Educators of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao have called on President Benigno Aquino III to decide on the resumption of the peace process between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. Delegates and leaders of the Educators Assembly for Peace, held in Marawi City over the weekend, made the call in a resolution forged during the two-day event. “[We ] call upon the President of the Republic of the Philippines to finally determine and decide to restore the peace process between the Philippine government and the MILF as announced in his first State of the Nation Address (SONA).
Peace assembly resolution RECALLING the various conferences, seminars, workshops, and assemblies convened, sponsored or co-sponsored by the Commission on Higher Education—ARMM and other institutions pertaining to the search for peace through education in the ARMM, Mindanao and the Philippines in general, RECALLING FURTHERMORE the peace processes between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP), the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) which resulted to the signing of the September 2, 1996 GRP-MNLF Final Peace Agreement and the initialed but unsigned GRP-MILF Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) of July 2008, TAKING INTO CONSIDERATION that the abovementioned agreements could have solved the problem of unpeace in the Bangsamoro Homeland by all means possible, including the field of education as a vehicle in molding the mind of the younger generation of the peoples of Mindanao towards total peace and harmony in Mindanao, had these been fully implemented in letter and spirit, HAVING CONSIDERED the recommendations of the speakers, delegates to this august assembly, CALLS upon the President of the Republic of the Philippines to finally determine and decide to restore the peace process between the Philippine government and the MILF as announced in his first State of the Nation Address (SONA) delivered on July 26, 2010 during the joint session of the Senate and House of Representatives wherein he announced: “Kinikilala natin ang mga hakbang na ginagawa ng MILF sa pamamagitan ng pagdidisiplina sa kanilang hanay. Inaasahan natin na muling magsisimula ang negosasyon pagkatapos ng Ramadan" but which did not yet start until now, Requesting further the President to recognize the active participation of the Third Party Facilitator through the Malaysian representative Datuk Othman Bin Abdul Razak) to resume the peace process. In his SONA speech on July 26, 2010, President Aquino announced:
“Kinikilala natin ang mga hakbang na ginagawa ng MILF sa pamamagitan ng pagdidisiplina sa kanilang hanay. Inaasahan natin na muling magsisimula ang negosasyon pagkatapos ng Ramadan." However, participants to the recently-concluded peace assembly noted that the promised resumption of peace talks has not happened yet since September 12, the end of the holy month of Ramadan in 2010. The Peace Center of the Commission on Higher Education of the ARMM (CHED-ARMM) launched the 2011 Educators Assembly for Peace in the Philippines at the Noramis Convention Center in Marawi City. Norma M. Sharief, Ph.D, Regional Chairman II and managing commissioner of CHED-ARMM said that the peace assembly was initiated in response President Aquino’s call to all peace stakeholders to work for peace. This call was also echoed by acting ARMM Governor Datu Ansaruddin A. Adiong, giving impetus to the peace assembly that had the theme: “Educators: The Cultivators of Peace for the Present and Future Generations". The event was done in coordination with Regional Association of Higher Education Institutions (RAHEI) in the ARMM, particularly the Philippine Muslim Teachers’ College (PMTC), the Institute of Bangsamoro Studies (IBS) and the Society of Educators for Educational Development (SEED). The two-day affair was attended by some prominent MILF personalities led by MILF Peace Panel Chairman Datu Mohagher M. Iqbal; Datu Atty. Michael Mastura, MILF Peace Panel Senior Member; Professor Abhoud Syed M. Linga, Chairman, Institute of Bangsamoro Studies, who spoke on “Issues on Bansamoro Studies"; and international lecturer Dr. Kamarulzaman Askandar from Universiti Sains Malaysia, who spoke on the “Intra –State Conflict Resolution in ASEAN Region: The Role of the Third Parties.
— Mariz Revales/LBG, GMANews.TV 
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