Speech of Mohagher Iqbal,
Chairman of the MILF Peace Panel,
31^st GPH-MILF Exploratory Talks,
Kuala Lumpur, September 5-7, 2012

First and foremost, let me reiterate my and the MILF’s expression of condolence and sorrow for the death of Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo during a plane crash on the seas off Masbate last August 18. This indeed is a great loss not only to the family and relatives and to the Aquino administration but also to the peace process in Mindanao.

The late Secretary will always be remembered as a strong supporter and mover of this peace-making effort. I hope that his successor in the DILG will follow his footsteps in supporting the peace process in Mindanao. I hope the newly appointed DILG Secretary, in the person of former Secretary of Transportation and Communication Mar Roxas III, will actively work behind President Benigno Aquino III efforts to finally settle the Moro Question and the armed conflict in Mindanao. We hope that what he did to the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) in 2008 leading to the defeat in the Supreme Court is going to be a thing of the past.  To the new DILG Secretary, here’s our message: The future is more important than the past.

Today, the GPH-MILF peace negotiation is passing through a defining moment, nay critical phase, which allows no complacency on the part of the parties. Very clearly, the spoilers are mounting their guns and are ganging up on us and certainly if they have their way, they want us to stop and fail. The recent “aggression” of the so-called BIFM/BIFF is a clear example. Their agenda, as I mentioned previously, was two-fold: to shame the MILF (and the government) and to stop the peace talks. What made their sinister act doubly serious is they are not acting alone. The collusion of some personalities or groups is documented, but which I do not want to divulge details in this speech, lest it will stir another complication. But I am so sure, the government or its military, given their good intelligence network, is fully aware of this development.

At this juncture, let me inform you that in the face of this serious development that undermines the negotiation, and more importantly, causing sufferings and displacements of civilians, the MILF did not take the challenge sitting down. We mobilized more than 3,000 of our forces and encircled the 200 or so BIFF forces, which are divided and isolated into two groups, and demanded that they cease their aggression or we will be forced to resort to our last option. As a result, five of their top commanders including Mohiddin Animbang or popularly known as Kagi Karialen, their vice chairman on military affairs and chief of staff signed a deed of commitment not to create trouble while the negotiation is moving forward. However, Ameril Omra Kato and Mohammad Ali Tambako, chairman and vice chairman of their group, respectively, are yet to affix their signatures on the paper. Kato’s signing the document, however, is most unlikely, because he is seriously ill and can hardly speak or move --- and is no longer in control of the group.

As of yesterday, the MILF has loosened the containment a little to allow them breathing space and to rethink their position rationally, and perhaps, change in favor of pacific ways. At the same time, we are monitoring their movement very closely.

Without saying, the MILF’s upper hand position in the face of the current hard situation obtaining in some parts of Maguindanao and North Cotabato hinges on various factors. One, both the ideological and political lines of the MILF remained very valid and not seriously challenged; two, the MILF enjoys popular support; three, the MILF’s has a functioning people’s committees; fourth, the MILF’s legitimacy and international support is growing; and fifth, the MILF’s military strength is more than all of those in the hands of other Moro armed groups combined. In addition, the MILF leadership is firm and decisive; once a decision is made, it is carried out without hesitation.

However, the sad part of this harsh reality is that these challenges will not cease in the near foreseeable future. This can be inherited even beyond the signing of an agreement, which, therefore, require the parties to this negotiation to rethink proactively how the new political entity --- and the MILF --- would be able to cope up with these challenges. This is a challenge that we negotiators of the government and MILF must now think of seriously.

To reiterate, there is a stiff and protracted battle of ideas raging among Moro groups in Mindanao. This phenomenon is not only true to our case in Mindanao, but rather this is the rule in all conflicts elsewhere in the world. This is also true among policy makers in governments. In our case, one group bats for radical approach, which is militaristic, and another follows the MILF’s line which pursues for a negotiated political settlement of the conflict in Mindanao. An outright verdict in this controversy is not forthcoming. An idea cannot be defeated by any other means effectively, except by a better idea and well-thought-out program of action. This can only effectively happen and put to rest when after signing an agreement with the government, the MILF can deliver and the condition of the people will change for the better.

Lastly, an article posted in the Mindanews carried a statement of Secretary Teresita Deles of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) seeing bright prospects for peace in Mindanao as negotiations with the MILF are “making headway”. This is the first time, as far as I know, the good Secretary has ever made a very positive statement, short of saying that the agreement is already in the bag. I hope she was quoted correctly.

Perhaps, this optimism reflects the positive response of the government to the proposal of the MILF vis-à-vis some of the remaining sticky points still to be hurdled by the parties. In such a case, signing the Framework Agreement is not a remote possibility. It can happen, perhaps not in a very distant future.

On this note, let me thank all of you for giving me the chance to speak before you.