Bukid Apo: MILF peace panel to consult Iligan, CDO

Thursday, June 9, 2011

MILF peace panel to consult Iligan, CDO

Press Release:
June 10, 2011
For immediate Release

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY—The peace panel of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) is set to dialogue with non-Moro and Moro leaders of civil society organizations (CSOs), business, church, local government, media and academic institutions in Northern Mindanao in response to calls for inclusiveness and participation in the government-MILF peace negotiations.

The MILF peace panel, led by Chairman Mohagher Iqbal, will first stopped in Iligan City on Saturday (June 11) to dialogue with non-Moro CSOs at the Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology MSU-IIT) from 9am to 3pm.

MSU-IIT chancellor Dr. Sukarno D. Tanggol, DPA, will be hosting the event in partnership with the Forum for Peace, led by Managing Director Jun Enriquez.

In the morning of June 12, the MILF panel will be at the International Center for Peace (IC Peace) in Barangay Bulua, this city to dialogue with leaders of Moro CSOs and Lumad groups.

On June 13, Iqbal’s team will consult with non-Moro leaders of CSOs, business, church, LGUs, media and academic institutions at the IC Peace from 9am to 3pm.

More than a hundred non-Moro participants are expected to attend Monday’s (June 13) consultation, which is being organized by the Archdiocese of Cagayan de Oro (ACDO), Balay Mindanao Foundation Inc, (BMFI) MPC and FREEJourn, Inc., an organization of Mindanao journalists working for empowerment, equality and welfare of media practitioners.

In all these consultations, the point of discussion will center on the MILF’s peace agenda contained in the Comprehensive Compact it submitted to the government peace panel, led by Dean Marvic Leonen.

“This forum seeks to promote better understanding of the attending issues in the negotiations,” said Archbishop Antonio J. Ledesma, S.J., D.D.

“It will also serve as a unique opportunity for us to take part in shaping viable and sustainable options to resolve the root causes of the armed conflict in Mindanao,” added BMFI Executive Director Paul Richard A. Paraguya.

Iqbal said that the MILF does not want a repeat of what happened to the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD), which is why early in the negotiation they wanted to conduct the dialogues with various sectors in the country in order to get their views, ideas, and questions on the MILF’s proposals in the negotiations.

The Northern Mindanao consultations is the fourth leg in the ongoing nationwide dialogue the MILF peace panel has been conducting.

Prior to the consultations, the FREEJourn, Inc., in partnership with MPC, has organized trainings on peace reporting, which stressed on the need to cover the MILF-GPH peace talks. More than 20 select media personalities in Cagayan de Oro City underwent the training on May 28.

Some 20 journalists in Iligan City also underwent a similar training yesterday in through the efforts of the Civil Society Organization Forum for Peace in partnership with FREEJourn Inc, and the MPC. (Bong D. Fabe, FREEJourn, Inc., Peace Collective)

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From The Times November 28, 2009 Philippines massacre: women thought they were safe. They were wrong Romy Elusfa in Ampatuan and Richard Lloyd Parry, Asia Editor He knew that powerful and ruthless people wanted him dead and that he was risking everything by standing for election — but to one practical challenge at least, Ismael Mangudadatu thought he had a solution. If he went in person to register as a candidate he would be inviting an attack by his enemies — the Ampatuan clan who have a near-monopoly on elected posts in the region. Instead, after consultation with his family and advisers, Mr Mangudadatu decided to send his wife and two sisters. The local police refused to provide an escort and the Philippines Army declined a request for protection. But how much harm could befall a group of women? For good measure, the two family lawyers who were women and Mr Mangudadatu’s aunt — who was pregnant, like one of his sisters — went along for the ride with other supporters and relatives. As a further safeguard, 27 journalists were invited. “Under our tradition, Muslim women are respected,” Mr Mangudadatu said. “They should not be harmed, just like innocent children and the elders. They will not harm us if journalists are watching.” Related Links Philippines leader 'shot massacre victims' Philippines massacre suspect arrested At 9.30am on Monday six minibuses began the drive from the town of Buluan to the provincial capital of Shariff Aguak. “This is women power in action,” Eden, Mr Mangudadatu’s sister, was heard to say. “Let’s help our men chart a better future for the province.” Within hours, she and her companions were dead. They had been bound, macheted, shot and buried in a mass grave. It is believed that some were raped. Political killings have been a part of life for centuries in the Philippines, and the southern island of Mindanao is the most violent of all. The attack, in which 57 people were killed, has raised questions about the relationship between the gangster clans such as the Ampatuan family and the highest levels of the Philippines metropolitan elite. Yesterday Andal Ampatuan Jr, the son of one of the most powerful men in Mindanao, was charged with seven counts of murder. “He was the one who gave the instructions,” Agnes Devanadera, the Justice Minister, said. “He was among those ... who killed the victims.” Until they were expelled this week, Mr Ampatuan and his father were important members of the ruling party of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, the President. Her Government has also moved against members of its security forces suspected of being complicit in the violence. According to the national police chief, Jesus Verzosa, six senior officers, including the provincial chief and his deputy, twenty officers of the Ampatuan police station and about four hunded members of a militia loyal to the Ampatuan family are in custody. Many Filipinos remain sceptical about the prospects for improvement. “He [Ampatuan Jr] can be a sacrificial mouse to spare the leopards behind the crime,” one Maguindanao man told The Times. “The most powerful people among the Ampatuans are still in government.” Three journalists survived the attack because they stopped at their hotel when the convoy was setting out. “The lady at the front desk told us that a motorcycle-riding man armed with a pistol came to ask for the names of journalists who checked in at the hotel,” said Aquiles Zonio, of the Philippine Daily Inquirer. They tried calling colleagues, but the hold-up had already taken place. The convoy was stopped about an hour into its journey, near the town that bears the Ampatuan family name. Some victims were able to send texts reporting that they had been stopped by about a hundred armed men. Police Chief Superintendent Felicisimo Khu said: “Twenty-four corpses were all killed by a firing squad. They were buried in six layers. Every layer is covered with earth, making it more difficult for the retrieval operations. I have asked myself why one of them has no underwear.” Ms Devanadera said: “Even the private parts of the women were shot at. It was done practically to all the women. All the women had their zippers undone. The pants of some were pulled down. We have yet to determine whether they were raped.” According to Mr Khu, the gunmen intercepted two vehicles with six people who happened to be travelling on the same road at the same time, and killed them too. “Some sustained multiple gunshot wounds — as many as eight,” said Benito Molina, a forensic examiner at the scene. “To judge from the blood, some of the corpses may have been buried while still alive.” Cooking pots belonging to the killers were found at the scene and they had taken with them a mechanical digger bearing the name of the local government. Its engine was still running when soldiers arrived. The brutality appears to have backfired on the Ampatuan clan: the intensity of public anger will ensure that no politician in Manila will court their friendship publicly in the election in May. It is little compensation for the loss of his family, but Mr Mangudadatu’s election prospects have been strengthened. “Only death can stop me from running,” he said yesterday when he filed his candidature for the regional governorship of Maguindanao, which is held by the brother of Mr Ampatuan Jr. “This symbolises our freedom. I hope this will be the start of our liberation.” The scale of the massacre may be unique, but its story — of violence, clans and corruption — is repeated across the Philippines. Father Eduardo Vasquez, a priest in Shariff Aguak, said: “If powerful and equally armed families like the Mangudadatus were killed in such a barbaric manner, how much more for the ordinary civilians who have already been traumatised by the war?” Clan power Andal Ampatuan Sr has four wives and thirty children. He has a private army of several hundred, permitted under a presidential executive order His extended family dominates the region’s politics. One son, Zaldy, is governor of the Muslim Mindanao The provincial capital Maganoy was renamed Shariff Aguak after Mr Ampatuan’s late father One of his sons and a nephew are its mayor and vice-mayor

Bukid Apo

Thursday, June 9, 2011

MILF peace panel to consult Iligan, CDO

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