DARAPANAN, Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao del Norte (MindaNews / 30 March) – Twelve persons were honored for their significant contributions to the Bangsamoro peace process at the celebration of the 10th anniversary of the signing of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) here on Wednesday.
Three of the honorees were awarded posthumously – the chairs of the government and MILF Coordinating Committees on the Cessation of Hostilities (CCCH) and the Malaysian facilitator of the peace negotiations between government and the MILF that led to the signing of the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro (FAB) in October 2012 and the signing of the CAB on March 27, 2014.
The awardees are Prof. Miriam Coronel-Ferrer, Dr. Emma Leslie, Prof. Abhoud Syed M. Lingga, Governor Emmylou “Lala” Taliño-Mendoza, Datu Midpantao Midtimbang, Cardinal Orlando B. Quevedo, Dr. Steven Rood, Datuk Othman Abd Razak, and Datu Zulkiefli Mohammad Bin Zain.
Awarded posthumously were Rasid Ladiasan, Major Carlos Sol and Tengku Datu Ab’Ghafar Mohammasd.
Coronel-Ferrer was named member of the government peace panel in 2010 under the Aquino administration. She took over as panel chair in November 2012 when chair Marvic Leonen was appointed as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. She signed the CAB in March 2027 and made worldwide history as the first woman negotiator to have signed a peace agreement with an armed group.
The MILF said Coronel-Ferrer was “a peace negotiator who ardently championed inclusivity and women’s participation in peace-building.”
It said her “steadfast leadership” was instrumental in “steering the negotiations to a triumphant culmination,” with the signing of the CAB.
In 2020, Coronel-Ferrer co-founded the Southeast Asian Women Peace Mediators, a pioneering group of women engaged in convening safe spaces for dialogues and supporting mediation initiatives in countries like Myanmar and Afghanistan.
In 2023, she was among the awardees of the Ramon Magsaysay Awards for her “deep, unwavering belief in the transformative power of non-violent strategies in peace building, her cool intelligence and courage in surmounting difficulties to convey the truth that it is through inclusion rather than division that peace can be won and sustained, and her unstinting devotion to the agenda of harnessing the power of women in creating a just and peaceful world.”
Dr. Leslie, founding director of the Cambodia-based Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, “stands as an esteemed member of the International Contact Group (ICG), serving as a vital bridge between the parties, the facilitator, and the international community during critical points in the negotiations.”
The ICG is a peace process mechanism set up in 2009 and composed of groups of states and non-state organizations to accompany and mobilize international support for the peace process. The ICG is mandated to “exert the necessary leverage and assistance towards sustaining the trust and confidence of both sides at the negotiating table.”
Leslie, the lone woman in the ICG, played a key role in the GPH-MILF peace process by helping bring the parties back to the negotiating table on the same day it abruptly adjourned its first negotiation after the meeting between President Simeon Aquino III and MILF chair Al Haj Murad Ebrahim in Tokyo, Japan in August 2011. The two leaders had agreed to fast-track the peace process, sign a peace agreement within the first three years of the Aquino administration and implement in the remaining three years.
Leslie and other members of the ICG talked with the peace panels separately.
Before the adjournment, the MILF panel had declared it was recommending to the MILF Central Committee the rejection of the government’s draft peace settlement but Leonen rejected the MILF’s rejection. Government’s proposal was what Leonen refered to as “three for one” solution: massive economic development; political settlement with the MILF; and cultural-historical acknowledgment but MILF peace panel chair Mohagher Iqbal said the proposals of the two parties were “between heaven and earth.” Leonen’s quick reply was “not too far apart.”
A year later, in October 2012, Leonen and Iqbal signed the FAB.
Prof. Lingga, Executive Director of the Institute of Bangsamoro Studies, a “leading Moro scholar and a prolific writer,” served with “unwavering dedication” as a member of the MILF peace panel during the final stages of negotiations for the FAB and CAB.
North Governor Taliño-Mendoza was cited as a staunch supporter of the peace process who helped foster unity among Muslim and Christian communities in her province. “With fervor and dedication, she rallied her constituents, galvanizing widespread support for the GPH-MILF Peace Talks,” the MILF said.
It was North Cotabato province, then under Governor Emmanuel Pinol, that petitioned the Supreme Court in 2008 to stop the government from signing on August 5 that year the already initialed Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD). The Supreme Court issued a temporary restraining order on August 4, preventing the government peace panel from formally signing the agreement. The high court eventually declared it unconstitutional for lack of consultation, among others.
The MILF described Datu Midpantao Midtimbang as “a leading figure among the traditional leaders who consistently supported the GPH-MILF Peace talks.” It said his “steadfast and enduring efforts in conflict resolution at the ground level proved indispensable in maintaining peace and avoiding escalation of hostilities.”
Mindanao’s first and only Cardinal, Orlando B. Quevedo, OMI, Archbishop Emeritus of the Archdiocese of Cotabato, “is one of the pillars of peacebuilding in Mindanao and a resolute champion of Muslim-Christian dialogue.” He was among the leaders of the Bishops-Ulama Conference, “uniting religious leaders in dialogue to bolster support for the GPH-MILF Peace Process.”
Dr. Steven Rood, then Country Representative of The Asia Foundation, was a member of the Third Party Monitoring Team tasked to monitor, review and assess the progress of the implementation of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro. Rood has retired and the TAF is now represented in the TPMT by Sam Chittick, its country representative.
The MILF also honored three Malaysians, one of them posthumously.
It honored Datuk Othman Abd Razak, Malaysian Facilitator of the GPH MILF Peace Negotiations from 2002 to 2012. It said Razak “played a pivotal role in elevating the dialogue and orchestrating meaningful engagement between the two panels throughout the negotiations.”
Datu Zulkiefli Mohammad Bin Zain, the first head of mission of the International Monitoring Team, monitored the implementation of the ceasefire agreement between the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces. “His active presence in Mindanao during the height of the conflict dramatically reduced ceasefire violations,” the MILF said.
It conferred a posthumous award on Tengku Datu Ab’Ghafar Mohammad, Malaysian Facilitator from 2012 until the government and MILF signed the FAB and CAB.
He “played an important role in reigniting the dormant peace talks between the Philippine government and the MILF, breaking the prolonged deadlock that stemmed from the 2000 all-out war.”
Posthumous awards were also conferred on Major Sol and Ladiasan.
Major Sol was the Director of the combined secretariat of the government panel’s ceasefire mechanisms in the peace negotiations with the MILF. “He was a constant in the government peace panel’s security sector” for over a decade, and “mentored a succession of peace panel members as well as commanding officers and generals of the AFP who were assigned in Maguindanao and other areas with MILF presence, on the ceasefire agreement and its mechanisms.
Sol witnessed the signing of the FAB and the CAB. He succumbed to a kidney ailment on June 30, 2018. His widow, Valerie, accepted the award.
The MILF said Ladiasan, head of secretariat and later chair of the MILF’s CCCH, “tirelessly worked around the clock to vigilantly monitor and enforce the ceasefire agreement and meticulously guided MILF commanders on the stringent prohibited acts to prevent ceasefire violations.”
His “exceptional performance and unparalleled track record in de-escalating violence and averting shooting conflicts” between the MILF’s Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces and the AFP “have garnered profound recognition and unwavering respect, not merely within the ranks of the MILF, but also among his esteemed counterparts in the AFP and Philippine National Police.”
Ladiasan also succumbed to an illness in May 2016. His widow, Zuhaira, received the award. Also present were Ladiasan’s four children.
Sol and Ladiasan worked for an immediate ceasefire following the Mamasapano tragedy on January 25, 2015 where 66 persons were killed — 44 from the Special Action Forces of the Philippine National Police, 17 from the MILF’s BIAF and five civilians. The tragedy could have been avoided had the Philippine National Police coordinated with the ceasefire mechanisms of the GPH-MILF. (Carolyn O. Arguillas / MindaNews)