MINDANAO PEOPLES CAUCUS

GRP-MILF talks: comprehensive pact ruled out; only interim agreement possible

By CAROLY O. ARGUILLAS/MindaNews

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/06 March) – A “significant interim agreement” can still be reached by the Philippine government (GRP) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) before the Arroyo administration which promised an “all out peace” in January 2001, ends at noon on June 30, 2010.

A press statement released by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on March 5 quoted government peace panel chair Rafael Seguis as saying that a “significant interim agreement can still be realistically pursued” before then.

MILF peace panel chair Mohagher Iqbal told MindaNews that they have ruled out forging a comprehensive compact. “Only interim agreement is possible.”

MILF senior peace panel member Datu Michael Mastura, said the two panels “can forge an interim agreement to write a new framework on declaration of principles and interim arrangements for governance. This mechanism for transition process would tie over the peace negotiations to the next administration with timeframe, sequence, periods, during which joint task mechanism from each side could work out implementation arrangements.”

“The GRP Panel’s sincerity is never diminished by the limited time we are given… We remain committed to understanding whatever you have to say, inasmuch as we hope the MILF Panel would be committed to understand our ideas as well,” said Seguis.

Seguis said his panel is exploring every conceivable means, and exerting every possible effort, to arrive at an agreement that is “just, equitable, honorable, and acceptable to all parties.”

The two panels met on January 27 in Kuala Lumpur to exchange their respective draft comprehensive peace agreement based on previously agreed upon guidelines. No discussion was made on January 28 as the MILF refused to meet with the government panel, claiming its draft offered “enhanced autonomy” again.

The two panels agreed to meet on February 18 but this was reset to March upon the request of the MILF and because the Malaysian-led International Monitoring Team (IMT) advance party arrived in Mindanao.

The IMT was redeployed in Mindanao by February 28, after their mandate lapsed on November 30, 2008, following the collapse of the talks as an aftermath of the aborted signing of the already initialled Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) on August 5 that year.

The March 4 Q and A session in Kuala Lumpur “concluded on an optimistic note as the GRP is now well-clarified on the concepts and provisions in the MILF’s latest draft document,” said Seguis.

“There were no negotiations but only a question-and-answer session which was cordial and frank. The questions were direct and we got clarification on matters we wanted to know more about,” Seguis said.
Seguis said in the DFA press statement that the MILF presented its draft Declaration of Principles on Interim Governance Arrangements, an 11-page extract of its proposed Comprehensive Compact.

MILF peace panel chair Iqbal referred to it as a seven-page extract from its 38-page draft comprehensive compact. Mastura said there was a four-page annex to the seven-pager. The DFA press statement said the MILF is “proposing a transition arrangement that will convert the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) into a ‘self-governance set up.’ The present ARMM is composed of five provinces -- Sulut, Tawi-tawti, Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur and Basilan and two cities –Marawi in Lanao del Sur and Lamitan in Basilan. The incumbent regional officials were elected in August 2008 for a three-year term that ends September 30, 2011.

Iqbal said the ARMM has never been a product of a negotiated political settlement.

The ARMM areas, however, as both panels had earlier agreed, are the core areas for Bangsamoro self-governance -- in whatever final form it will become.

But the joint primer released in 2006 by the government and MILF peace panels assured that the elected officials of the ARMM would serve their full term as the panels also remain committed to the full implementation of the GRP-MNLF agreement of 1996.

Seguis said the government panel e GRP Panel has agreed to submit its counterproposal to the MILF draft. At the opening of the Q and A session on March 4, the Malaysian facilitator, Datuk Othman bin Abd Razak, said “we are now here to seek clarification from you as to the aspects of your drafts… Clarification only would be the purpose of this meeting and the next.”

“The positions of both sides having been clarified, we hope that in the end we will come up with an agreement that is clear, beneficial, and – this is a special concern of the GRP Panel – able to withstand any and all legal or constitutional hurdles, or hostilities, that may be thrown against it,” he added.

Seguis said the government panel’s negotiating stance proceeds from a “deserved respect and deference to the Constitution.” Seguis said the MILF acknowledged that constitutional processes should be followed with respect to proposed provisions which would require Constitutional amendments.

“Whatever differences we may have, we are of one mind that we need to preserve our gains, and to agree on a clear roadmap on how to move ahead. We are committed to finding creative ways and alternatives towards forging a peace agreement, whether in the present administration or in the next,” he said. (Carolyn O. Arguillas/MindaNews)

Peace panels meet for Q and A session; 2 more NGOs in CPC

By Carolyn O. Arguillas

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/05 March) – The government and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) peace panels met Thursday at the Sheraton Hotel in Kuala Lumpur for a “Q and A” session on the seven-page extract of the 38-page draft comprehensive compact of the MILF. The panels agreed that the government peace panel will produce a draft in response to the MILF presentation, sources from both panels told MindaNews.

At the same time, the two panels approved the application of two groups -- the Cotabato City-based Mindanao Human Rights Action Center (MinHRAC) and the Marawi City-based Muslim Organizaon Government Officials and Professionals (MOGOP) -- for inclusion in the Civilian Protection Component (CPC).

Government peace panel chair Rafael Sequis told MindaNews by phone that “everything went very well.” “The Q and A session ended this afternoon at Sheraton Hotel with optimistic note. The MILF panel replied to the questions raised by the GRP with clarity and candidness,” Seguis said Thursday night.

But he did not elaborate on what questions the government raised and what issues the MILF answered with “clarity and candidness.” MILF peace panel chair Mohagher Iqbal described the session as “blunt,frank, and tiring.”

“Perspectives differ: GRP constitutional, MILF negotiated formula. No document signed except the admission of two NGO members of CPC,” Iqbal told MindaNews in a text message.

The Mindanao Peoples Caucus and Non-Violent Peace Force had earlier been named members of the CPC. “It was extended to afternoon. We presented and explained our draft in Power Point. Then GRP grilled us. Then separate sessions for GRP and ICG then another for MI-ICG,” Iqbal said. ICG is the International Contact Group (ICG) that was set up on December 3 and is initially composed of the United Kingdom, Japan and Turkey as member-countries and The Asia Foundation, the Geneva-based Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, the London-based Conciliation Resources and the Indonesia-based Muhammadiyah as INGO members.

Iqbal said the ICG members were allowed to raise questions in the session after lunch. Iqbal, in his speech at the Q and A session, posted in the MILF website, said the last time they were in Kuala Lumpur was for the supposed two-day 17th GRP-MILF Exploratory Talks on January 27 to 28.

“We exchanged drafts on the comprehensive compact on the first day, on January 27, but on the second day the Parties (did not meet) directly for reason all of us know. The lesson learned here is that the peace negotiation between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), like all similar negotiations, has rules of engagement to follow and agreed agenda to discuss and pursue through to the end.,” he said.

Iqbal explained that since 1997, the agenda of the talks had been on how to solve the “Bangsamoro Problem.” The problem, he said, “involves a variety of social, cultural, economic and political issues and concerns,” so the task of the negotiators is “to find a political and lasting solution to this problem … with the end in view of establishing a system of life and governance suitable and acceptable to the Bangsamoro people.” “The Tripoli Agreement on Peace on June 22, 2001 entrenched this further by providing that the negotiation and peaceful resolution of the conflict must involve consultations with the Bangsamoro, free of any imposition in order to provide chances of success and open new formulas that permanently respond to the aspirations of the Bangsamoro people for freedom,” Iqbal dded. He noted that there was an “almost impasse” on January 28 because government offered as its draft comprehensive compact ‘old formula’ contained in the Republic Act 6734, as amended by 9054, that established Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

But the ARMM, he said, “has never been the product of negotiation but a unilateral action of government through legislations or acts of the Philippine Congress.” He said the so-called ‘enhanced autonomy’ offered by government is nothing new as it been offered to the MILF at least three times “and each time the offer was made the MILF rejected it outright.” MindaNews recalls the first offer was made in May 2000 when peace talks resumed as government and rebel forces battled in Camp Bushra, Lanao del Sur.

The second was in February 2003, on the eve of the aerial strike on Buliok and the third, according to Iqbal, on January 27 this year. “The government also offered federal state to the MILF in April 2005 with the central government having exclusive powers over national defense, foreign relations, coinage and currency, and postal services, but the MILF rejected it simply because the government was not in a position to give it to us,” he said. The shift to a federal form of government requires constitutional amendment.

Iqbal added that the essence of the GRP draft presented in January is “contained in existing laws and policies or programs of government like strengthening of the Islamic banking, the Shariah justice system, madaris system, etc.” “Why do we have to negotiate for something which is already given; and stated more seriously, why do we have to accept something that had already caused the marginalization of the MNLF (Moro National Liberation Front) and the irrelevance of its leaders --- who up to now are waiting for the GRP to comply with the spirit and letter of the GRP-MNLF Final Agreement on September 2, 1996?”

The MNLF had since divided into several factions with peace pact signatory Nur Misuari now running again for Sulu governor. Misuari ran but lost the gubernatorial race in 2007. “If the peace talks is passing through a turbulent zone today --- and on the verge of signing nothing until President Arroyo’s exit on June 30, this year -- it is because the GRP is not very truthful to what is agreed by the Parties at the start of their engagement; i.e., for the MILF not to raise the issue of independence and the GRP the issue of constitution and territorial integrity.

Up to now, the MILF has not breached this commitment, and we have declared time and again that the MILF will no longer pursue independence as solution to the Bangsamoro problem in favor of an asymmetrical arrangement of a ‘state-and-substate’ arrangement. An offer of bogus autonomy is no solution at all --- and the MILF will never accept, knowing fully well that our people and the generations yet to come will suffer forever,” Iqbal said.

Iqbal said the Philipine government “has not changed its ‘inside the box’ approach as far as its reference to its Constitution is concerned, when other states, which also have constitutions, like Sudan, Ireland, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and even Canada, have already succeeded to resolve conflicts in their borders to the satisfaction of the parties. They used their constitutions as vehicles --- and not as obstacles --- to solve their conflicts. As far as the MILF is concerned, the Philippine Constitution is a contested issue. We view this constitution as an instrument of perpetuation of the ruler-and-ruled relationship between the majority Filipinos and minoritized Moros. We have never been part of the decision-making since we were annexed as part of the Republic of the Philippines in 1946. Our part of Mindanao has continued to shrink and shrink, while our natural wealth is being carted away by outsiders without a share of the profit for our people,” Iqbal added.

Seguis was sought for comment but had not responded as of press time. Iqbal recalled that in their joint statement on July 29, 2009, the first time the parties met again after the aborted August 5, 2008 signing of the then already initialed Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD), they agreed to “acknowledge the MOA-AD as an unsigned and yet initialed document and they also committed to reframe the consensus points with the end in view of moving towards the comprehensive compact to bring about a negotiated political settlement.”

“The MILF indeed reframed the consensus points in both its 38-page draft on comprehensive compact and the seven-page paper on the Interim Governance Arrangement, while the GRP is so scared even to mention the word MOA-AD in its draft. Why is this so, after agreeing to that MOA-AD reframing?” Iqbal asked.

In closing, Iqbal said that “if some of my statements are blunt and direct, it is not my intention to hurt the feelings of people especially my honorable counterparts from the government headed by Ambassador Rafael Seguis. It is my way of bringing my message clearly as possible.”

The two panels were supposed to have met February 18 to 19 but this was reset to March. MindaNews asked Seguis in late January on his panel’s alleged offer of the ARMM to the MILF but Seguis told MindaNews in a text message, “no substantive talks yet. Not in that context!”

In his January 28 press statement, Seguis clarified “there is no agreement yet” with the MILF. “Both sides are still in the early stages of discussing each other’s position papers,” he said. Though not explaining what kind of political package it was offering the MILF, Seguis in his press statement said the government’s draft peace agreement is “compliant with the Constitution and pertinent laws” and is “also guided by the Supreme Court decision on the aborted MOA-AD” Seguis said the government’s 2010 draft peace agreement “mostly identifies executive ‘doables’, proposed legislative actions to strengthen regional autonomy, and openness to hear MILF proposals for constitutional change.”

“The GRP draft is clear that discussions that will concern legislative and other policy actions will still be proposals which would be submitted to Congress,” he said. “There is no mention of any ‘Bangsa Moro’ sub-state in our draft,” Seguis added. Iqbal told MindaNews the MILF has proposed a “State – Sub-state relationship” that would require amending the 1987 Constitution’s Article 10, Section 15-21. Sections 15 to 21 of Article 10 on Local Government, focus on the autonomous regions. In the 1987 Constitution, these sections provided for the creation of autonomous regions in Muslim Mindanao and the Cordilleras but only the autonomous region in Muslim Mindanao has been created. The Cordillera region has remained an administrative region.

The arrangement, Iqbal said, would be “similar to Sarawak” in Malaysia. Malaysia has a federal form of government. (Carolyn O. Arguillas/MindaNews)

'Bakwits' demand security and life support package

February 25, 2010 - Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Maguindanao and Central Mindanao identified security and life support package as their major concerns during a forum initiated by Oxfam, a Great Britain-based international NGO with their local partner non-governmental organizations (NGOs) Kadtuntanya Foundation Inc. (KFI), Mindanao Tulong Bakwet (MTB) and A Single Drop of SafeWater(ASDSW) held in Cotabato City yesterday.

The forum was organized for the IDPs to push for their concerns, demands and recommendations to government and non-government entities while still taking shelter at evacuation centers and makeshifts.

IDPs cited uncertainty on security at their places of origin considering that there is no agreement yet between the government of the Philippines and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

Apart from this, they expressed hesitation to go home due to ‘rido’ or clan wars which were goaded after the Ampatuan massacre on November 23, 2009 being aggravated by the series of joint AFP-PNP raids and operations against the alleged perpetrators of the massacre that brought fear to the IDPs.

IDPs voiced apprehension and fear on the presence of unexploded ordnance (UXO) and UXO explosions in Maguindanao. The latest incident UXO explosion was last February 17 that resulted to the deaths of three civilians in barangay Tawan-Tawan, Kabingi, Datu Saudi Ampatuan, Maguidanao. On December 05, 2009, one 7-year old girl was wounded when the UXO she found at the river vicinity of Reina Regente in Datu Piang exploded.

Major Carlos Sol, Jr. of the government ceasefire committee, who was a resource person, assured IDPs that the government is committed to the ceasefire and ongoing peace negotiation between the GRP and the MILF. On the issue of UXO he cited a pending Joint Mines Clearance Action with the Foundation Suisse De Dominage (FSD) and Philippine Campaign to Ban Landmies (PCBL). On this note,Sol also stressed that the joint mines clearance campaign is part of the larger peace process between the government and MILF.

Major Sol pointed out AFP’s actions on the UXOs, even as he said IDPs will not be allowed to return home if there are still UXOs in the conflict affected areas especially in farmlands. For some IDPs in the forum, they have mentioned about the absence of consultation on programs for their rehabilitation. They said they were not consulted on the issue of return yet rather their access cards were stamped ‘returned’. This had pushed them to go back to their places of origins for economic reason as they did not received food rations since then.

The issue was acknowledged by the humanitarian NGOs and told IDPs that they were discussing it in the protection working group (PWG), an inter-NGO cluster on humanitarian protection. However, there was no response from the local government units or provincial social welfare office on this concern.

Moreover, IDPs asked livelihood assistance from concerned institutions intended as they go back to their places of origin or if they decide to stay at the relocation centers while waiting for the agreement between the GRP and MILF.

Start-up capital, farm and fishing equipments were identified by the IDPs to help them build their lives. Further, IDPs reminded the government social welfare department and local governments to provide return package or ‘pabaon’ for those who have gone home and are planning to return home.

Indemnification or reconstruction of houses that have been burnt and damaged during the height of armed conflict in 2008 was also stated by the IDPs in the forum. Accordingly, more than 2000 houses owned by civilians were burned down by government forces.

The humanitarian NGOs expressed their determination to continue their assistance and find ways to help facilitate the needs and demands of the IDPs mentioned under the two major concerns especially on the life support.

The said forum was participated by IDP leaders in IDP camps, house-based, and IDPs sheltering at the relocations sites in Datu Anggal Midtimbang, Talayan, Datu Piang, Datu Saudi Ampatuan, Ampatuan, Guindolongan and Datu Odin Sinsuat.

Local government officials to include Municipal Social Welfare and Development Officers and international organizations such as World Food Programme, IOM, ACF, CFSI, and Nonviolent Peaceforce were also present in the forum. (www.luwaran.com)

Mindanao peace group, poll watchdog to hold forum with presidentiables

DAVAO CITY—Peace votes from Mindanao are crucial in winning the 2010 national elections. And these votes may well account to more than 600,000, a huge number of internally displaced persons, who are keeping their collective support for a candidate who can provide a clear political platform in ending the conflict in Mindanao.

This is the gist of the Mindanao Leaders Forum with the May 2010 Presidential and Senatorial Candidates slated on March 16, 2010 to be held in this city, in time with the celebration of the 73rd Araw ng Dabaw.

Organized by the Mindanao Peoples Caucus (MPC) and the Citizen’s Coalition on ARMM Electoral Reform (C-CARE), the event will bring in multi-sectoral groups, especially the bakwits from Maguindanao and Lanao, face to face with the standard bearers of ten official political parties competing in the first-ever automated polls in the country.

Lawyer Mary Ann Arnado, MPC secretary general, said the “goal of the discussion is to present the Peace Platform of the Mindanao stakeholders to the presidential candidates and elicit from each one of them his or her policy directions and programs on how Mindanaoans will be able to achieve genuine peace and development.”

“We would also be interested on how they view the situation of the IDPs, who until now, are camped in evacuation centers in Maguindanao and Lanao del Norte,” Arnadao said.

C-CARE chairperson Salic Ibrahim added that there will be 200 peoples organizations from all over Mindanao who will attend the forum together with 500 leaders from the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and neighboring towns and provinces which are directly and indirectly affected by the armed conflict.

“This event is intended to provide a venue where leaders of civil society , peace networks, representatives of IDPs, humanitarian workers, indigenous and Bangsamoro communities, women and youth will be able to listen to the platforms for peace and development in Mindanao given the longstanding armed conflict that besieged the island for over four decades now,” Ibrahim said.

Arnado added that the participants would be interested to listen to a presidentiable’s views on critical issues that have direct impact on the day to day survival of communities in conflict areas, war and displacement, ancestral domain, environment, mining and the peace process.

C-CARE is a poll watchdog accredited by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) specifically in monitoring the elections in ARMM. It has been instrumental in opening formal mechanisms for people’s participation in ensuring fair and clean elections in the region.

MPC, on the other hand, is a broad movement of grassroost organizations which pioneered the Bantay Ceasefire, an independent ceasefire monitoring mechanism in the GRP-MILF talks. It recently joined the expanded International Monitoring Team (IMT) under the Civilian Protection Component (CPC).

Among those invited are Sen. Benigno Aquino II (LP), Sen. Manuel Villar (NP), Gilberto Teodoro, (Lakas), Eduardo Villanueva (BP), Richard Gordon (Bayan-VNP), Joseph Estrada (PMP), Nicanor Perlas (Ind), and Jamby Madrigal (Ind). (RRF)

New IMT head of mission determined to do his job

By ROMY B. ELUSFA/MindaNews Contributor

COTABATO CITY (MindaNews/18 February) -- The expanded task of the International Monitoring Team is “a tall order,” but Maj. Gen. Datuk Baharom bin Hamzah, the new head of mission of the IMT is determined to “do the job.” Gen. Hamzah, a member of the eight-man Reconnaissance Team sent by Malaysia’s Ministry of Defense to do a final check on the facilities of the 60-man IMT contingent that will be sent to monitor the implementation of the ceasefire agreement between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), announced his optimism on the peace process in front of around 50 representatives of various peace organizations.

The four batches of IMT contingents sent to Mindanao had managed to reduce violent incidents involving government soldiers and guerrillas of the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces, the armed group of the MILF, from more than 700 in 2004 to only about seven in 2008.

Unlike IMT-1 to IMT-4 which were tasked to monitor only the truce, Hamzah’s team, IMT-5, has three added tasks: Humanitarian, rehabilitation and development; Socio-economic Assistance; and Civilian Protection.

“It is a tall order, but we have to do the job,” he told representatives of peace organizations in an “informal welcome” dinner with the members of the Reconnaissance Team headed by LGen. Datuk Raja Mohamed Affandi bin Raja Mohamed Noor, the chief of staff of the Malaysian Armed Forces.

Noor’s short message to representatives of 18 peace organizations was filled with optimism on the success of the peace process despite an apparent deadlock in the peace negotiations with the MILF rejecting government’s offer described as “no more than the ARMM” (Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao).

“When I walked around here, I felt there is this strong spirit that everyone is looking for a long and sustainable peace,” he said while thanking the government for trusting the IMT tasks to Malaysian soldiers. “Thank you so much to the Philippine government for trusting the Malaysians to do this task.” Noor expressed confidence they would be able to provide an “environment conducive for the talks” to continue, adding they will deploy the “best 20” Malaysian soldiers who will be joining the IMT with other delegations from Libya, Brunei Darussalam, and Japan.

“We have our best team of 20 people here, but they cannot perform their best without the support of the non-government organizations,” he said while asserting that “in any peace process, it is the NGO that serves as the backbone—it (peace process) is driven by NGOs.”

Col. Dickson Hermoso, once head of the secretariat of the Joint Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities (JCCCH) and commander of the 7th Infantry Battalion during the war in 2008, said “there are only two secrets” to a successful ceasefire monitoring: “First, you have to involve the civil society organizations (CSO) and, second, a well-placed IMT.”

Hermoso explained that an active participation of the CSOs will help push the peace process forward amid the fact that “there are powder kegs in the minds of many Army and MILF forces.” With the active participation of the CSOs in the peace process, Hermoso told the IMT contingents that “there will no longer be lonely days for IMT—doing the job will be a lot of fun.”

Maj. Carlos Sol Jr., head of the secretariat of the government panel in the JCCCH, said “we will do everything to make Mindanao peaceful and developed” while also announcing that they already have “reactivated and strengthened the local monitoring teams” that government and the MILF organized in all conflict affected areas of Mindanao.

Atty. Mary Ann Arnado, secretary-general of the Mindanao Peoples Caucus (MPC), host of the “informal welcome” for the Malaysians, also assured her group’s support to the IMT, saying there are still other organizations willing to help the peace process and among them are those whose application for membership in the civilian protection component (CPC) are still pending approval by the peace panels.

The MPC and the Non-violent Peace Force are part of the CPC. Other organizations seeking recognition as part of IMT’s civilian protection task are the Initiatives for International Dialogue, Consortium of Bangsamoro Civil Society, Saligan Mindanao and two others. (Romy B. Elusfa/MindaNews contributor)

MPC joins int'l teams in monitoring GRP-MILF peace talks

DAVAO CITY, Jan. 4 (PNA) -- A grassroot-based Mindanao non-government organization (NGO) has joined the expanded International Monitoring Team (IMT) for the peace talks between the Government of Republic of the Philippines (GRP)and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

The Mindanao Peoples Caucus (MPC) accepted the formal invitation by the GRP-MILF peace panels to join the IMT, which included other non-government organizations (NGOs) such as the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Non-Violent Peaceforce (NP). Other members of the IMT include the countries of Malaysia, Japan, Brunei and Libya.

In a council resolution signed by MPC’s chairpersons, namely Reu Montecillo, Octavio Dinampo, and Melanio Ulama, the MPC said it was “humbled by the invitation” of the GRP and MILF peace panels to join the IMT through the civilian protection component of the body. Although the mechanisms for the civilian and humanitarian protection framework in the IMT are still to be worked out, the humanitarian protection component is an important aspect in the GRP-MILF talks as it aims to provide formal mechanisms for civilian protection in the conflict areas.

“The invitation is a due recognition to MPC’s tri-people participation in the peace process as monitors in the implementation of the ceasefire agreement,” the MPC resolution said. Organized in 2001, MPC aimed to respond to the challenges in peacebuilding work in Mindanao. It was instrumental in the creation of the Bantay Ceasefire (Ceasefire Monitoring), an independent civilian group that monitored in the implementation of the agreement between the government and the MILF rebels.

“The MPC has a resolute vision of committing itself to justice and peace, civilian protection and respect for peoples’ rights at all times,” the resolution said. In October 2009, MPC convened a Mindanao conference which resulted to the formulation of the Mindanao Women Civilian Protection Framework. The framework was presented before the panels of the government and the MILF.

A glimpse on the plight of the Internally Displaced Persons of North Cotabato and Maguindanao

Let me begin my sharing by giving you some background about my assignments.

I was ordained to the priesthood six years ago (August 22, 2003) in Bagong Barrio, Caloocan City. My first assignment was in the parish of North Upi, Maguindanao. I worked in this parish for almost five years; from September 2003 to May 2008.

In June of 2008 I was transferred to Pikit, North Cotabato to head the Inter-religious dialogue ministry of of the OMI Province . The months of August and September of 2008 were initiation moments for me. These were the heights of war in Pikit. But when the situation there calmed down, I was given an additional assignment by our provincial superior. He assigned me as the new parish priest of Datu Piang. It was an emergency assignment because the former parish priest there got sick and had to leave the place permanently.

Of the total population of 50,000 individuals in Datu Piang, there are only about 600 Catholic individuals or 117 Catholic families. Despite this little number of Catholic families in Datu Piang, the demands of our ministry were heavy because of the presence of thousands of “Bakwit” that needed to be attended to in this place. In August of 2008, the total number of IDPs reached up to 9,225 families which is equivalent to 28, 530 individuals.

When our provincial superior told me that he would give me an additional assignment, I did not hesitate to obey because personally I felt that my presence in Datu Piang was urgently needed.

Since October 2008 up to the present I have been in-charged of our three ministries in the Congregation namely, the Parish ministry in Datu Piang, Program Coordinator of our Inter-Religious Dialogue Ministry and Director of the OMI I-watch Media which is an audio-visual ministry of our Congregation.

To be in-charged of these three ministries is difficult; however, my awareness of the difficult situation and experiences of the “Bakwit” in the different IDP camps is enough to motivate me and endure the demands of my ministries and not to complain.

Today, my sharing will focus on the sorrows and pains of some of the bakwit in Pikit, North Cotabato and in Datu Piang, Maguindanao which I personally have witnessed. Some of these stories, however are based on the personal testimonies of the bakwit which I heard also from them.

Let me share to you now my experience in Pikit, North Cotabato.
It was in August 8, 2008 – Friday, when thousand of civilians from Barangay Langayen, in Pikit and Barangays Kolambog and Tapodoc in Aleosan started to leave their houses and sought for safer barangays in Pikit. The reason for evacuating was the news that circulated through text messages that the military would make an offensive to the MILF camps in Pikit. This news coincided with the arrival of military troops with heavy armaments in Pikit that day. Their presence and the news of their attack to the MILF camps really created panic for many civilians that led to their evacuation to the Poblacion areas.

In the afternoon that day, I thought that the situation was not yet alarming so that I went back to the convent to do some works. But suddenly one parishioner arrived in the convent and asked me to help his relatives and other people to get out from their place. He said that there was already armed-fighting going on in their area. I immediately phoned Pikit Mayor Sumulong Sultan to inform him about the situation and immediately he sent two trucks to transport the civilians to secured areas.

At around 5:00 PM, firing between the Civilian Volunteer Organizations (CVOs) and the MILF troops started in Barangays Kolambugan and Tapodoc. My five companions and I were almost hit by bullets when we accidentally entered a battlefield. It was an exciting but horrifying experience. When I heard the successive gunshots from the MILF troops and noticed that the bullets were really intended for us, I ran as fast as I could. Perhaps, that was the fastest run I ever made in my life. Two of my companions decided to just drop on the ground when we were being shot.

When we managed to come back inside our vehicle we just continued assisting the transport of the civilians to Poblacion. One could see on the faces of the civilians their fear and anxieties. But despite the danger, some people did not want to leave their houses for fear of losing their belongings.
I remember a very vivid scenario of a mother who was being convinced by her young daughter not to come back anymore to their house because it was already dangerous. The mother wanted to come back to get her cow. “Kinahanglan nakong balikan ang baka nato” ( I needed to come back to get our cow”) she said to her daughters. “Mama ayaw na gyud pagbalik didto… hu,, hu, bayai natong baka nato” ( “Mama, please don’t come back there anymore, just leave the cow there”) said by one of her daughters.
When I heard their discussion I immediately intervened. I told the mother that it was indeed already dangerous to come back since we too were also almost hit by bullets when we entered the area. Thank God I was able to convince her.

A pick-up type vehicle brought them to Poblacion in Pikit. One of their companions, an old man had to ride in our vehicle because he was quite weak. As we were traveling, we happened to pass by a man (Robert Magadia) who was hit by a strayed bullet below his left knee. He was sitting on the ground and crying in pain when we saw him. We immediately brought him to the nearby hospital. When he was about to be operated he told me, “Father, we don’t have money for my medication. We don’t know where to get the money.” Though I was not sure if I had money in my pocket I immediately told him, “don’t worry I will shoulder your medical bill.” Thank God the bill was not very big and just after two hours we already brought him to the house of his relatives.

At around 9’oclock in the evening the two trucks temporarily stopped from transporting the civilians from their place. The drivers were afraid because they thought that the fighting would get worse. I just could not imagine the fear and anxiety of the people who were left in their houses that night. Certainly, many of them were not able to sleep.

The following day (Saturday) the influx of the civilians to the Poblacion continued day and night. Many of them did not anymore wait for motor vehicles to leave their areas. They just walked bringing with them some of their important belongings and their farm animals. The scenario that day was like the exodus experience of the Israelites in the Bible. The Municipal Social Welfare Development recorded that day a total number of 11,922 individuals who moved from their original houses.

The tension in Pikit heightened when the AFP started the mortar shelling to the MILF camp. Explosion of mortars could be heard all over Poblacion, on Sunday of August 10, 2008.

At around 6:00 AM, three government military soldiers of the 7th IB were seriously wounded and rushed to the nearby hospital in Pikit. The AFP truck which brought them to the hospital while on its way back to the military camp had sideswiped a ten-year old girl named Naiman Lakim. She suffered fracture on her head and had to be brought to Cotabato City for more advance treatment. The Municipal Social Welfare Development of Pikit assisted the family in the medical treatment of the patient. I also extended my financial assistance to the girl when I visited her in the hospital. After just a few weeks, she was discharged from the hospital and we brought her back to their house. The last news I heard about her was that she manifested to have slight memory lost because of what she suffered.

Another patient whom I brought to the hospital was a 20-year old man named Marlon Dantes. He was not wounded physically in the war but he suffered from severe trauma when he was almost hit by mortars during the battle of the AFP and the MILF in their place. When he began to manifest aggressive unusual behavior and auditory hallucinations, the family decided to seek for psychiatric assistance. With the financial assistance from the Oblates of Mary Immaculate and some of my personal friends, he was admitted to Davao Medical Center Psychiatric Ward Intervention Unit in Davao City.
When I visited him there after three days of his confinement, I saw his miserable condition. His hand was tied up on his bed with an iron chain. The surrounding was dirty and the odor was terrible. I remember when I brought my fellow oblate in that mental hospital he immediately went outside because of the foul odor inside which made him almost vomit. The hospital indeed, lacked the proper care and equipment necessary for the recovery of Marlon. And so what I did was to text and call some of my friends who could possibly sponsor his transfer to a private mental hospital.
Milet Mendoza was one of my friends who immediately responded and gave me the go signal to transfer Marlon to the New Day Recovery Center in Lanang Davao City. Fr. King Tabuada, a fellow Oblate and parish priest of Antipas, Cotabato also promised me to shoulder some of the medical expenses of Marlon.
When I transferred Marlon to the New Day Recovery Center I thought that the treatment would only last for a month. But I was wrong. His trauma from war was so severe that the process of treatment lasted for four months. I had to find all the means to raise money in order to pay Marlon’s monthly bill of 7, 500.00. Thank God many friends responded.
On December 12, 2008 Marlon was discharged from the hospital and I brought him back to his family in Pikit to live a normal life.

On August 11, 2008, I was on my way to Cotabato City with the i-watch video crew to cover the ARMM election. However, the National highway from Midsayap to Kabacan was closed because of another battle that broke out between the MILF and the AFP. The Barangay Takepan was attacked by some armed men believed to be members of the MILF troops. When bullets coming from the MILF troops started to shower on Cotabato-Davao National highway, the Bantay Ceasfire headed by Rexall Caalim requested me to get vehicles from Poblacion in order to transport the “bakwit” residing the Takepan Elementary School. Despite the dangerous situation, many bakwit did not want to leave the place. They were hesitant to leave because they could not bring with them their farm animals. They did not want anymore to transfer from one evacuation camp to another also because of fatigue. But after about 30 minutes of negotiation, I was able to convince them to move to Poblacion.

The MILF attack that took place that day resulted to the death of Lucio (72) and Isidra Fano (63) who were husband and wife. Based on the testimony of their son-and-law, Lucio was shot while he was harvesting corn. Isidra however was inside their house when shot by another armed-man. Dulcisimo (37) who was their son was taken by the armed troops. We recovered his body after three days. It was already on the state of decomposition. Part of his intestine went out from his side. One of his eyes was gone. Probably he was tortured.
To lessen the burden and agony of the family, I requested our provincial superior and the mayor of Pikit to shoulder the funeral expenses.

As days passed by, many NGOs and other organizations came to help the bakwits in their need. The highest total number of bakwit in Pikit last year was 4,822 families which was equivalent to 28, 804 individuals.
The manner of relief distribution in Pikit and in the whole North Cotabato was quite systematic. This was because of the good partnership of the local and provincial government with the parishes and other NGOs.

Bakwit in Maguindanao

In Datu Piang, Maguindanao, the situation is a little bit complicated, difficult and really unique compared to North Cotabato. I would say that many leaders of Maguindanao have not cared enough for the bakwit. What many of them cared for are the benefits that they could get from them. The bakwit have become victims of injustices. Most of them do not receive the food supply intended for them.

Brief Profile of Datu Piang

Datu Piang is just one of the 32 municipalities in the Province of Maguindanao. It is composed of 20 barangays. Fourteen of these barangays have been affected directly by the war. The residents of these fourteen barangays have sought refuge in barangays Poblacion, Damabalas and Buayan of Datu Piang. Many IDPs in Datu Piang are also from its neighboring municipalities of Midsayap, Pikit, Aleosan, and Datu Saudi Uy Ampatuan. At present (September 18), there are still around more than 20,000 Internally Displaced Persons in Datu Piang despite the declaration of the Suspension of Military Offensives (SOMO) of the GRP and the Suspension of Military action of the MILF.

Why are IDPs not going home yet?

I am personally offended whenever people, even my close friends remark that the IDPs do not go home because “they enjoy their life in the evacuation centers.” This is indeed a clear sign of their ignoranceabout the miserable situation of the evacuees. Here are some of the reasons why the IDPs are hesitant to go back to their places.

The first reason is that many of them do not have already their houses. Their houses were burnt down. Most of them also deteriorated already because nobody has stayed in their houses for more than a year now.

Secondly, they do not also have clear sources of food and livelihood in their place. Most of their farms have been idle for so many months now that it is difficult for them to begin again. Unless someone will give them the necessary funds that they need to begin again, certainly they will not come back to their original places.

Thirdly, the presence of the many “unexploded ordinance” or UXOs requires a special task force to make many barangays safe for the return of the IDPs. Some of the IDPs who are aware of the danger of the UXOs are really afraid to come back to their place.

Fourthly, the SOMO and the SOMA are not yet clear to the IDPs. They do not give enough assurance that the war has already ended. Clear guidelines of the SOMA and SOMO must therefore be established.

Fifthly, in barangay Reina Regente, in Datu Piang the presence of the armed troops (both the military and the group of Commander Tata) is still the main reason why the civilians are not going home there. They are afraid to be caught in the crossfire. I personally met Kumander Tata many times and he promised me that if the military would leave Reina Regente, he would refrain also from harassing his opponents. Perhaps with the help of the LGU, NGOs, other peace advocates, the military and the MILF it is very timely now to declare zones of peace not just in Datu Piang but in many parts of Maguindanao similar to the GINAPALAD TAKA in Pikit North Cotabato.

The Different Faces of Cheating in Food Distribution

1. Registration Fee & Food Supply Tickets for sale

One form of cheatings shared to me by a bakwit was about the “registration fee being asked from them.” The local volunteers from the World Food Program asked for 5.00 for each name of the family head he or she registers in the master lists of the IDPs. These lists of names are those who are qualified to receive the claim tickets of the World Food Program. But once the tickets arrive, the distributor of the tickets would sell them to the bakwits for 500 pesos. No 500 pesos, no tickets! And this means no supplies for the real bakwit! Only those who have 500 pesos can have the supplies. Those who are close to the distributor of the tickets, whether they are bakwit or not have the great chances of receiving the tickets.

2. “Barbaric Way of Distributing Tickets”

In one municipality (not Datu Piang), the process of releasing the claim tickets to the bakwit is disgusting. The ticket distributor just throws all the claim tickets to the bakwit as if he or she is feeding chicken or ducks. This is barbaric. The people who witnessed this process remarked, “They are really sadists Father. (referring to the Mayor and his companions). They enjoyed watching the bakwit grabbing the tickets from each other. They are happy when they see them fighting and hurting one another just because of the tickets.”

One of my informants also said that a pregnant woman died three weeks ago because of this manner of distribution. (“Naiipit ang buntis sa pakikipagsiksikan, kaya namatay”)

3. “Bawas and Palakasan system ”

In another municipality (not Datu Piang), most of the “bakwit” according to my informant only receive one kilo of rice instead of the regular 25 kilos they receive every time the World Food Program delivers the food supply. The rest of the supplies go to the mayor and the people to whom he wants to give the supplies.

4. “LGUs Share”

I also received a report from a reliable source that every time the World Food Program delivers its supply in one municipality 100 sacks of rice proceed to the Mayor and all municipal employees are given also shares to bribe them not to say anything about the anomaly. My informant admitted that he, being a municipal employee has been also receiving four sacks of rice regularly. According to him he could not refuse the offer for fear that he might be treated as an enemy of the LGU.

The Health Situation of the Bakwit

There is no hospital in Datu Piang, only a small rural health clinic and 2 private clinics. This is the reason why I decided to put up the Bahay Kalinga last June 2009 inside the compound of Sta. Teresita Parish. It is medical clinic intended to provide health services specifically for malnourished infants and pregnant women in the IDP sites of Datu Piang. I saw the construction of Bahay Kalinga as a necessity when sick IDPs started to seek help from me last December 2008.

The following are just some of the bakwit patients whom I personally had met and helped:

1. Nora Tayan (from barangay Macasendeg, Midsayap)

Nora Tayan, 22 years old was the first patient I helped in Datu Piang. It was on December 21, 2008 when one of my parishioners informed me that Nora who was confined at Notre Dame of Dulawan Clinic had to be brought to Cotabato Regional Medical Center (CRMC). The attending physician could not hear the heartbeat of the child in her womb and therefore she suspected that the baby was already dead.
It was already 8:00 o’clock in the evening that time and quite dangerous to travel but immediately I decided to bring the patient to Cotabato City. She was finally admitted to CRMC at around 11:00 o’clock PM after a long negotiation with the hospital management. Thank God the baby was still alive. Up to 1:00 o’clock in the morning I was looking for blood to be used for Nora’s operation that early morning. Luckily I got two bags of blood from the Philippine National Red Cross.
I was able to come back to Datu Piang at 3:00 AM. I really had to return that time to Datu Piang because of our Misa de Gallo at 4:00 AM.
Two weeks later, Nora with her husband, her child and some relatives went to the convento to personally express their gratitude to me. I was very touched when this Muslim family entered the convento and gave me fish (eel) and some coconuts out of thanksgiving. Later on, the family named the child TERESA. It is not a Muslim name but they wanted to name their child after the name of Sta. Teresita Parish so that they called her Teresa.

2. Jerime Macartol (from Dunguan, Aleosan)

Jerime Macartol had been confined in Notre Dame of Dulawan on January 2009. His pneumonia was already severe when he was brought to the clinic. His parents hesitated to bring him immediately when he got sick because of financial problem. I visited him an hour before he died. If only he had been brought earlier to the clinic perhaps he is still alive today.
I was informed by some of my friends from the Municipal’s office that when a bakwit dies his or her family is supposed to receive 10,000 pesos. I tried to assist Jerime’s family to get the death benefit from the DSWD office but I did not succeed. I was not able to comply all the requirements for the death claim because they were too many and the processing was quite expensive. Definitely, no bakwit could receive that death claim if the government would not change that complicated and long process of releasing the death benefit.

A week later Jerime’s older brother was accidentally bumped by a car while playing in the plaza of Poblacion, Datu Piang. Luckily, the child did not die. He only suffered minor wounds on his legs.

While the child was still recuperating in the evacuation center, Jerime’s mother delivered another baby boy in the evacuation center. I just hope and pray that he would not suffer the same fate of his brother Jerime.

3. Mohaymin Dangandangan

She was only 10-days old when he died in Damabalas Evacuation Center. She suffered from diarrhea. Her mother unable to lactate, fed her with any milk she could afford. She was never brought to the hospital when she got sick. When I met her parents she was already buried under the ground for one day.

4. Baby Boy Kureg

He was brought to the Bahay Kalinga on June 18, 2009. He suffered from pneumonia and severe difficulty in breathing. His whole body was swollen because of severe infections. I found out that his mother had been feeding him with “simbug” – a mixture of water and brown sugar and the worst was that, the water was coming from a dirty well not suitable for drinking. Baby Kureg died on June 20, 2009 in Cotabato Regional Medical Center.

5. Baby Norjin

She was only a 4-day old baby when I saw her. Her real parents are no longer capable of raising her properly in the evacuation center. They are afraid that the same fate suffered by Mohaymin might also happen to her that’s why she was given by her parents to other people just like an ordinary toy.

6. “Baby Bamboo”

Another baby boy who was confined in Bahay Kalinga last June 2009 was the one who suffered from infection because his navel cord was cut just by an improvised “bamboo scissors. If he was not brought immediately to Bahay Kalinga most probably he died already.

In Talayan, Maguindanao, the same case happened also to another baby. Unfortunately, the baby was not brought to the hospital immediately and so the baby died.

CASES OF ABDUCTION

According to the people I interviewed, on May 6, 2009, around ten military trucks led by Col Medardo Jeslani, was passing Barangay Magadia, Datu Saudi Uy Amapatuan when suddenly a bomb exploded on the side of the road. In retaliation the military troops fired to the left and right sides of the road to clear the area. Many people residing in the area were almost hit by bullets because of that indiscriminate firing. No one was hurt that night. The following day, five men were arrested by the military. Two of them were able to escape. One is already confirmed dead. Two are still missing.

Kaharudin Husain

On September 6, 2009 just right after I celebrated Mass in Datu Piang a woman named Lindongan Husain who is around 60 years old approached me and asked me to help her find her 23-year old son who was arrested by the military last May 7, 2009 at around 8:00 AM. The name of her son is Kaharudin.

According to the mother, Kaharudin was gardening in their backyard in Barangay Pagatin, Datu Saudi when some government soldiers picked him up and asked him to ride in the military truck. She wanted to go with her son but the soldiers did not permit her. The name clothes and the name of the company of the soldiers were covered with masking tape so that she was not able to identify them. Some people who saw the actual arrest of Kaharudin told me that some companions of the military were wearing bonnets. They were the ones who seemed to be identifying the people who were to be arrested.
Kaharudin is the only son and the only person who supports his mother Lindongan. Now, that Kaharudin is still missing, his mother is living alone. She is having a hard time earning for her living.
The only demand of mother Lindongan is to bring back her son or at least she wants to know what really happened to her son.

Sanot G. Salipudin (alyas Datz Zacharias)

The mother of Sanot was crying when I visited her last September 8, 2009 in her house in Barangay Pagatin, Datu Saudi. Sanot, 24 years old was also arrested by the AFP in the morning of May 7, 2009 while waiting for the food supply from the World Food Program. The family and relatives of Sanot wonder whether He is dead or alive. They have never heard anything from him since he was arrested. They could not also identify the company of military troops who arrested Sanot because all their name clothes and company identification were covered with masking tape.

Said E. Aman (alyas Lao)

Meriam Aman the wife of Said Aman was so uneasy when I found her in Barangay Makir, Dato Odin Sinsuat on September 9, 2009. She and her 6 children were originally residing in Barangay Pagatin, Datu Saudi (35 years old) but decided to transfer when her husband Said was killed.
Said was also arrested by the military in the morning of May 7, 2009. His body was found three days later at the Rio Grande de Mindanao in Barangay Duaminanga, Datu Piang. His wife and his six children are now living miserably in Barangay Makir Evacuation Center.

Conclusion

I still have so many stories to tell and write on the suffering and death of the IDPs but I do not have yet the luxury of time to do it. For the meantime I just want to remind you that the figures that we usually see from the reports of National Disaster Coordinating Council are not mere numbers. Behind those figures are human beings who suffered a lot; people who did not want to die but died early because of war which is a human-made calamity.

Last July 2009 I received a phone call from an MILF Commander Tata Uy of Reina Regente in Datu Piang. He requested me to visit his place and to facilitate on how the war between his men and the 54th IB of the Philippine Army could be stopped. When I met him, I could sense that he really wanted to end the war. He was also afraid to die. He wanted already to live peacefully in Reina Regente.
But what bothered me when I left the place was the revelation that he made about the sources of their bullets and other armaments. He attested that the bullets that they use are also coming from the Armed Forces of the Philippines. What he said was also confirmed by MILF Commander Wahid Tundok, the operation commander of the 105th base command, when the MPC met him in Kitango. When someone asked him how they buy bullets from the military, he said that the CVOs are the ones making the deal.

This is not the first time I heard this controversy but it’s my first time to hear it directly from the mouth of two MILF commanders. War is indeed a business and unless this business is cut off, many civilians will continue to be displaced. I do not have any solution that I can offer now. Things are indeed complicated. But this should motivate us more to improve and continue to strategize all our peace efforts. I hope and pray that God will continue to sustain us in our efforts. Thank you very much.

Media Statement on Civilian Protection

The Mindanao Peoples Caucus, along with its allied women’s organizations, is highly dismayed over the Agreement on the Protection of Civilian Component dated October 27, 2009. Considering the seriousness and gravity of the attacks and abuses committed against civilian communities, we feel that the task of Civilian Protection must be given an appropriate, effective, vigilant and influential mechanism that can break the impunity of human rights violations and war crimes committed in the context of the armed conflict.

For it to be simply delegated as an added function of the International Monitoring Team (IMT) tends to create the false impression that it is simply an afterthought – an adjunct to the ceasefire monitoring mandate of the IMT which at this point in time it has not even fulfilled for a reason which is not of its own fault. Much as we support and recognize the importance of the IMT including the excellent job that it has delivered from 2004-2008, we think that at this point when the ceasefire agreement is not even operational, it will be too much of a burden to impose upon it an equally important task of protecting the civilians. If the IMT and the peace panels could not even manage at this point to declare a ceasefire and bring the IMT back to Mindanao – how much more if we add this new mandate of civilian protection to the IMT? If it is already difficult to fulfill its mandate to implement the ceasefire agreement – how can we expect it to deliver yet another gargantuan mission of protecting the civilians?

Civilian protection is a matter of survival for the internally displaced persons in Mindanao. There are serious threats to security such as indiscriminate bombings, attacks in the evacuation centers, burning of civilian homes, illegal arrests and sexual violence which need a whole set of protection mechanism and cannot be simply relegated to the functions of the IMT.

This is not to cast aspersion on the name and capacity of the International Monitoring Team. MPC has high respect and belief over its professionalism, determination and competence to help the peace process in Mindanao. But before we even consider adding something over its current responsibility, we must first allow it to fulfill its primary mandate.

We also note with concern that the said agreement is silent at all on the role and participation of women in the civilian protection mechanism despite the fact that women leaders have already submitted to the peace panels their proposed women’s framework on civilian protection. Again, lounging this task to the IMT spells little hope for participation of women as we all know based on experience that these formal ceasefire mechanisms are largely dominated and ruled by men.

Be that as it may, MPC will continue to support the effort to resume the formal talks and persist and insist on asserting the rightful space of women to participate in the peace process as embodied under the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325.

We will not stop until the men will realize that it takes the support and participation of the women population to spell success in the peacemaking work.

Bantay Ceasefire launches successfully its assembly

November 6, 2009- (Cotabato City)- The three-day Bantay Ceasefire (BC) Assembly was successfully conducted on November 4-6 at the Marawi Alaya Resort Hotel, Mindanao State University, Islamic City of Marawi.

Joe Akmad, one of the founders of the BC who gave the opening remarks, praised the great work of MGEN Rodolfo C. Garcia (RET), former Chair of the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) peace negotiating panel in its negotiation with the Moro Islamic liberation Front (MILF), in peace building.
“Gen. Garcia did not mind if people who are perceived to be anti-peace dislike him…”, Akmad, also a Council Member of the Mindanao Peoples Caucus, pointed out.

He described Gen. Garcia as the “bravest peace makers in the country.” Crafting of the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD), which was supposed to be signed in Kuala Lumpur on August 25, 2008, is something or achievement that could not be placed in oblivion, he added.

Gen. Garcia, was lively introduced by Prof. Rudy Rodel, the then Vice Chairman of the GRP Peace Panel in the GRP-MILF peace process, who was declared, after the crafting of the MOA-AD), as persona non grata by the Christian residents of the Iligan City as a protest to the initiative of giving political space to the Bangsaoro People and native inhabitants of Mindanao.

Garcia, in his keynote address, used “Peace be with you” as his greeting extended to the more than 200 ceasefire volunteers attended the assembly. “I’m grateful to have been one of those who knew the meaning of peace,” Garcia said.

He praised the work of the BC in monitoring the implementation of the ceasefire agreement entered into by the GRP and MILF and recognized BC as a third party ceasefire monitor.

The retired General admitted that the violation of the ceasefire agreement was left and right and he saw the dramatic lessening of the violations when BC deeply got involved in ceasefire monitoring work. “Napababa pa lalo ang level of violence after BC deeply got involved in ceasefire monitoring,” he said.

“I learned the true situations on the ground because of the third eye that was giving me the credible reports --- thank you Bantay Ceasefire” he added.

Garcia recalled that when the MOA-AD ceremonial signing did not push through, many organizations and groups who have been known to be supportive of the peace process did not make a stand. “The MPC was among those who stood to defend the MOA-AD,” he pointed out.

He clarified that the remaining issue now is to resolve in finality the problem of the Bangsamoro people.

In his last words, Gen. Garcia called on the BC volunteers, recognizing their rich experience in ceasefire monitoring work, to continue in supporting the ceasefire as it protects the civilians.

Ruby Rose Lora, Program Officer of the Initiatives for International dialogue (IID), said that she has been happy and honored of what BC has become, with IID having been part of its genesis through its Mindanao program, which facilitated the formation of the Mindanao peoples’ caucus.

“We are proud to have been able to help build and accompany BC through the various investigative missions, mobilizations, lobby and advocacy works as well as skills and capability building activities we have organized,” she stressed. “It is our desire and hope that we continue to help and complement each other in continuing the daunting task of building and promoting peace in Mindanao, and contribute the same in the region and elsewhere in the world,” she added.

Guiamel Alim, Chairman of the Consortium of Bangsamoro Civil Society (CBCS), recognized the achievements of the BC volunteers in peace building and expressed solidarity with them. He just informed the participants of the assembly that the “challenge will always be there until political agreement is come up.

His Excellency Ambassador Alistair MacDonald, Head of the European Union Delegation to the Philippines was not able to come over because of other pressing engagements that have kept him in Manila but he sent message, which was read for him by one of the BC volunteers.

In his message, MacDonald, as somebody who feels strongly for peace in Mindanao, thanked and congratulated the MPC for its achievements and even more achievements that are to come.

“I want to wholeheartedly thank you for the work you have been doing in monitoring the ceasefire between the MILF and the Government. You have already contributed to alleviate and prevent additional sufferings among the civilian victims of this conflict. And you have made the prospect of peace seem less elusive to the people of Central Mindanao,” he said. He also assured that the EU will be standing by the people of Mindanao in their endeavor for lasting peace and sustainable development in Mindanao.

In the last Philippine Development Forum, in March of 2008, the EU issued a statement noting with concern the challenges faced by both the GRP and the MILF in the peace process.

This EU statement said in part: “ The EU encourages all parties concerned to redouble efforts aimed at seizing the existing window of opportunity to bring lasting peace to the Southern Philippines…The EU urges all the parties and stakeholders to facilitate the process of rallying the various Moro constituencies around a shared vision of peace. The EU stands ready to deepen its supports to peace process as it progresses,” he stated. (www.luwaran.net)

First winner of World Vision International Peacemaking award is a Mindanawon

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/21 Sept) - Mindanawon peace advocate Mary Ann Arnado won the PeaceMaking Award of World Vision International, the first peace award given by the 50-year old institution. This is Arnado’s second award this year, having been named in February as Ninoy Aquino Fellow for Public Service.

A lawyer and secretary-general of the Mindanao People’s Caucus (MPC), Arnado bested two other finalists from Kosovo and Rwanda for the award, William O. Lowrey, Director for Peacebuilding and Reconciliation, told reporters just before the awarding rites at the Grand Men Seng Hotel on Monday, International Day of Peace.

The Board of Judges “struggled. It was not an easy decision,” he said. But Lowrey said Arnado won because of her “engagement of analysis in her work in conflict resolution… in bridging of different groups in conflict with one another.”

He cited Arnado’s “years of work” in peacebuilding. “It’s really the body of work,” Lowrey said. The Peacemaking Award honors the winner with a trophy and $1,000 while the Peacebuilding Award, given to institutions, honors the winner with a trophy and $5,000. Kids for Peace of World Vision Kosovo and World Vision Rwanda tied for the award.

Aligning with World Vision’s core values as a Christian community-based and child-focused organization, the Peace Prize “brings individuals and organizations that have made unique and critical contributions toward the promotion of peace into the limelight, recognizing and honoring their commitments to building durable peace and reconciliation in their communities and beyond.” In its press statement, World Vision described Arnado as “an individual who has proven herself as a catalyst of change, committed to bold engagement and resourceful thinking in order to pursue conflict resolution.”

It also commended Arnado for her “ability to mobilize Mindanawons, particularly women and youth, by helping empower them to work toward a viable solution to one of the longest internal conflicts in the world through dialogue, grassroots advocacy, and appeals to policy and decision-makers.” In accepting her award, Arnado spoke about how she got to where she is now in peace advocacy.

She shared vignettes of how they managed to get inside Malacanang last year for an audience with President Arroyo, despite the strict policy on wearing shoes even as one of them had no shoes on. She also spoke of how her life changed when she met Jamaliah, a mother of 12 in Lanao del Sur who suffered trauma from war in 2003 and was so disturbed she opted to kill herself and her two younger children. Jamaliah slit their necks and slashed her wrist. She survived. Her two young children, aged six and seven, didn’t.

“After this encounter with Jamaliah, I decided to focus my peacemaking work towards alleviating if not putting an end to the suffering of thousands upon thousands of women who are caught in between the forces of war and violence. It is definitely not a walk in the park. It brought me to places where the laws that I have studied, as a lawyer, are simply irrelevant or inexistent. It can be a very disempowering experience especially when there is very little that you can do,” said Arnado. “One of the most compelling reasons why I am into this line of work is that it is here where I have found and known the most remarkable and dedicated peace advocates who truly care for people.

Through the Mindanao Peoples Caucus, I have met the most committed and dedicated breed of peace advocates who work not for any recognition, not for any salary or political interests but simply to show compassion because they truly care for people,” she added. Arnado shared the award with her colleagues. “For this awarding ceremony tonight, I believe that I simply represent the hundreds of peace advocates and Bantay Ceasefire volunteers who share with me the passion and commitment to silence the guns and resolve the root causes of the armed conflict in Mindanao.

That is why when I was asked my preferred venue for this program, I asked the World Vision to do it here in Davao so that I can share with you this joy and honor,” she said. She thanked the founders and council members of the Mindanao Peoples Caucus led by chair Pastor Reu Montecillo “for all the guidance and teachings,” indigenous leaders Datu Vic Saway, Bae Magdalena Suhat and Timuay Melan “for your patience and openness to share with me your culture and struggles.” “To all the Bantay Ceasefire volunteers, this award is for all us. It is an affirmation of our daily efforts to convince more and more people that we can resolve this problem by peaceful means.

Let me also thank the Initiatives for International Dialogue for the long years of experience and solidarity work which largely shaped my own way of looking at situations and analyzing the present issues,” said Arnado who was Deputy Executive Director of IID until end of 2007. She also thanked World Vision for “turning your attention to our humble efforts for peace here in Mindanao.” “This award will definitely provide the much needed boost to our peacebuilding and humanitarian protection work especially at this point when the Bantay Ceasefire’s work is seriously challenged because we dare to expose the abuses against the civilians, the burning of homes, the indiscriminate aerial bombings, the food blockade and the whole humanitarian crisis. Let us not stop. Let us continue with what we have built together.” Arnado was born and raised in Cagayan de Oro, finished her pre-Law at the Mindanao State University in Marawi and graduated from the Ateneo de Davao law school. She thanked and honored her parents, Samuel, also a lawyer, and Dolores, a retired teacher “who have instilled in me the values of simplicity, hard work and faith in God.” “In this highly risky work that I have chosen to take, I have always entrusted my own safety to my mother’s steadfastness in prayers,” she said. Arnado dedicated her award to her daughters Isa and Ihip, “for understanding my own limitations. Thank you for learning to appreciate the importance of my work and thank you for sharing with me the hope that someday, perhaps in your time, Mindanao will truly experience the peace and prosperity that it truly deserves. “ (MindaNews)