Palace confirms gov't peace panel with MILF scrapped
abs-cbnNEWS.com | 09/03/2008 10:30 AM
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Press Secretary Jesus Dureza on Wednesday morning confirmed that President Arroyo has dissolved the government panel conducting peace negotiations with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
Dureza told ABS-CBN News that the termination of the government's peace panel headed by retired Gen. Rodolfo Garcia will pave the way for a fresh start to the peace process for Mindanao.
He said Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita is set make an official announcement about Mrs. Arroyo’s decision Wednesday afternoon.
Zamboanga City 1st District Rep. Maria Isabelle Climaco earlier said Mrs. Arroyo announced during a recent meeting with Mindanao congressmen that she has dissolved the peace panel.
"Actually we should wait for the official pronouncement of the Palace, but what I heard was the peace panel has been dissolved," Climaco told ABS-CBN's morning show, "Umagang Kay Ganda."
The congresswoman said there will still be peace talks for Mindanao, but she was not privy to the details. However, she said "ground works" for talks with multi-sectoral groups, including the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippine and the Bishop Ulama Conference have started.
Climaco said the dissolution of the government's peace panel for the MILF is a welcome development.
"This kind of announcement would signal the start of a true peace process and negotiations with the people who are really affected in the areas, to really go down to the stakeholders. This would give us an opportunity to really get down to listening and consulting the people," she said.
The congresswoman said Mrs. Arroyo has not announced the names of the people who would replace the dissolved peace panel.
She advised Malacañang to make re-evaluatijjjons and name as peace panel head a non-government organization leader who is "geographically aware of the implications of our external and territorial waters and different inter-cultural sentiments in Mindanao."
The government's peace panel dissolution came after the MILF maintained its position not to surrender its commanders Ameril Umbra Kato and Abdulrahman Macapaar, who led attacks against civilians in Lanao del Norte and North Cotabato after the aborted signing of the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain.
The government panel’s dissolution also comes as President Arroyo as ordered the government’s negotiators to focus on the policy of "disarmament, demobilization and rehabilitation" in continuing talks with the MILF.
