The Mindanao Peaceweavers welcome the historic meeting last night between President Aquino and Moro Islamic Liberation Front Chairman Al Haj Murad.

This augurs well for peace in Mindanao. We hope that this unprecedented meeting will lead to an unprecedented agreement and not only an unprecedented peace, but justice and progress as well in our beloved Mindanao.

It is about time that the peoples of Mindanao savor the peace that has eluded them for decades. It is now within sight.

We salute both President Aquino and Chairman Murad for their statesmanship in making this breakthrough that clearly creates the condition for peace to be finally realized. .

We pray that the peoples of Mindanao and the rest of the country become ever more vigilant against “spoilers” from all sides who will brook at nothing to scuttle anew the peace at hand. We remember very vividly almost three years ago to this day how a seminal agreement on ancestral domain between the negotiating panels that could have paved the way for a comprehensive covenant was blocked at the last minute due to calls from sectors whose own political and economic interests felt “threatened”.

We offer the continuing support, input and engagement of our networks and our constituency in helping craft the final agreement between the government and the MILF. It is anyway the peoples’ voices who are avowedly being represented by both parties and we thus expect no less than playing an active part in the peace process.

Now back to the table.

PEACE in Mindanao NOW!