Posted to the MILF Website (Feb 28): Mindanao Peace Weavers calls for forbearance
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The Mindanao Peace Weavers (MPW) issued a statement last February 25 on the arrest of MILF-BIAF 118th Base Commander Ustadz Wahid Tundok by elements of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) and Philippine Marines at the latter’s checkpoint at Matampay Bridge, Cotabato City last (missing text?)
The Mindanao Peace Weavers (MPW) issued a statement last February 25 on the arrest of MILF-BIAF 118th Base Commander Ustadz Wahid Tundok by elements of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) and Philippine Marines at the latter’s checkpoint at Matampay Bridge, Cotabato City last (missing text?)
In the said statement, the group expressed its deep concern and anxiety at Sunday’s arrest of Commander Tundok, based on an alleged standing warrant of arrest for arson and multiple murder charges. This potential flashpoint, following just a week after the shooting to death of MILF Commander Yusoph Kusain, and again the arrest made on Commander Tundok, reflects an apparent gap between top-level pronouncements of both the Government of the Philippines (GPH) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), and their troops and ceasefire coordinating mechanisms on the ground, the statement said further.
The civil society group said in its statement that it feels that the proverbial reason of “just following orders” made by officers and men of the CIDG executing the warrant, should be further informed and tempered by the direction and temperament of forbearance that is being made manifested at the highest level of the peace process. We take note of President Aquino’s December 9 statement at a Malacanang Press Corps briefing, stating:
“This is not going to be simple because here we would have to demonstrate our full trust in each other.”
“We feel that this sentiment should be translated into action by all forces, and permeate all actions by either side, particularly now that the Bangsamoro peace process nears its final stretch. We appeal to both sides to temper their actions and responses with utmost restraint, and allow the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) to stand and make its case before the country without distraction or provocation”, the group said in its issued statement.
It went further saying, “Let the BBL be judged for its own merits, with the world as its witness. We encourage both sides to engage more fully not only the letter, but more particularly the spirit of peace negotiations and peace-building, which millions of us in Mindanao continue to yearn and work for”.
Finally, the group said, “The MPW appeals for the release of Commander Tundok, as this will improve confidence-building even as the government and the MILF peace panels are talking transitional justice in the peace talks. This paramount effort requires our collective forbearance, our common acceptance and ultimate singular belief that the process we are engaged and invested in will work, given its one true chance. To this end we again reiterate that the guns in Mindanao have held sway for too long, let our generation now instead listen to a just peace”.
http://www.luwaran.com/index.php/welcome/item/838-mindanao-peace-weavers-calls-for-forbearance
The civil society group said in its statement that it feels that the proverbial reason of “just following orders” made by officers and men of the CIDG executing the warrant, should be further informed and tempered by the direction and temperament of forbearance that is being made manifested at the highest level of the peace process. We take note of President Aquino’s December 9 statement at a Malacanang Press Corps briefing, stating:
“This is not going to be simple because here we would have to demonstrate our full trust in each other.”
“We feel that this sentiment should be translated into action by all forces, and permeate all actions by either side, particularly now that the Bangsamoro peace process nears its final stretch. We appeal to both sides to temper their actions and responses with utmost restraint, and allow the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) to stand and make its case before the country without distraction or provocation”, the group said in its issued statement.
It went further saying, “Let the BBL be judged for its own merits, with the world as its witness. We encourage both sides to engage more fully not only the letter, but more particularly the spirit of peace negotiations and peace-building, which millions of us in Mindanao continue to yearn and work for”.
Finally, the group said, “The MPW appeals for the release of Commander Tundok, as this will improve confidence-building even as the government and the MILF peace panels are talking transitional justice in the peace talks. This paramount effort requires our collective forbearance, our common acceptance and ultimate singular belief that the process we are engaged and invested in will work, given its one true chance. To this end we again reiterate that the guns in Mindanao have held sway for too long, let our generation now instead listen to a just peace”.
http://www.luwaran.com/index.php/welcome/item/838-mindanao-peace-weavers-calls-for-forbearance