Hope for a lasting peace in Mindanao seemed out of reach again last week following the withdrawal of the Malaysian contingent in the International Monitoring Team, nearly five months after talks between the national government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) stalled over the critical issue of ancestral domain — the territory that includes provinces, towns and cities—being claimed by guerrillas.
The talks, which are being brokered by Malaysia, had hoped to bring a more lasting solution to the Mindanao problem, which has hampered all hopes of economic recovery for the country. The MILF panel said both sides had initially agreed on earlier drafts, but said the government had been delaying making a final decision. Malaysia said it was pulling out its peacekeepers because the Philippine government lacked the political will to resolve the issue on ancestral domain.
The government insisted, rightfully, that any agreement reached between the two sides, including that involving what would constitute a Moro homeland, should stand the test of constitutionality. But decades of frustration over several failed peace negotiations and accords have apparently gotten on the nerves of the Muslim rebels, who could no longer contain their impatience over delays in the stalled peace talks. MILF leader Muhammad Ameen over the weekend warned about a renewal of war if peace talks fail. “We are firm in our demand for self-determination,” added Eid Kabalu, the front spokesman.
This is the fourth peace negotiation with Muslim secessionist groups. In December 1976, the Philippine government signed the Tripoli Agreement with Nur Misuari’s Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) in Libya, brokered by the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC). The two sides agreed to end the armed conflict and to establish autonomy for Muslims in Mindanao comprising 13 provinces.
The Tripoli Agreement was not implemented properly, and Misuari’s group threatened to turn to secession again. In 1987, Misuari entered into another peace agreement, this time with the government of resident Corazon Aquino – the Jeddah Accord – but implementation failed again. In 1996, President Ramos forged another agreement with the MNLF, but while it established the Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao, few Muslims were satisfied with the autonomy because of numerous problems encountered by the Misuari-led ARMM, including alleged corruption and lack of support from the national government.
Just as soon as Misuari signed the Tripoli Agreement in December 1976, a faction of the MNLF disengaged from the group and formed the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, headed by Hashim Salamat, and fought for the full implementation of the Tripoli Accord. Later, the MILF revived its secessionist stand.
And so the war raged on in Mindanao, which actually started historically when the Spanish colonial government launched the “Moro Wars” against the Muslims in the South and continued by the American colonizers at the turn of the century. In the last 30 years since Misuari and Salamat waged their wars, more than 120,000 people have been killed, more than one million have been rendered homeless, and over 200,000 Muslim refugees have fled to Sabah. Hundreds of millions of pesos in property and crops have been destroyed, and the prosperity envisioned in the Land of Promise has all but remained an unfulfilled
promise.
The Muslim population has particularly suffered. Sulu and Maguindanao, the two most predominantly Muslim provinces, are also the two poorest provinces in the country, and three other Muslim provinces — Basilan, Lanao del Sur and Tawi-Tawi – are among the 12 poorest. Through the decades, Muslims have rightfully felt that they have been ignored by the Manila-based, predominantly Christian national leadership.
The nagging Mindanao problem begs to be resolved. The national economy can never fully recover until just and lasting peace is established in Mindanao.
There are three major options for a lasting solution to the Mindanao problem – and war is not one of them. All-out war and jihad obviously are not the answer. They will not lead to peace, but only to more death and destruction. Both the government and the Muslim groups will just have to go back to the negotiation table. But negotiations will have to include all parties involved in the conflict, either simultaneously or in immediate succession.
The three options that are available to the Bangsamoro people are secession, regional autonomy, and federalism. Secession is unacceptable to the Philippine government and to the Filipino people. Regional autonomy has failed in three instances. But that does not mean it will not work. It just has to be polished some more to ensure that the rights of not only the Moros, but also those of the Christians and the lumads are protected.
The other option is the establishment of a federal state, which, according to Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr., the prime mover of federalism in the Philippines, “would enable the Bangsamoro people a fuller opportunity to promote their own identity and culture, and their own economic development at their own pace without the need of seceding or declaring their independence from the republic.”
But if the Moros are granted a federal state, the other regions of the country will have to have their own autonomous federal states. And that could create bigger problems than the one it is hoping to solve – the Bangsa Moro problem.
In any case, it would be best for the peace panels to go back to the negotiating table and look into all options that could help resolve the Mindanao conflict. The MILF must stretch its patience. After all, the problem they are trying to solve has been there for more than a century. The Philippine government, on the other hand, must show sincerity and resolve to reach an agreement with the rebels.
War posturing by both sides, including Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita’s unnecessary comment that the MILF threat was just bluster to hasten the negotiations, but that in any case, the Philippine military was ready to face the challenge. The government should instead show that peace is truly its goal.
War is never the only way to peace.
valabelgas@aol.com