ZAMBOANGA CITY, 24 November 2005 — Government and MILF negotiators have agreed to submit to a plebiscite any peace settlement they may sign on the establishment of a separate Muslim homeland in the southern Philippines, a rebel leader said yesterday.
Eid Kabalu, spokesman of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), said the plebiscite is to ensure that the peace agreement is acceptable to majority, if not all, of the residents of provinces, cities and towns proposed to be covered.
“We will consolidate and review the agreements, and then ratify them. After that a peace accord will be signed and a plebiscite for the establishment of a separate Muslim homeland shall be held in the southern Philippines,” Kabalu said in an interview.
Peace talks are expected to resume in Malaysia, which is brokering the political settlement of one of the world’s longest-running Muslim insurgency problem.
In September, the negotiators signed several agreements centered on ancestral domain — its concept, territories and resources — and how the MILF would govern these places.
Ancestral domain refers to places that have been traditionally Bangsamoro (Filipino Muslim) territory. For the rebel group it is the single most important issue in the peace negotiations before it can reach a political settlement.
Both sides have agreed on several crucial issues, including the coverage of a proposed ancestral domain in the five Muslim autonomous provinces of Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, Lanao del Sur and Maguindanao.
Also included are communities or towns the provinces of Zamboanga del Norte, Zamboanga del Sur, North Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat and Sarangani provinces, which have large Muslim populations and indigenous tribes.
The MILF is the country’s largest Muslim separatist rebel group, which had been fighting during the past three decades for an expanded Muslim autonomous region.
“Everything in the peace agreement will be submitted to the people and there is nothing to hide because we really want peace to reign,” Kabalu said.
Mayor Celso Lobregat of Zamboanga City has denounced the initial agreement signed by the government and rebel negotiators as a “secret deal” that would actually allow an Islamic state to emerge across Mindanao.
“This is a sellout. We won’t allow Mindanao to be dismembered, and we must act swiftly before it is too late,” said Lobregat, who belongs to the political opposition.
A new group in Zamboanga, the Concerned Citizen-Activists for Development, composed mostly of allies of Lobregat, said it would oppose any move to include the city under the proposed Muslim homeland.
It said the locals were not consulted about the agreements. Zamboanga City has a population of more than 600,000 population, of which about 100,000 are Muslims.
Khaled Musa, deputy chair of the MILF’s information committee, said the Bangsamoro also have the right to determine their own political future. “The right of the Bangsamoro people to determine their own political future is not subject to veto by any group in Mindanao. This is a God-given right, and is spelled out in the Tripoli Agreement of 2001, signed by the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
“The right to self-determination is also entrenched in the charter of the United Nations,” he said.
President Arroyo opened peace talks and forged a cease-fire agreement in 2001 with the MILF.
Many Arab countries, including the influential Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) and Libya, Saudi Arabia and the United States strongly support the peace talks.
President George W. Bush offered as much as $30 million in financial assistance to help develop Mindanao should the MILF seal a peace agreement with Manila.
The money would be used to help rebels and displaced families get back to the mainstream of society.
President Arroyo said that 80 percent of the peace talks have been completed and that peace in Mindanao is within reach.
MILF chieftain Murad Ebrahim has said that his group is sincere in the talks and is willing to end the war in Mindanao.
“Peace is almost at hand. After decades of unrelenting struggle, our flickering hope for a just and comprehensive political solution to the Bangsamoro problem has been rekindled. Our aspiration to a rightful place in our society has once again assumed its proper shape,” he said.
