The dissolution of the government peace panel in the talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front is an attempt at political appeasement at the expense of the peace process. While it appears to appease the opponents of the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) and the critics of Gen. Hermogenes Esperon, the move also shuts the door to serious peace negotiations. The move is a dangerous double-bladed sword.The government’s insistence that “disarmament, demolibization and rehabilition”remain the framework for the talks is acutely problematic. The Arroyo government wants its foes to surrender even without the government addressing the fundamental causes of armed conflict. This formula has been imposed on the National Democratic Front in the past and has in fact become a hindrance to the advancement of the peace talks. The DDR framework negates the inherent character of the peace negotiations as a process that seeks to resolve the roots of the armed conflict as a way of achieving peace.
Malacanang’s claim that the dissolution of the panel is consistent with Mrs. Arroyo’s call for peace efforts at the community level (instead of armed groups) further reinforces the view that the administration is not serious in pursuing peace talks with the MILF.
Malacanang’s so-called “new approach” to peace is doomed to fail and will only result in the escalation of armed hostilities. The regime wants to use military might as its sole option in resolving the Mindanao conflict.
