It takes 2 to tango for peace, says MILF chair
MANILA, Philippines - The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) leadership has described its ongoing engagement with the Philippine government as a dance, with the 2 sides needing to know the right steps toward peace.
"This is like dancing the tango. It takes two to tango. And government should be a strong partner (if they want this to succeed)," MILF Chairman Al Haj Murad told ABS-CBN News in an exclusive interview.
The MILF Central Committee said it stands firm on peace negotiations.
However, it wants a political settlement to be made first before the government focuses on its planned reforms for the Bangsamoro people.
"The MILF wants to pursue the Central Committee peacetalks and come up with a political settlement --- unless government abrogates all past agreements and renounces the peace process," Murad said.
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Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Ging Deles, meanwhile, clarified that the MILF has not rejected government proposals to address the Mindanao problem.
She added that negotiations are continuing, and formal talks are expected to begin soon.
Deles also defended President Benigno Aquino's stand against declaring an all-out war against the MILF, in the aftermath of last week's clashes in Basilan and the attacks in Zamboanga Sibugay.
She cited a World Bank study that shows the Philippine government already spent between $2 billion to $3 billion from 1970 to 2001 for resolving the conflict in Mindanao.
The same study said progress in Mindanao is set back by as long as 30 years for every major offensive.
Meanwhile, it could take as long as 15 years for affected residents to get a semblance of a normal life, it added.
Bangsamoro scholar Noor Lucman, who helped ABS-CBN News get an interview with Murad, said the military's ongoing pursuit operations against so-called lawless elements should not be considered an all-out war.
He said he is aware of the cost of an all-out war and the end of peace talks.
Deles and Lucman both believe that former President Joseph Eestrada's all-out war against the MILF in 2000 was a failure.
The military overran the MILF main camp of Abubakar in 2000. In 2003, then Armed Forces chief Angelo Reyes ordered the bombing of the MILF camp at the Buliok complex in Maguindanao.
In 2008, clashes and attacks again erupted when the Supreme Court ruled that the Memorandum on Agreement on Ancestral Domain reached during the Arroyo administration was unconstitutional.
The MILF said it will release in 3 days' time a statement on the current situation in Mindanao and recent clashes in Al-Barka, Basilan that resulted in the deaths of 19 soldiers. - ANC
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