Selective peace talks

Batas Mauricio

SO, can we say now that the peace will finally be achieved in Mindanao, now that Chairman Nur Misuari of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) has become a part of the peace process?

I am an ardent supporter of President Duterte from Day 1 of his presidency, and I share his belief that peace is the vital key that could unlock true progress and economic success for the entire country, yet, there is a need for us to look back at past efforts at achieving peace by previous administrations and try to learn from them.

To underscore this point, I will want to share what I wrote on Sept. 9, 2013, when the Aquino government proceeded to talk with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in an attempt to solve the Mindanao conflict. My point then, which is my point again this time, is simple: peace could be achieved only by talking to everyone in Mindanao.

Here is that column: Indeed, the question that is begging to be answered in the Aquino government’s handling of the peace process in Mindanao is this: why did it choose to strike peace with just one group? The example of the MNLF peace accord should have already taught the Aquino government the folly of negotiating and signing a peace agreement with just one group alone.

Did not a big group of MNLF warriors bolt out of it, soon after the MNLF peace accord was signed, simply because that bolting group thought it was left out in the agreement? Did not that group wage its own deadly war against the government after that?

Indeed, these are too plain and too evident to see, and yet, why did the government of President Aquino refuse to take it into account in its peace efforts after 2010? Now, a new Mindanao war is erupting, and it appears not only that there is no immediate solution in sight but that, real and lasting peace will no longer be possible under President Aquino’s term…

In that 2013 column, I also had occasion to mention the Zamboanga City siege staged by MNLF men under Misuari which was then just starting: Now that the MNLF is on an offensive once again in Mindanao as shown by its early Monday morning (Sept. 9, 2013) attack in Zamboanga City where two men–a policeman and a civilian–were reported killed, I wonder what kind of a reaction the Aquino government will make.

I mean, the Aquino government has been repeatedly told before that its strategy of focusing its peace efforts towards just one group alone, ignoring all others, especially the MNLF which already has signed a peace agreement in 1996, will not yield real peace, but will only aggravate and worsen the conflict in Southern Philippines all the more.

Now that these warnings have come true and more conflicts–and therefore more deaths and destruction among our countrymen in the area–are occurring once again… all the hype about peace in Mindanao being attained… are now going down the drain. What a waste really, but the Aquino government cannot blame anyone else for this fiasco but itself! He who has eyes must endeavor to see, he who has ears must try to listen!

E-mail: batasmauricio@yahoo.com