MILF Articles

Pact with MILF not guarantee vs terrorism

An Australian expert on terrorism said there is no assurance that peace agreement between the Philippines and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) would address the link between the Moro rebels and the terrorist network Jema’ah Islamiyah (JI).

Dr. Kt Collier of the Research School of the Pacific and Asian Studies and International Crisis Group said the al-Qaeda group is determined to strengthen the presence of JI in the region through establishing links with local Muslim rebel groups such as MILF.

“The JI is doing its best to polarize the situation. Should a peace agreement be reached, JI would continue to foment division within the MILF and encourage radical division,” he told a press conference at the Asian Institute of Management in Makati via a videoconference from Canberra.

Members of the negotiating panel expressed optimism that a peace pact would be forged by year-end as talks resume in November. A 43-man peace observer team from Malaysia has already arrived in the country to monitor the cessation of hostilities as both parties hammer out peace issues in Kuala Lumpur.

“We’re about to conclude the peace agreement with the arrival of the monitoring team. Peace negotiations would begin after the Ramadan,” Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto G. Romulo Tuesday told a press conference.

Collier, meanwhile, said the peace agreement should include a provision to make the Muslim secessionists completely cut its ties with the JI to root out terrorism adding that there should be a “permanent negotiating panel” to the peace talks.

“There should be more pressure on the MILF to track down the elements that have JI connections in Mindanao,” he added.

The Australian expert also urged the Philippines to issue a “white paper” similar to his government’s where the latest developments on terrorism in the region are discussed.

The Australian government puts out a “white paper” every year, the latest of which cited Mindanao as a nerve center for terrorism.

In Zamboanga City, meanwhile, the government and the MILF have arrived at a common consensus to address the root causes of family feuds in Maguindanao.

Benjie Midtimbang, chairman of the MILF panel in the Cease-fire Committee and Cessation of Hostilities (CCCH), said the GRP and the MILF have agreed to formulate a conflict resolution framework affecting the local population during the 21st Joint GRP-MILF CCCH meeting held in late September in General Santos City.

The conflict resolution framework will be piloted in the towns of Shariff Aguak, Mamasapano, Datu Unsay, Datu Saudi Ampatuan and Datu Piang, all of Maguindanao province, where the incidence of family grudges is very high, Midtimbang said.

These long-standing family feuds, locally known as “Rido,” is one of the most common causes of conflicts in the province. On several occasions, “Rido” was cited as the culprit in the flare-up of hostilities between the government and rebel forces assigned in the same area, he said.

Midtimbang did not identify any family or families that are involved in family feuds.

To be tapped as main players in this conflict resolution efforts are local government units (LGUs), religious leaders, MILF leaders and military personnel.

The government panels in the CCCH will soon conduct a series of workshops to generate a consensus framework on how to address and resolve issues or conflicts involving local residents, MILF members, the political clans and relatives of the military or police personnel who are involved in land disputes, political rivalries, and personal grudges resulting from “criminal activities.”

Midtimbang called this “a welcome development because, most of the time, the two cease-fire committees are tied up in defusing tension caused by local feuds and they set aside their main task of monitoring and implementing the cease-fire.”

Midtimbang told his counterpart in the government that the MILF recently introduced some changes in the assignments of some local units of the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces.

The changes are meant to reduce tensions precipitated by erring LGU, GRP and MILF units in certain areas, who have outstanding grudges against each other in the province.