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PNoy’s sincerity to peace convinced MILF to lay down arms —govt peace panel member


After 40 years of armed struggle, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front finally agreed to lay down its arms upon the promise of President Benigno Aquino III for lasting peace.
 
“The sincerity of PNoy (Aquino's nickname) to arrive at lasting peace and very high trust they have in him that he will stand by his commitment to deliver,” government peace panel member Usec. Yasmin Busran-Lao said in a text message to GMA News Online Monday when asked for the main factor that made MILF decide to end their armed struggle.
 
Lao is also presidential assistant for Muslim concerns.
 
PNoy's assurance that Congress will approve the peace agreement if it will be finished before his term ends in 2016 apparently had a bearing, The New York Times said in an article published on January 26 quoting Noel Ruiz, a post-conflict development specialist for international agencies who maintains close ties MILF.
 
Aquino is the chairman of the ruling Liberal Party.
 
“After he was out of office, they were on their own to try to strike a deal with the next administration and get it through Congress. The administration created a sense of urgency,” Ruiz was quoted as saying.
 
Lao also said that the laying down of arms may be an emotional and sticky point with the MILF but they agreed to it without giving any condition.
 
“The MILF did not impose a condition for decommissioning. In fact, decommissioning had been agreed upon in the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro,” she said.

 
In an interview with GMA News TV's News To Go on Monday, Lao said the MILF were emotional because they used their arms in the 40 years they were trying to tell the government about the needs of the Bangsamoro people.
 
“Ang ginamit nila armas kasi tingin nila ito ang malakas na signales. Ngayon ibababa mo 'yan at papasok ka sa sitwasyon ng kapayapaan. May halong tuwa dahil makukuha mo na ang kapayapaan. Almost 40 years kung tignan mo 'yung GPH-Bangsamoro armed struggle, 40 years na armas then ibababa. So I guess that is really emotional on their part,” she said.
 
She said the laying down of arms will be gradual until the security situation normalizes.
 
“Most importantly, we have a mechanism that will ensure that this process goes very well. Nakita sa paper na we have this independent decommissioning body na mamamahala o oversee this process of decommissioning,” she said.
 
Lao said the members of the body have yet to be named but it will be composed of three international and three local experts who have experience in handling decommissioning in other parts of the world. They are tasked to also look at other models in the world and see which one is compatible with the Philippines.
 
Learning from the past
 
Lao said the lack of mechanism to monitor the compliance of both the government and Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) to the 1996 final peace agreement was a major flaw the Aquino administration wanted to avoid in signing the deal with the MILF.
 
“We tried our very best to ensure the lessons learned from the past are part of the Bangsamoro Framework Agreement,” Lao said.
 
According to blogger Fr Jun Mercado, it took the government and the MNLF four years to negotiate a peace agreement. The problem was not in the signing of the pact, “but in the implementation of the said Peace Accord,” he wrote in a blog post on GMA News Online published in November 2013.
 
Lao said the peace agreement with MNLF did not succeed because it has no provision for monitoring the implementation of the entire deal.
 
“Kulang ng third party monitoring that will monitor the implementation of the entire agreement up to what we call an exit agreement. Kaya nung nagsisingilan kung ano na-implement at hindi na-implement, walang makakapagsabi na ito ang na-comply at ito 'di na-comply dahil walang ganung klaseng mechanism,” she said.
 
She added the MNLF deal, unlike the agreement with MILF, also had no provision on decomissioning or laying down of arms and inventory of firearms. 
 
“Walang provision for decommissioning. Nagpirmahan tayo ng agreement, hawak pa rin ng MNLF ang kanilang mga baril,” Lao said.
 
The normalization annex, the last of the four annexes to the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro, deals with decommissioning the armed wing of the MILF and outlines steps to disarm private armies in the proposed Bangsamoro area. 
 
Return to normal life
 
Lao added that the MILF, unlike the MNLF, did not ask that their members be integrated to the police or military.
 
“Sa MILF, nakakatuwa because they never mentioned integration unlike in the MNLF process where they asked for a certain number of their combatants to be integrated. MILF believes police force should be professional,” she said.
 
“Some of them would probably matagal nang nawalay sa pamilya, might want to live with the family. Marami siguro ayaw na ng armas and would want to go back to normal life. We will look at the skills and needs of the people then dun aalalayan ano 'yung gusto nila para makabalik sa normal na pamumuhay,” she added.
 
She said what was agreed upon was any MILF combatant who is qualified to join the police or military will not be stopped because that is their right as part of normalization.
 
“Kaakibat nitong decommissioning is trying to normalize the lives of the forces and their families, ensuring they become productive members of the society,” she said.
 
Lao said the panels worked hard to come up with the best agreement “but the life of the document will be the implementation itself. And the implementation would mean everybody helping to ensure this agreement becomes successful and fully implemented to the good of all.” —KG, GMA News
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