Expert: Peace deal waiting

A political scientist warned that the future of the Bangsamoro peace process hinges on whether President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) chairman Al Haj Murad Ebrahim can fulfill their remaining commitments before the President’s term ends in June 2028.

Yasmira Moner, an associate professor in the Department of Political Science and current director of the Gender and Development Center at Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology, said this.

She said the unfinished peace process remained vulnerable to reversal, underscoring the need to secure both sides’ outstanding commitments.

“A peace process that is not finished, not closed, not signed can be erased,” Moner said in a radio interview.

On 1 October, Murad wrote to Marcos requesting a meeting, but Malacañang had not publicly responded to the request as of Thursday, according to available information.

The proposed meeting could help address outstanding commitments under the peace agreement, including the final exit agreement, which requires the signatures of both the government and the MILF.

The MILF waged a decades-long armed struggle for greater autonomy for Muslims in Mindanao before a 2014 peace agreement paved the way for the creation of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

But the implementation of the agreement remains incomplete, with about 14,000 MILF combatants still awaiting decommissioning, according to accounts of the peace process.

Moner said Murad, who commands the respect of MILF fighters, should personally sign the final agreement.