DIGOS CITY, Davao del Sur — Peace advocates in
Mindanao have expressed impatience over the delay in
the resumption of peace talks despite repeated
announcement that the negotiations for a lasting peace
in Southern Philippines would resume soon.
In a statement, Mindanao Peace Weavers,
a “network of networks” of peace advocates, said both
panels of the government and the Moro Islamic
Liberation Front (MILF) held only exploratory and
back-channeling peace negotiations, which were
unofficial panel activities.”
“What is causing the delay in the resumption of the
talks? The last formal talks was in October 2001,
almost three years ago,” said Gus Miclat, director of
Initiatives for International Dialogue, which serves
as the secretariat of the peace network.
Miclat called on both parties to
resume formal negotiations as “soon as possible.”
Jose Akmad, chairman of the Mindanao
People’s Caucus, said that pockets of violence in some
areas in Maguindanao and Sultan Kudarat pose “serious
threats” to the prevailing peace in Mindanao.
The Peace Weavers feared that these
violent incidents “can be harbingers of a renewed
outbreak of war.”
Elements opposed to a peace
settlement in Mindanao might take advantage of the
incidents and use them to trigger renewed hostilities
between the government and the MILF, the group said.
“A further delay in the negotiation
would be denying Mindanao its long sought peace,” the
Peace Weavers said in the statement.
It called on the Malaysian
government, which is facilitating the talks, to
persuade the Philippine government and the MILF into
fast-tracking the resumption of the talks.
The advocacy group said that
although it recognized “positive developments” in the
peace process, these cannot substitute for the formal
peace negotiations.