President BS Aquino’s peace negotiations with the MILF conducted in bad faith
BS Aquino and MILF chair Murad Ibrahim. These agreements were hailed as milestones in the GPH-MILF peace negotiations. After Pres. BS Aquino conjured the illusion that peace now reigns in the Bangsamoro homeland, now considers the BBL as unconstitutional that need major revisions.
The Aquino regime will not enter into any agreement that is contrary to the Philippine Constitution which guarantees and protects the current social system. More so, if the agreement concedes even limited power and benefit for the Moro people. Aquino’s rejection of the BBL is beyond the question of constitutionality. Aquino’s main objective is to preserve the interests of the ruling elite.
Until now, the people are kept blind to the contents of the BBL and Malacanang’s revisions. It is to Malacanang’s interests that the contents of the BBL remain confidential to conceal its deception, dishonesty and insincerity in negotiating peace.
BS Aquino also conducted his peace negotiation in bad faith.[]
In the midst of the GPH-MILF peace negotiations, Pres.[]
Aquino publicly declared the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) a failed experiment that has to be abolished and replaced with the Bangsamoro in 2016. In spite of this declaration, Pres. Aquino used more than Php8B from the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) to resurrect the failed experiment.
The shameless admission of OPAPP Secretary Deles and ARMM Governor Mujiv Hataman that the “much-awaited” reforms in the ARMM were made possible by the billions of stimulus fund from the highly criticized and Supreme Court-declared unconstitutional DAP, exposes Aquino’s hypocrisy and dishonesty in the GPH-MILF peace negotiation.
This is a political ploy. “Reforming” the ARMM is Aquino’s strategy to strengthen the central government’s control and influence in the region beyond its abolition in 2016. The move is to consolidate political patronage in the resource-rich and vote-rich Muslim Mindanao. Aquino is preparing the current local government officials and loyal allies to challenge the MILF leadership and candidates in the 2016 elections for the Bangsamoro National Assembly. This is the highest form of treachery against the Moro people.
It appears that the objective of the Aquino regime in entering the peace process is merely to pacify and quell the people’s armed resistance instead of addressing the root causes of the conflict. The MILF and the National Democratic Front share the same experience.
With the way BS Aquino conducts his peace initiative, genuine and lasting peace remains elusive in the Bangsamoro homeland and the nation.
Moro Christian People’s Alliance
July 28, 2014
