| MILF wants ancestral domain
issue tackled in peace talks |
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COTABATO CITY — One of the
thorny topics negotiators will have to carefully
iron out in the formal talks between the government
and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) is the
issue of ancestral domain for Mindanao’s indigenous
communities, the MILF said yesterday.
Ghadzali Jaafar, MILF’s vice chairman for political
affairs, said they are convinced that the
government’s understanding of the ancestral domain
issue is limited only to the concept of titling
lands in Moro communities to qualified
beneficiaries.
"The ancestral domain issue encompasses so many
complex issues. It includes culture, traditions,
domicile and religious dimensions which are
essential parameters in the continuing existence of
Mindanao’s Moro communities," Jaafar told Catholic
radio station dxMS here.
Jaafar said the ancestral domain issue must also
include the religious and socio-cultural practices
of Muslims and native hinterland tribes in
protecting their environment and in preserving their
unique identities as Mindanao’s ethnic communities.
"These concerns have to be discussed by the two
panels extensively, under the spirit of unity and
respect for each other’s position on the Mindanao
problem," Jaafar told dxMS.
Jaafar said that the MILF central committee is
optimistic that the presence in Central Mindanao of
the International Monitoring Team (IMT), composed of
Malaysian military and police officers, will enhance
the implementation of the ceasefire.
"We are ready for the peace talks. Nothing,
absolutely nothing can be a better means of
resolving the Mindanao problem than addressing it
peacefully through peaceful negotiations," Jaafar
said. |
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