MILF brushes aside calls to resume peace talks

MANILA, Philippines - On the eve of a "peace power day" in Mindanao, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) brushed aside calls for the resumption of peace talks with the Arroyo administration. MILF deputy spokesman Khaled Musa said that while resuming negotiations won't be difficult, it would be hard to solve the peace problem because of the administration’s "fooling around" policy. "As long as men like Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita and (Interior) Secretary Ronaldo Puno are still part of the government that directs the peace process, nothing can be expected from the exercises," Musa said in an article on the MILF Web site. He branded Ermita and Puno as experts in the "paikot system" since Martial Law days, and that they are neither rectifying nor making amends, but instead "find happiness in fooling people." Musa cited the case of former Moro National Liberation Front Chairman Nur Misuari, who he claimed is doing the government's bidding. “See what happened to MNLF Chairman Nur Misuari; he is a protégé of the government short of puppetry," he said. Musa's stand came in the wake of renewed calls from the Mindanao People’s Caucus (MPC) for the MILF and government to immediately resume their stalled peace negotiations. The MPC set March 18, Wednesday, as “Mindanao Peace Power Day." Its campaign aims to ask the government and MILF to resume talks and stop the fighting in Mindanao that had already displaced more than 600,000 people. MPC will also encourage all other sectors of society to ventilate other peace-related issues and demands. Other issues expected to be tackled in Wednesday's peace event are the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD), mining, human rights, agrarian reform, housing, labor, migration and the environment. The MPC said Mindanao Peace Power Day would follow the International Conference on Mindanao that will be held in Davao City March 16-17. Conference delegates would be invited to join, accompany or observe the March 18 protest activity for peace, freedom and justice. “During the protest all Mindanaoans will be urged to go out of their communities with their streamers and placards, and converge along national highways from Cotabato City to Davao City, Tacurong City to Koronadal City, Koronadal City to Digos City, Tagum City to Davao City, Marawi City to Iligan City, and others," the MPC said. - GMANews.TV