For those who are in the forefront of the difficult struggle for peace, the Resolution has offered a sigh of relief. We are comforted by the fact that, with the intervention of the EU Parliament, the day will surely come when the future generations of the Mindanaoans may no longer suffer the cruel fate that befell them.
The diplomatic intervention of the EU came when violence in Mindanao, a useless bloodletting that beset it for decades, has escalated to alarming levels following the trashing of Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domains (MOA-AD) by the Supreme Court. The objective condition for massive bloodbath was further ripened by the eventual withdrawal of the Arroyo regime from its commitment for the rebirth of Mindanao so that the renaissance of peace and prosperity may finally reign supreme in this troubled Island.
The resolution of the European Parliament came at a time when the peace and order condition in Mindanao was plummeting and cascading towards the social gutters. The controversial decision of the Supreme Court rendering the MOA-AD unconstitutional and the eventual abandonment by the Philippine Government of the cause of peace in Mindanao had rekindled the revolutionary sentiments of the Bangsamoro people as the hope for peace was gradually disappearing in the political horizon. Consequently, Mindanao was being slowly engulfed by a devastating social conflagration. Fortunately for us, the EU resolution may prevent Mindanao from turning into an inferno as it succeeded to regenerate and revive, in scale, hope of peace among the different peoples in Mindanao.
The United Youth for Peace and Development (UNYPAD) highly welcomes and commends the diplomatic intervention of the European Parliament in the Mindanao peace process. We believe that this timely gesture of the European Parliament, being a group of powerful countries championing real democracy and love for humanity, would heavily contribute to the final closure of the serious political conflict in Mindanao which had plunged this Island into genocidal strife for many decades. Its expression of willingness to support the cause of peace in Mindanao is a fortunate development which we should all welcome with magnanimity and sincere appreciation.
The European Parliament has a rich history in successfully resolving political conflicts in different countries through peaceful dialogues. With this alone, we have all the reasons to believe that the European Parliament can effectively facilitate the attainment of peace in Mindanao.
Thus, the UNYPAD calls upon the GRP and the MILF to seize this rare opportunity to formally request the European Council and Commission to be part of the facilitation process in the GRP-MILF peace talks so that it can immediately resume and eventually ripen into a viable political settlement, which will give final imprimatur for peace in Mindanao and genuinely address the aspiration of the Bangsamoro for self-determination.
In addition, UNYPAD also calls upon the GRP and MILF to formally request the EU to serve as an international guarantor to ensure the implementation of the peace agreement after its final forging.
Finally, the UNYPAD calls on all peace advocates to get hold of this rare but valuable moment in the long saga of our struggle for peace in Mindanao as the blood of those who had offered their lives for
peace in this Island will continue to haunt our generation and the generation to come if we fail to bring this conflict into total closure.