THURSDAY
MANILA, AUGUST 6, 2011, (STAR) By Aurea
Calica and Delon Porcalla (Photo is loading... Photo released by the Office
of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process shows President Aquino meeting
with Moro Islamic Liberation Front chairman Al Haj Murad Ibrahim in a hotel near
Narita airport in Tokyo on Aug. 4.)
President Aquino and his delegation slipped out of the country on Thursday to
hold an unannounced meeting with Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) chair Al
Haj Murad Ibrahim in Tokyo, Japan where they agreed to speed up negotiations for
ending the decades-long Muslim separatist struggle in Mindanao.
Government peace panel chairman Marvic Leonen declined to reveal details of
the meeting held in a hotel near the Narita airport, but assured the public that
no secret deal was made and that there would be no repeat of the Memorandum of
Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) whose botched signing after its being
declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court triggered a killing rampage by
rogue elements of the MILF in 2008.
Palace officials said the Japan meeting was the first time a Philippine
president had held face-to-face talks with the MILF chairman in 14 years of
on-and-off peace negotiations.
"Both agreed to fast-track the negotiations," a government statement said.
"Both agreed that the implementation of any agreement should happen within
the current administration," it added, referring to Aquino's six-year term that
ends in mid-2016.
Leonen said the President's instructions to the government peace panel were
very clear: that they should be pragmatic and never promise anything not
feasible or attainable.
The MILF, according to Leonen, described the President's move as a "grand
gesture" of sincerity.
Leonen said they had to keep the meeting secret for security reasons and to
avoid media frenzy which could affect the atmosphere of the meeting.
"We have learned from the MOA-AD," Leonen said, adding the government was
reconnecting with the MILF on a very "sincere plane."
Leonen said Murad told the President of his confidence in his administration.
"You are unlike the previous administration, we know that you are sincere,"
Leonen quoting Murad as saying.
"I was counting it (expression of confidence), it was repeated three times by
the Moro Islamic Liberation Front," Leonen said.
He said the President and Murad discussed "frames as to how to fast-track the
process, a commitment and a delivery of the message that we want implementation
and we are sincere with the just, comprehensive lasting agreement."
Leonen said "there are other things that they discussed."
Leonen stressed that Aquino assured the MILF leaders of a "feasible,
practical, viable politically and economically" peace agreement.
"The President said I can only commit, in many occasions, that which I can do
and I will do whatever it is that I can commit. I think to the MILF that smacked
of a lot of sincerity on the part of the President," Leonen said.
Separatists no more
Leonen said the MILF should no longer be called a separatist or secessionist
movement because it was no longer seeking an independent state but a sub-state
where they would remain Filipino citizens.
At the same time, Leonen said the meeting did not diminish the President's
stature or give the MILF belligerency status.
"Why not (meet with MILF) if the President is very serious about this? If the
administration for the past 14 years did not even meet with them and they said
that they were serious in peace, then you see now, the President himself really
wanting for himself to actually talk to the head of the Moro Islamic Liberation
Front," Leonen said.
"The President meets with all sorts of civil groups. The President meets with
all sorts of Filipinos and here, if you are serious about peace, why is that you
cannot meet with the chair of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front?"
Leonen said the President and Murad met for about two hours at the Ana Crown
Hotel near Narita airport at 8:30 p.m., or two and a half hours after Aquino and
his delegation arrived on a chartered flight from Manila at 6 p.m.
"The President will meet with any Filipino anywhere in the world, in the
planet, especially if he is serious enough to talk about an agenda which is
important for the country," Leonen said.
"So this is a meeting between Filipinos. It was held in Japan. The President
is willing to meet anywhere including any place. We offered to meet in Mindanao,
we even offered to meet very close to where the heart of the MILF is. However,
they requested that the meeting take place in any one of the International
Contact Group (ICG) countries, and of course, one of them, the closest is Japan,
and therefore we thought the place was not an issue," Leonen said.
Other ICG member-countries are Saudi Arabia, Turkey and United Kingdom.
"It's a fruitful meeting. The government is serious in looking for (a)
genuine solution to the problem," an AFP report quoted MILF vice-chairman
Ghazali Jaafar as saying in a phone interview. Jaafar did not travel with Murad.
"The peace process is now on the straight, sa matuwid na daan," he said later
in a statement.
"It was the first time in the history of Bangsamoro struggle that the
President and MILF chief meet in a foreign land," he said.
"We presented to the President our position on the GPH-MILF peace process,"
Jaafar said.
"We also presented our talking points to President Aquino and his party while
his group also presented the government's talking points," he added.
"All what was discussed was about the GPH-MILF peace process, how to find
solutions and who to develop Muslim Mindanao," Jaafar said.
Asked to specify MILF's talking points, Jaafar said "we want a nation but not
separate from the republic. It must have power to govern but not about the power
of the Philippine government."
"We told the President that we want Bangsamoro state not like the ARMM which
is inutile," he added.
A member of the MILF peace panel who declined to be identified described the
meeting as a "getting-to-know-you session."
"This (peace) is something we can hope for, but there's still a lot of
legwork to do in the coming months," he said.
Trip unofficial
The President's delegation, aside from Leonen, included Presidential Adviser
on the Peace Process Teresita Quintos-Deles, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin,
National Security Adviser Cesar Garcia, Budget Secretary Florencio Abad, Finance
Secretary Cesar Purisima, and presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda.
The group left Japan at 10 a.m. yesterday and arrived at around 3 p.m. in
Manila.
The Palace said the presidential trip to Japan was unofficial but the
Japanese government was gracious enough to shoulder some of the expenses in
hosting the meeting.
"The meeting was cordial but consisted of a frank and candid exchange of
their views about the frames of the continuing peace talks and some possible
approaches that the parties can take to bring about a peaceful settlement,"
Leonen said.
Leonen said it was the President himself who sought the meeting prior to his
administration's submission of its own agenda for the talks.
Leonen disclosed the meeting was set during a meeting on June 27.
"It was during that meeting that the panels discussed the possibility for the
meeting between the President and the chair of the MILF. The government panel
shared its proposed details and agenda," Leonen said.
"The MILF panel, on the other hand, communicated the view of their central
committee that the offer for a meeting was a 'grand gesture' on the part of
government. They also mentioned that it was an 'honor' that this historical
meeting was going to take place," Leonen said.
"Only the President, Murad and their note takers were in the meeting room.
The meeting was informal," he added.
"The meeting helps the formal negotiations between the panels of both sides.
It will facilitate its progress," Leonen said, adding he was one of the note
takers.
Murad was accompanied to the meeting place by some members of the MILF's
central committee and some commanders.
"We thank Japan for providing the facilities consistent with their
longstanding commitment to peace, as well as the Malaysian facilitator for
assisting with arrangements between the two parties for this historic meeting,"
Leonen said.
Japan was chosen as venue for the meeting since it is part of the
International Contact Group on Mindanao that has been supporting the country's
peace talks with the Muslim rebels.
Lacierda, for his part, said, "The President saw the opportunity. He felt
that this was the best time to meet with chairman Murad. And I think the
discussions were very fruitful. It was a candid exchange."
The official negotiating panels of the two sides are now expected to head
back to Malaysia to continue the talks on Aug. 15.
The MILF, said to be 12,000-strong, is expected to drop its demand for a
separate state in Mindanao at the resumption of the peace talks.
The rebellion has killed over 150,000 people and stunted economic growth in
the mineral rich but impoverished regions in Mindanao.
Aquino's predecessor Gloria Arroyo, who is now a Pampanga congresswoman,
failed to sign a peace deal with the MILF during the nearly 10 years she was in
power.
Rogue elements of the MILF went on a killing rampage in 2008 following the
Supreme Court's rejection of the MOA-AD between the Arroyo administration and
the MILF.
The aborted deal would have given the MILF control over vast tracts of land,
even in Christian dominated areas.
More than 750,000 people were displaced at the height of the fighting,
triggering a humanitarian crisis.
About 400 civilians and fighters from both sides were also killed.
After Aquino came to power last year, peace talks resumed between the two
sides in Malaysia, with the last round held in June.
The MILF broke away in 1978 from the Moro National Liberation Front, which
launched a bloody separatist uprising in Mindanao in 1971 before signing a peace
treaty with the government in 1996.
Aquino may be following the footsteps of his late mother, former President
Corazon Aquino, who met MNLF chairman Nur Misuari in 1987 soon after his return
from exile in Saudi Arabia. With John Unson
Tokyo meeting seen to lead to peace accord (The
Philippine Star) Updated August 06, 2011 12:00 AM
[PHOTO - President Aquino exchanges pleasantries with officers of the
Moro Islamic Liberation Front led by its chairman, Al Haj Murad (ctr), during a
secret meeting in Tokyo. Photo by Jay Morales, Malacañang
Photo]
MANILA, Philippines - While it took many by surprise, President Aquino's
unannounced meeting with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) leader in
Japan was generally welcomed.
House Senior Deputy Minority Leader and Maguindanao Rep. Simeon Datumanong
said he was heartened by Aquino's gesture of reaching out to MILF leader Al Haj
Murad Ibrahim.
"That meeting would greatly boost chances of an understanding with the MILF
and help make peace in Mindanao, especially in conflict areas," Datumanong told
The STAR.
"It's a good thing that there was a personal touch. I hope that this would
lead to a good peace agreement soon," he said.
Davao del Sur Rep. Marc Douglas Cagas said he trusts that Aquino has laid
down terms that are advantageous to the majority of Filipinos.
"I expect that he (Aquino) put forward a position that would be beneficial
for all Filipinos so we can finally attain peace," he said.
He, however, said Aquino and the MILF leadership must disclose the details of
the meeting, saying the peace process is an issue that cannot be decided by two
people alone.
"We are all stakeholders in the peace process. We must not be kept in the
dark, especially if there are some secret understanding or commitments," Cagas
said.
Former peace adviser and government negotiator with the MILF Jesus Dureza
said the secret meeting reminded him of the late President Corazon Aquino's own
meeting with Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) chairman Nur Misuari in 1987.
"For her son, President Noynoy to take a similar bold step for peace is also
historic. From where I sit, I consider this meeting an effort to fast-track the
peace process. We congratulate both the government and the MILF in taking the
unconventional route just so an early settlement can be mutually forged," Dureza
said in a text message.
"A word of caution though. The road to peace is not easy. There are still
many facets that must be attended to and resolved. The top-level meeting must be
followed through vigorously and relentlessly until a final pact is signed,
sealed and implemented. We know the rigors of peace making and peace building,"
he said.
He said after the two leaders have taken "bold initiatives for peace, we the
citizens must all unite and provide support to sustain these gains."
Analysts said the secret meeting in Japan could be part of an imaginative but
risky strategy to move the peace talks forward after initial delays and rebels'
suspicion that the government was insincere in negotiating.
"Such a meeting would entail significant political risk for President Aquino
and could hand ammunition to his opponents if the administration was
subsequently unable to reach a deal," the International Crisis Group (ICG) said
in a report.
"We don't have any information about that meeting. If there is indeed one,
the ARMM leadership is hoping both parties can achieve something tangible that
would hasten the attainment of lasting peace and sustainable development in
Southern Mindanao," said Ali Macabalang, information director of the Autonomous
Region in Muslim Mindanao.
"Let's pray for a fruitful outcome of that meeting if indeed there is such
meeting," said Malang.
"We'll just have to wait and see. We in the MNLF want peace in Mindanao and
we shall support all peaceful means of putting that in place," said Cotabato
City Vice Mayor Muslimin Sema, chairman of the most dominant of four factions in
the MNLF.
In Zamboanga City, local government leaders reminded the Aquino
administration to stick to the framework of the Constitution in its negotiation
with MILF.
"We hope the peace talks to continue with the result that is based on the
framework of the Constitution," Mayor Celso Lobregat said.
"The Supreme Court struck down the MOA-AD, and that should not be used as
basis for the peace negotiation because it was unconstitutional," Lobregat said.
"We have to be vigilant."
North Cotabato Gov. Emmylou Talino-Mendoza, for her part, called for
transparency.
"It is good that they met. At least it is contrary to speculations that the
President does not care for the peace process in Mindanao because he did not
include the matter in his last State of the Nation Address (SONA)," Mendoza
said.
"Just be transparent. Do away with malicious insinuations," Mendoza added.
Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte also welcomed the Japan meeting.
"It is a positive development and we welcome such moves by the President,"
Duterte said.
"I am sure the President would make the necessary announcement about it
soon," Duterte said.
Former chief of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process
(OPAPP) Hermogenes Esperon Jr. said the meeting was a positive development.
He also said that there was nothing wrong with Japan's hosting of the
meeting.
"Peace can be negotiated anywhere. Remember also that Japan has led the
economic development team and JICA (Japan International Coordinating Agency) has
many projects already in conflict areas," he said.
But House Minority Leader and Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman said Aquino should
fully explain to the public his "excursion" to Tokyo.
"The President's excursion to Japan more than meets the eye. Much explaining
has to be done," he said in a statement.
"What was achieved? What are the commitments? Could not the President send an
emissary instead of him going there?" he asked.
He said the President's secret trip to Tokyo "violates his own policy on
transparency."
"The country is not the personal fiefdom of President Aquino. Any
presidential action which has a bearing on national interest and national
security must be transparent and previously discussed with, among others, the
Cabinet and the National Security Council," he said.
He urged the Chief Executive to also reveal the security arrangements for his
trip.
"The people have a stake in his security. How was he secured? How extensive
were the preparations? Was there a security breach?" he said. Jess Diaz, Paolo Romero, Jaime Laude, Edith Regalado, Roel Pareño,
John Unson
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
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