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KM recommends territorial pact for peace in Mindanao


Representatives of the academe in Mindanao reported Monday its recommendations for attaining peace in the southern Philippines including, among others, the revival of a territorial pact labeled two years ago as unconstitutional. The recommendations followed a series of consultations and dialogues on peace, dubbed Konsult Mindanaw (KM), conducted last year and commissioned by the Bishops-Ulama Conference. Project director Fr. Albert Alejo said that KM was “in response to the clamor for consultations" since the Supreme Court declared as unconstitutional the government’s plan to sign the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) with the rebel group Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). “Many Muslims in Central Mindanao and ARMM (Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao) generally believe that the approval of the MOA-AD is the answer to centuries of struggle of the Bangsamoro for self-determination. This position is shared by some Christians as well," Alejo said. He added, however, that others see peace in the region as a product of improved basic services, good governance, and respect for the diverse identities of people in Mindanao. The MOA-AD was part of a series of agreements to carry out the Philippines-MILF Tripoli Agreement on Peace signed in 2001. It sought to include some 712 provinces from the mineral-rich islands of Palawan in Luzon, South Cotabato, Zamboanga City, Sultan Kudarat, North Cotabato, Lanao del Norte, and Zamboanga del Sur in the ARMM. The expanded ARMM was expected to evolve into a Bangsamoro homeland governed by the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity (BJE), in which the MILF would exercise full fiscal, political, and religious authority. In October 2008, the Supreme Court ruled that the agreement violated the Constitution in all its forms, following a stay order it issued in August, a day before the pact was supposed to be signed in Malaysia. (http://www.gmanews.tv/story/135023/sc-denies-with-finality-grp-milf-moa) However, those consulted by KM, including the Moro and Lumad people of Mindanao, continue to call for self-determination “within their ancestral domain, with the intent of correcting historical injustice," said Alejo. KM thus urged the MILF to “clarify the BJE and its own policies and processes on land issues in order to address the fears of many groups on the implications of the BJE to their land," according to Alejo. While KM might push for the revival of the MOA-AD, the new agreement would be different owing to the “difference in opinion" among the individuals it consulted, he explained. He declined to elaborate as further consultations are ongoing. KM used focus group discussions involving some 5,000 individuals from different sectors in Mindanao and in selected cities across the country delving into such questions as the respondents’ vision of peace and their recommendations for peace talks between the government and the MILF. Representatives of ten academic institutions in Mindanao conducted the consultations. Apart from the possible revival of the MOA-AD, the group is pushing for the creation of a “joint communication panel" composed of representatives from the government and MILF peace panels and interest groups. “The joint panel will be the formal channel of communication through which the sentiments of the public can become part of the peace negotiations," Alejo said. AK will forward its recommendations to President-elect Benigno Simeon “Noynoy" Aquino III, and wait for new government officials to be in place for a dialogue in the near term. Richard Joseph “Dodo" Dee, the husband of Aquino’s sister Viel, attended the KM forum but only received the recommendations without making any comment, Alejo said. —VS, GMANews.TV

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