Some civil society leaders went to the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process to congratulate the GPH Peace Panel for their excellent negotiating work. Secretary Teresita Quintos-Deles (Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process, third from right) and Prof. Miriam Coronel-Ferrer, Chair of the GPH Peace Panel talking with MILF, fifth from left) received us with a sumptuous lunch. OPAPP, Ortigas Center, Pasig City. Tuesday, 16 July, 2013, 1100-1430.
PeaceBuilders Community, Inc. (PBCI) lauds the excellent work of both the Peace Negotiating Panels of the Government of the Philippines (GPH) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) during their 38th round of Exploratory Talks last 08-13 July 2013 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. When they signed the Annex on Revenue Generation and Wealth Sharing to the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro (FAB), they led our country into a new horizon where conflicts borne by historical injustices, unfair allocation of resources, and cross-cultural misunderstanding can be settled through negotiation, and that the conflicting parties can be transformed from being adversaries to being peace and development partners.
We congratulate Prof. Miriam Coronel-Ferrer, chair of the GPH Panel, for her hopeful and prayerful leadership in approaching this task as expressed in her opening statement: “And we too also have said our own prayers, our own whispered hopes for a most fruitful meeting.” We also salute her determination to face the difficult task before her: “The items on the table are all hard issues. But what I know is that we all want to solve the problem and that we will jointly, collectively decide on the future of the partnership that was forged with the signing of the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro (FAB).” In the end, her outlook helped bring home a breakthrough agreement.
We congratulate Sec. Teresita Quintos-Deles, Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process, for her on-site leadership during this most difficult round of exploratory talks with MILF. Her wisdom and commitment to just-peace brought hope during the first five days of negotiation when there was seemingly no hope for a deal. She repeatedly and publicly said: “It is my duty to be hopeful.”
We congratulate Mohagher Iqbal, chair of the MILF Peace Panel, for his sincerity and determination in seeking a negotiated political resolution to this conflict, based on justice and peace. He said: “I know that the road ahead of the current peace talks is still full of humps and bumps. But this is no reason to cause the failure of these talks. Sincere and committed partners in peace process will always find creative formula to get through any differences.” In our view, Chairman Iqbal helped open the gateway of enormous possibilities of partnership between Christians and Muslims toward justice-based peace and development in Mindanao.
As soon as they arrived from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the MILF Peace Panel, led by Chairman Mohagher Iqbal (seated at the center with striped shirt) met with some civil society leaders. Quezon City, 15 July 2013, 1500-1800.
We express our utmost respect to both GPH President Benigno Simeon Aquino III and MILF Chairman Al Haj Murad Ebrahim who continued their open line of communication even when both negotiating panels have to wait for a few months for their next exploratory talks.
We affirm and acknowledge that “wealth creation (or revenue creation and sourcing) is important for the operation of the Bangsamoro, considering that the Bangsamoro territory is among the most underdeveloped in the Philippines due to decades-long conflict.”
We affirm and support both parties as they “jointly pursue measures to increase the Bangsamoro’s revenue generation and wealth creation capacity.”
May we all—Muslims, Christians, Indigenous People—enjoy the positive results of this newly-signed Annex on Revenue Generation and Wealth Sharing. May we all experience peace within us and around us!
Hallelujah! Alhamdulillah!
