For the peace process in Mindanao to get on track again, this day, the 10th year anniversary of the Final Peace Agreement (FPA), can be more meaningful if government heeds the call of the Bangsamoro people to free Nur Misuari.
(A statement of the Mindanao PeaceWeavers on the 10th Anniversary of the September 2, 1996 Peace Agreement)
For the peace process in Mindanao to get on track again, this day, the 10th year anniversary of the Final Peace Agreement (FPA), can be more meaningful if government heeds the call of the Bangsamoro people to free Nur Misuari.
Ten years ago, the government and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) signed what is now internationally known as the September 2, 1996 Final Peace Agreement (FPA)—an accord described by its signatories as the ultimate implementation of the 1976 Tripoli Agreement. The peace pact attempts to offer a lasting solution to the lingering armed conflict in Mindanao.
Signed amid skepticisms among some government and MNLF officials themselves, and cynicisms from some politicians, the FPA had, on one hand, silenced the guns in Mindanao and raised massive hopes among the ordinary peoples in the conflict-affected areas.
MNLF Chair Nur Misuari, leader of the 30-year Moro struggle, saw his own transformation from a revolutionary to a politician tasked with governing ARMM and managing development programs for the Southern Philippines Council for Peace and Development (SPCPD). While livelihood projects admittedly trickled down to MNLF communities, the MNLF-led SPCPD and ARMM never ceased complaining against what they said were “dismal” financial and logistical support for the supposedly mini-marshal plan for an expanded ARMM.
The government has claimed it poured in billions of funds for peace and development programs, while the MNLF castigated Malacanang for its alleged failure to deliver its part even just for the Phase-1 of the FPA implementation.
The rest is history which aptly describes how to violate an international agreement.
Incarcerated for almost five years without the benefit of full blown trial, Misuari has been granted by government a “leave of court” to join the commemorative program of the FPA 10th year anniversary in Davao City today. What pride can all these Honorable and Excellencies get in tugging along their captive in Davao City? RES IPSA LOQUITOR, the “show” clearly speaks for itself.
As we commemorate the 1996 FPA today, we must not forget the fact that the GRP-MILF peace talks is also about to reach its tenth year and is in fact about to ink a peace agreement with government. We strongly believe that there must be a serious effort to harmonize the 1996 Peace Agreement with any agreement that will be signed with the MILF. In that manner, we shall only be looking at a common roadmap towards peace and development in Mindanao.
Today, more than anything else, is the best occasion to reverberate our call for unity among the MNLF, between the MNLF and MILF—in solidarity with all peoples in Mindanao—and together align our struggles towards fulfilling the promise for this land.
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