What should be an easy winding down to a tumultuous decade in office took another turn for the worse as the government was lambasted over the"Declaration of Continuity"discussed in my previous entry,"GPH-MILF Peace Process,Second Quarter of 2010,Part I:A Rough Week."The 2 page document resulting from a 2 day meeting in Kuala Lumpur,Malaysia was,as I said in the aforementioned entry,a"no brainer."The MILF though never misses an opportunity to miss an opportunity as they say,and took a here to fore unheard of stance in demanding that the government show its good intentions by publishing a synopsis of the agreement in a leading Manila daily.
The following Sunday,June 6th,2010,the ad appeared in the"Philippine Star."Copacetic you say?The MILF immediately cried foul and accused the government of not keeping its word.It turns out that the ad only contained 5 of the 6 points contained there in.Interestingly,the point omitted was Point #2,the one which expresses that both parties will act in "good will."
The MILF of course was having a grand old time as it sent out a press release stressing that contrary to the document's wording,the government had"failed to act in good will,"drum roll,exit stage left.
To its credit the government admitted the error and patiently explained,sans the usual bombastic language that it was entirely due to"human error"and not a deliberate act as claimed by the MILF.It then promised to immediately resubmit for publication a copy with all points included.
The following Sunday,June 13th,the government kept its word and went one better,running a rather expensive ad in not one but two leading Manila dailies,the "Star"as well as the"Philippine Daily Inquirer."To put this in some perspective,each of the 3 ads cost in the area of P1 Million (roughly 20,000 Euros at the current exchange rate).
On May 27th and 28th President Arroyo was the guest of honor at a forum sponsored by the "Centre for Humanitarian dialogue,"held at Makati's New World Hotel.Definitely among her element she was surrounded by a host of C-List Peace Advocates.Among others,she was able to hobknob with Sinn Fein (as in the Irish Republican Army) peace negotiator Gerry Kelly,Palestinian attorney Omar Dajani,Free Aceh leader Irwandi Yusuf and former Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla (I would have loved to have heard the conversation between the last 2,if indeed any took place).
In her closing remarks President Arroyo vowed to continue her crusade to bring peace to Mindanao.She promised the enthralled crowd that one of her first acts as a Congresswoman representing Pampanga's 2nd District will be to sponsor a Bill granting ARMM (Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao) even more autonomy (I wonder if anyone took the time to remind her that this was exactly what caused her to almost plunge the nation into total civil war in 2008). As she told the crowd,"Mindanao stands poised for peace."While she may have got high marks for alliteration,her comments did NOT play well on the island which has been hearing those exact words for nearly 6 centuries now.
MILF Peace Panel Chairman Mohagher Iqbal wrly noted that since she was unable to bring peace to Mindanao during her decade in office AS PRESIDENT,what in the world would possess her now to imagine that she could so as a Kapampangan Congresswoman?As MILF Secretariat Chairman Muhammad Ameen offered, "(Ms. Arroyo) Its not your time anymore."
As if to pound that nail home,on 6/10/2010 an ongoing sub-conflict flared up on the borders of Sultan Kudarat and Maguindanao Provinces when the BIAF (Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces,the military wing of the MILF) and BMA (Bangsamoro Army,the armed wing of the MNLF) did battle for the 5th time in 15 months.The latest flare up took place exactly on the provincial border,between the towns of Lebak (S.Kudarat) and Datu Blah Sinsuat (Maguindanao).The BIAF's 104 Base Command has been going toe to toe with the BMA's Kumander Randy Karon who is aligned with the MNLF-EC15 (Executive Council of 15) faction against the Misuari Faction.
I will explore this sub-conflict in an upcoming post.
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