COTABATO CITY, Philippines – The government has vowed to implement in full the remaining provisions of the peace agreement it concluded with the Moro National Liberation Front in 1996.
Teresita Deles, presidential adviser on the peace process, admitted in a press statement e-mailed to media offices and journalists on Friday that the peace pact had indeed suffered setbacks. But she said the Aquino administration was determined to fulfill its provisions.
“The government reiterates its commitment to bring closure to this peace track on mutually agreed terms, with due diligence and utmost sincerity on the part of government,” Deles said.
Deles issued the statement in response to an earlier statement from the MNLF, which has repeatedly been accusing the government of non-compliance with the 1996 agreement, more than a decade since it was signed.
In 2001, the same issue triggered an uprising by the MNLF—led by Nur Misuari—in Zamboanga City and Sulu.
Dozens of people were killed in the attacks that also led to Misuari’s arrest about a year later.
The MNLF chieftain, charged with rebellion, is currently out on bail.
In 2008, MNLF members also took hostage several government and military officials in Sulu over the same issue. The hostages were later released when the government pledged to review the implementation of the peace agreement.
Deles said the Aquino government expected the MNLF to “match government’s efforts with the same firm resolve.”
Deles said the government will fully participate in a three-party process that includes the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) to bring closure to the 1996 peace pact with the MNLF.
The OIC mediated the 1996 peace agreement.
“We have asked that the process be straightforward rather than circuitous and that all provisions agreed upon be doable and measurable,” Deles said.
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