DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/21 March) – As it was in the beginning of her nine-year Presidency, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo ends her administration’s peace efforts with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) through an all-Mindanawon peace panel. The Seguis panel (December 2008 to present), like the Dureza panel of 2001 to 2003, is also all-Mindanawon.
Rafael Seguis, Foreign Affairs Undersecretary and government peace panel chair, is from San Francisco, Anao-on, Surigao del Norte.
The two seats vacated by Adelbert Antonino of General Santos City and Tomas Cabili of Iligan City who resigned from the panel, have been filled by Dr. Grace Jimeno-Rebollos of Zamboagna City and Atty. Antonio La Vina of Cagayan de Oro City.
Rebollos is President of the Western Mindanao State University (WMSU) in Zamboanga City.
She was a co-convenor of the Peace Advocates Zamboanga (PAZ) and has been active in peacebuilding work in Mindanao and even in East Timor.
La Vina, Dean of the Ateneo School of Government, was a former Environment Undersecretary and recently joined the panel as legal adviser.
The Philippine Council for Islam and Democracy (PCID) said the appointments the two are “a welcome development in our quest for peace in Mindanao.”
“While we hold no illusion that a peace agreement will be finalized before the May elections, PCID holds the view that the discussions must continue. Peace negotiators and the various peace stakeholders must continue the process of searching for a solution to the problem of conflict in the southern Philippines,” it said.
“We cannot allow an intramural political contest–no matter how significant–to stall the efforts made in the past years. Peace must take precedence over electoral politics,” the PCID statement said.
It noted that the purpose of any peace agreement is to “end hostilities as fast and quickly as possible and to make peace endure.”
“We hope that Drs. Rebollos and La Vina exert every effort to ensure that the Mindanao peace processes result in a just, lasting, and genuine peace for the people of Mindanao,” the statement read.
The Dureza panel, composed of Presidential Assistant for Mindanao Jesus Dureza of Davao City; Irene Santiago of the Mindanao Commission on Women; Emily Marohombsar of Lanao del Sur, former president of the Mindanao State University; Cotabato City Mayor Muslimin Sema and ARMM Vice Governor Mahid Mutilan, ended with the Buliok war of 2003.
One of the major criticisms against the Dureza panel was that while it was all-Mindanawon, the Dureza panel did not seem to have the full mandate from Malacanang as it had to consult with the Cabinet cluster every step of the way.
On the eve of the attack on Buliok, Dureza assured the public and peace groups in Mindanao that no war was forthcoming. “Relax,” he said on February 10, 2003, even as residents in Pikit in North Cotabato and neighboring Buliok in Pagalungan had been fleeing their villages.
On that day, his panel visited separately the offices of the House Speaker and Senate President to hand them a copy of the draft final peace agreement with the MILF. That same day, a copy of the draft was handed over to President Arroyo through then Executive Secretary Aberto Romulo.
The next morning, February 11, on the Islamic Feast of Eid’l Adha, soldiers attacked Buliok purportedly to go after a kidnap for ransom gang. Days later, military officials admitted the operations were against the MILF.
(MindaNews)
