Stoking fire of animosity

Now we know why there can never be peace in Mindanao.

Despite the ratification of the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) recently, peace, we believe, would continue to be elusive in Morolandia if there are ill-advised leaders who make decisions without really knowing the intricacies of the Muslim problem.

Documents obtained by one of our reporters show that no less than former President Benigno Aquino III actually rejected a resolution from the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to synchronize the peace agreements of the government with the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

The OIC, which has 57 members, 47 of which are Muslim majority countries with a collective population of 1.6 billion, brokered the 1996 final peace accord between the Philippine government and the MNLF during the time of President Fidel Ramos. Malaysia, on the other hand, brokered the MILF peace agreement.

In a strongly-worded explanatory note dated 21 March 2013, requesting closure of tripartite talks for the review of 1996 peace accord, Aquino, through his peace panel, practically told the OIC to disregard the MNLF and its leader Nur Misuari as they no longer represent the Bangsamoro People in the Philippines.

The note also pointed out the 1996 peace accord was already being implemented and that the OIC should have nothing to do anymore with the MNLF as it is already an internal issue of the country.

“The only logical and practical step is to end the tripartite review process,” Aquino’s note said.

The OIC, in a resolution during the foreign ministers meeting in Conakry, Africa has approved a resolution calling for the resumption of the tripartite talks between the government, MNLF and the OIC to discuss the final implementation of the peace agreement signed in 2014.

The OIC proposed that the Comprehensive Agreement of Bangsamoro be tied to the MNLF peace agreement but, instead of heeding the OIC resolution, the government panel, probably on orders of Aquino, issued a request to put closure to the tripartite review of the 1996 peace accord, insisting the peace accord with the MILF will fill the remaining unresolved issues with MNLF.

The OIC claimed, however, the peace accord with the MILF was a betrayal of the 1996 final peace agreement because it deals with the same people and territory.

The explanatory note of the Aquino peace panel, however, said the MNLF of Misuari is no longer the sole representative of Bangsamoro in the Philippines and that the OIC must acknowledge that fact.

It said the framework agreement on the Bangsamoro signed with the MILF on 15 October 2012 provides an opportunity to bring about comprehensive peace and development in Mindanao.

Putting Misuari and the other stakeholders in Bangsamoro out of the picture, we would like to think, is tantamount to handing another grave injustice to the very people who have been, historically, waging a decades-long struggle for self-identity.

Favoring one group to the detriment of the others defeats the very purpose of the BOL which is to unify all the stakeholders and give them a chance to establish self-rule.

It’s like stoking the fire of animosity between the MNLF and the MILF.

The OIC has played a key role in persuading the MNLF to talk peace as early as 1976 under the Marcos regime. Being the first Muslim rebel movement in the Philippines, the MNLF had a head start in getting OIC legitimacy; the MILF was always considered a poor cousin — until now.

Is it far-fetched then to suspect that when Misuari’s loyalists occupied villages in Zamboanga City on September 2013 it was staged to spite the poor cousin?

Rommel Banlaoi, executive director of the Philippine Institute for Peace, Violence and Terrorism Research, said the Zamboanga attack was meant to sabotage the peace talks then between the Aquino government and the MILF.

“Misuari’s motive is to convey a message… (that) the signing of the peace agreement between the government and the MILF will no longer guarantee the end of war,” Banlaoi said.