Monitoring team confident of new Bangsamoro entity establishment By John Unson (philstar) | Updated November 10, 2014 - 3:00pm COTABATO CITY - The Malaysian-led International Monitoring Team (IMT) is confident the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) can successfully establish the Bangsamoro entity before its Mindanao peacekeeping mission ends in 2016. Major Gen. Dato Abd Samad bin Hadji Yaakub, chief of the 9th batch of IMT monitors helping oversee the government-MILF ceasefire pact, said there is enough optimism among their ranks owing to the sincerity of the stakeholders in finding solutions to the peace and security issues hounding the proposed Bangsamoro core territory. There has not been any single military-MILF encounter since 2010 in the areas being monitored by the IMT, whose peacekeeping works in Mindanao started in late 2003. The IMT is comprised of soldiers from Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia, Libya and non-uniformed conflict resolution and rehabilitation experts from Norway, Japan and the European Union. The group will be phased out via an exit agreement among its member-nations, the national government and the MILF after the creation of the proposed self-governing Bangsamoro political entity in 2016. The enabling measure for the creation of the Bangsamoro entity, the draft Basic Bangsamoro Law, is now in Congress, expected to be enacted into law and ratified through a plebiscite before the middle of 2015. Nation ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Samad said one big challenge that the Bangsamoro entity and the volunteer foreign and local groups that would help see through its takeoff, have to deal with is the settlement of rido (clan wars) in line with the disarmament and decommissioning of guerilla forces to hasten the restoration of normalcy in areas affected by conflicts in decades past. “Strong justice system, generation of livelihood opportunities and development will hasten the resolution of this rido problem,” Samad said. The IMT had repeatedly helped pacify feuding Moro clans in areas covered by the July 1997 government-MILF Agreement on General Cessation of Hostilities. Samad said the IMT recognizes the sincere compliance by the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police with laws protecting human rights while enforcing law and order in areas where there are MILF forces. “Otherwise the story would be different and we will have many problems. We appreciate this high respect of the AFP for human rights,” Samad said. Local peace activists and non-government organizations involved in peace-building programs in Mindanao attribute such feat to the efficient coordination among the IMT and the government and MILFs separate ceasefire committees, composed of representatives from the rebel group, the Philippine Army and the police. Just last Saturday, the commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, Major Gen. Edmundo Pangilinan, renewed the division’s commitment to the peace process and to efforts of restoring normalcy in areas made impoverished by secessionist conflicts. Pangilinan, who was deputy commander for the Mindanao peace process of the Western Mindanao Command in Zamboanga City prior to his assumption as 6th ID commander last May, said the division’s rank-and-file personnel will also support extensively all government programs meant to foster cultural and religious solidarity among Central Mindanao’s Muslim, Christian and lumad sectors. The 6th ID covers parts of Lanao del Sur and the adjoining North Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat and Maguindanao provinces, known bastions of the MILF. Samad said the Malaysian government has always been ready to help push the government-MILF peace efforts forward. “There is good bilateral relation between Malaysia and the Philippines,” he said. philstar/nation/2014/11/10/1390192/monitoring-team-confident-new-bangsamoro-entity-establishment
Posted on: Fri, 21 Nov 2014 06:41:08 +0000
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