From the Philippine News Agency (Mar 28): Signed CAB removes one of major three thorns on peace process – Iqbal
With the signing of the Comprehensive Agreement on Bangsamoro, Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MNLF) chief negotiator Mohagher Iqbal said the major thorns blocking the achievement of the lasting peace in Mindanao have gone down to two.
”The peace process is a long process. One of the major thorns is the signing of the CAB. It took us 17 years to finish that. So that is the first thorn,” Iqbal said in a press briefing at the Manila Hotel on Friday, a day after historic signing of CAB between the Philippine government and the MILF at theMalacanang Palace
Iqbal said the next thorn is how to translate the peace pact into legal document through legislation in Congress.
”Our next step is to submit it to the Office of the President and the President will certify that as urgent bill, submit it to Congress and Congress will act through legislation,” the MILF peace panel head explained.
Senate President Franklin Drilon has promised to approve the Bangsamoro basic law within this year and ratify it early next year.
The third thorn, Iqbal told the media, is the implementation phase of the agreement so that everybody will benefit on the ground, particularly the people ofMindanao .
”You know documents will not implement itself. It takes intervention of the people before an agreement would be implemented on the ground,” the MILF official said.
After the passage of the basic law on the creation of the Bangsamoro political entity, Iqbal said a referendum will be held to get the approval of the people in the areas covered by the agreement.
Once the agreement has been implemented on the ground, Iqbal said the MILF and other groups including the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) can participate in the democratic process specially the election that hopefully will take place in the 2016.
Under the process of normalization, Philippine government peace panel head Miriam Coronel-Ferrer said an independent body will be formed to supervise the decommissioning of firearms and MILF combatants.
”The most important end goal is to institute what has been the major aspiration in this process and that is creation of Bangsamoro political entity that will enable them for self-governance. It’s a gradual phase of the process,” Ferrer said.
Iqbal clarified that the there is no element of surrender or destruction of firearms.
”It simply means a firearm will be decommissioned and a third party will be putting up a warehouse and these will be put there. It’s like a car. It will be garaged. The MILF nor the government neither control key,” the MILF official explained.
Aside from the decommissioning of MILF forces, Iqbal said there has to be disbarment of private armed groups and undertake socio-economic intervention on the ground.
”When everything has been settled and has been put in place and then, who is in need of firearms?” he said.
The MILF official expressed optimism that the peace agreement will finally put an end to almost four decades of armed struggles inMindanao because of the trust that the MILF leadership gave to the administration of President Benigno Aquino III.
”What we need here is a leader who is honest and has foresight. And we saw that in our President. The presence of almost 90 percent of the MILF leaders show our trust in this government,” Iqbal said.
Iqbal said the strong leadership of President Aquino made the MILF leadership decides to invest in the peace process under the present government.
Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace Process (OPAPP) Secretary Ging Deles said the government of President Aquino is committed to deliver to the Bangsamoro people what has been achieved in the peace agreement.
”The instruction from the President is clear that we will not sign anything that will not be delivered, Deles said.
http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=630331
With the signing of the Comprehensive Agreement on Bangsamoro, Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MNLF) chief negotiator Mohagher Iqbal said the major thorns blocking the achievement of the lasting peace in Mindanao have gone down to two.
”The peace process is a long process. One of the major thorns is the signing of the CAB. It took us 17 years to finish that. So that is the first thorn,” Iqbal said in a press briefing at the Manila Hotel on Friday, a day after historic signing of CAB between the Philippine government and the MILF at the
Iqbal said the next thorn is how to translate the peace pact into legal document through legislation in Congress.
”Our next step is to submit it to the Office of the President and the President will certify that as urgent bill, submit it to Congress and Congress will act through legislation,” the MILF peace panel head explained.
Senate President Franklin Drilon has promised to approve the Bangsamoro basic law within this year and ratify it early next year.
The third thorn, Iqbal told the media, is the implementation phase of the agreement so that everybody will benefit on the ground, particularly the people of
”You know documents will not implement itself. It takes intervention of the people before an agreement would be implemented on the ground,” the MILF official said.
After the passage of the basic law on the creation of the Bangsamoro political entity, Iqbal said a referendum will be held to get the approval of the people in the areas covered by the agreement.
Once the agreement has been implemented on the ground, Iqbal said the MILF and other groups including the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) can participate in the democratic process specially the election that hopefully will take place in the 2016.
Under the process of normalization, Philippine government peace panel head Miriam Coronel-Ferrer said an independent body will be formed to supervise the decommissioning of firearms and MILF combatants.
”The most important end goal is to institute what has been the major aspiration in this process and that is creation of Bangsamoro political entity that will enable them for self-governance. It’s a gradual phase of the process,” Ferrer said.
Iqbal clarified that the there is no element of surrender or destruction of firearms.
”It simply means a firearm will be decommissioned and a third party will be putting up a warehouse and these will be put there. It’s like a car. It will be garaged. The MILF nor the government neither control key,” the MILF official explained.
Aside from the decommissioning of MILF forces, Iqbal said there has to be disbarment of private armed groups and undertake socio-economic intervention on the ground.
”When everything has been settled and has been put in place and then, who is in need of firearms?” he said.
The MILF official expressed optimism that the peace agreement will finally put an end to almost four decades of armed struggles in
”What we need here is a leader who is honest and has foresight. And we saw that in our President. The presence of almost 90 percent of the MILF leaders show our trust in this government,” Iqbal said.
Iqbal said the strong leadership of President Aquino made the MILF leadership decides to invest in the peace process under the present government.
Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace Process (OPAPP) Secretary Ging Deles said the government of President Aquino is committed to deliver to the Bangsamoro people what has been achieved in the peace agreement.
”The instruction from the President is clear that we will not sign anything that will not be delivered, Deles said.
http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=630331