Tribes OK peace talks with MILF
By JEOFFRREY MAITEM
TODAY Correspondent
COTABATO CITY - Tribal peoples in Southern Philippines have assured the administration of their full support to the peace talks between the government and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
However, indigenous peoples comprising 18 tribal groups all over Mindanao, in a manifesto on Tuesday, under the umbrella of the Panagtagbo, wants a delineation of their ancestral domain and traditional boundaries.
Both Muslims and tribal peoples have a common concept of ancestral domain but the two groups cannot agree on the scope of coverage, as well as their traditional boundaries loosely defined since the Spanish era.
Jun Mantawil, MILF peace panel secretariat chief, said the Mindanao problem is the direct offshoot of foreign incursions, American colonial occupation and national policies to the detriment of the native inhabitants.
Mantawil enumerated some of the government’s programs that further worsen this problem.
Among these includes the occupation of ancestral domain and ancestral lands, resettlement projects, development aggression, legal and illegal acquisition of lands, torrens system of land tenure, force majored or force displacement, defective policies and national laws applied to the indigenous inhabitants of Mindanao.
“The priority now is to resolve this problem once and for all before any delineation of the traditional boundaries could take place,” Mantawil said.
The Panagtagbo issued the statement as President Arroyo said that the peace process with the MILF is on track.
Mrs. Arroyo noted in a statement that the armed conflict in Mindanao is at an all time low and this has been notable during the election period.
“The peace panels and cease-fire committees are teaming up to weed out terrorist cells and we need to give this effort a chance. A major clash of arms will only bring death and misery to the people and set back development,” President Arroyo said.
“We will be uncompromising against terror but we will give a chance to reasonable and feasible peace initiatives that will isolate and defeat terrorists. Our partnership with the United States for peace and development is firm,” the President added.
Mrs. Arroyo, elated with the role of the MILF in the successful efforts to rescue the three abducted telecommunications technicians -- who were freed on Monday by the Pentagon kidnap-for-ransom gang -- directed the government panel negotiating with the MILF and the cease-fire committee to “tighten” the anticrime cooperation between the government and the separatist group.The President issued the directive after telecommunications employees Jennifer Barbarona, Edwindelle Esguerra and Arsenio Polistico were presented to her at the Palace War Room, a day after they were recovered unharmed by the National Anti-Kidnapping Task Force (Naktf).
In her brief remarks, Mrs. Arroyo made special mention of MILF vice chairman Abdulaziz Mimbantas, in recognition of the MILF’s role in the rescue efforts, which she described as “a mark of solid law enforcement and a tribute to the peace process.”
“I direct the government negotiating panel and cease-fire committee to tighten up the Philippine government and the MILF’s cooperation in checking criminal gangs and terrorist cells. We need to have greater stability for development to push forward in Mindanao,” she said.
She said the MILF, “particularly its vice chairman Alih Mimbantas, pitched in by exerting pressure on the kidnappers.”
“We have an agreement with them to root out lawless elements from hinterland lairs,” she said.
On May 6, 2002, the government and the MILF signed a joint communiqué on the isolation and interdiction of criminal groups in Central Mindanao, which was observed to have been largely unimplemented until the latest rescue efforts in Tuburan, Lanao del Sur.
The President added: “A manhunt for the kidnappers is in order, all military and civilian units must strike back, aided by MILF forces willing to operate under a common principle of community welfare.”
She assured the MILF that peace negotiations remain “firmly on track,” apparently in response to concerns over the buildup of military personnel in known MILF bulwarks, one of which had been identified by the military as a training camp for the Jema’ah Islamiyah, though this was denied by the MILF.
“The peace panels and cease-fire committees are teaming up to weed out terrorist cells and we need to give this effort a chance. A major clash of arms will only bring death and misery to the people and set back development,” she said.