat, now is the most opportune time for government to have an honest to goodness dialogue with its constituents in order to get their acts together and to finally speak with one voice.

MILF, on the other hand, must all the more demonstrate its resolve and commitment to peace by reigning in all its constituents and prove that indeed it is speaking and doing peace not only in the negotiating table but also on the ground.

We call on all religious leaders to take the moral high ground and be consistent with the church teachings by serving as bridge builders and provide space for people to discuss the issues at hand more intelligently.

We also urge the government military command in Mindanao to stop the recruitment and training of civilian volunteer organizations (CVOs) and CAFGUs at this critical time when these organizations are mobilized for specific agenda and interests only.

We most urgently make this appeal to local government executives to refrain from statements that instigate violence for fear of the unknown; but instead bring people together, educate and provide accurate information, address the roots of, but not create conflicts, and manage these conflicts in ways not harmful to people but that which respects diversity and dissenting opinion.

We are calling on both business and academic sectors to serve as links in de-escalating the tension in areas affected by the conflict. For business groups to use their influence on local politicians and be mindful of how wars and conflicts can be detrimental to business in Mindanao. And for academe to provide the venues/fora for information and education among the Moro, Christians and Lumad youths for greater solidarity and understanding.

We are especially making an appeal to the media to ensure responsible reporting and not to fan the emotions of people affected by the conflict that may lead to further deterioration of the situation in Mindanao.

We, more than ever appeal to all peace-loving Filipinos to give peace a chance in Mindanao. Also, on behalf of the communities recently affected by renewed violence in Maguindanao and North Cotabato provinces, we urgently seek the assistance of the Joint Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities (JCCCH) to allow these civilians who have evacuated from their areas to return and harvest their crops at the soonest time possible before their farm products go to waste. These crops are vital for their survival especially at this very discomforting period when their displacement is going to be indefinite as the peace process suffers another setback.

We, as peace advocates commit to sustain our efforts at reaching out to all sectors affected by the conflict in Mindanao by monitoring the situation on the ground, undertaking information- dissemination on the MOA among our networks, addressing the humanitarian needs of victims of displacement and providing them education on their rights as IDPs (internally displaced persons), and in assisting in the empowerment of civilian communities in handling conflicts. We will also submit a motion in intervention to allow civil society intervenor in the oral argument before the Supreme Court. We will be particularly keen and vigilant of other forces and interests who may take advantage of the volatile situation in Mindanao and we shall remain critical of their motives or agenda.

Now that the MOA is out in the open, let us take the opportunity to read it carefully and understand it with open minds and hearts. It is the product of more than four years of negotiations by parties who are both giving up much to gain the greater prize of a just peace. It is not yet the final peace agreement, but an important step and commitment that we should all help to implement.


Mindanao Peaceweavers
4August 2008


Sgd. Fr. Angel Calvo
Lead Convenor
Peace Advocates Zamboanga (PAZ)


Sgd. Rey Magno Teves
Mindanao Peace Advocates Conference (MPAC)


Sgd. Mabel Carumba
Mindanao Peoples Peace Movement (MPPM)


Sgd. Prof. Octavio Dinampo
Mindanao Peoples Caucus (MPC)


Sgd. Guiamel Alim
Consortium of Bangsamoro Civil Society (CBCS)


Sgd. Karen Tanada
Mindanao Solidarity Network (MSN)


Sgd. Fr. Eduardo Pedregoza
AGONG Network


Sgd. Atty. Raissa Jajurie
SALIGAN Mindanao


Sgd. Augusto N. Miclat Jr.
Initiatives for International Dialogue (IID)


Contacts:
Memen Lauzon-Gatmaytan
MPW Lead Secretariat
Tel. No. (82) 299-2574 or 2574
Fax No. (082)299-2052
Mobile No. 0920-9124312