MINDANAO PEACEWEAVERS SEEK FORMAL PARTICIPATION IN PEACE PROCESS
Mindanao’s broadest peace advocates network is seeking formal participation in the ongoing peace process between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) following the recently signed Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro (FAB).
Almost a hundred delegates of the Mindanao PeaceWeavers (MPW) representing nine (9) peace networks from all over the country attending their general assembly in Davao this week vowed to continue engaging the government and MILF peace panels beyond the FAB.
The MPW noted that civil society has always been challenged by both peace panels to become involved but most of the engagement has been done sporadically and informally.
MPW Lead Convener Fr. Angel Calvo who is also Chair of MPW member network Inter-Religious Solidarity Movement for Peace (IRSMP) based in Zamboanga City said, “It is time that civil society’s engagement in the peace process becomes official. Peace advocates must also now be more active in policy making”.
Calvo lamented that both panels have been continually challenging civil society to participate in the peace process “but we need an official mandate to be recognized akin to the one given by the panels to the International Contact Group (ICG)”. Both panels established the ICG composed of international NGOs and governments to be a third party observer and resource in the peace talks.
The MPW assembly also decided to endorse members from their ranks to the Transition Commission (TC) that will soon be established to pursue provisions of the recently signed FAB. The TC will be the body that will draft a Basic Law on the Bangsamoro entity provided for in the FAB that will be submitted to Congress for approval. The TC will be composed of 15 members, 8 of whom will be vetted by the MILF including the TC Chair, and 7 from the government. All members will be Bangsamoro.
Meanwhile, the MPW Conveners elected Guiamel Alim, Chair of MPW network member Consortium of Bangsamoro Civil Society (CBCS) as its new Lead Convener replacing Fr. Calvo. Kaloy Manlupig, Chair of the Balay Mindanao Foundation Inc. and representing the Mindanao Peace Advocates Conference (MPAC) at MPW was also elected as Co Lead Convener.
Gus Miclat, Executive Director of MPW’s Lead Secretariat, the Initiatives for International Dialogue (IID), was unanimously elected MPW’s new Secretary-General.
The MPW is composed of the following networks: AGONG Peace Network, CBCS, IRSMP, Bisayang Dako Alang Sa Kalinaw (BISDAK), MPAC, Mindanao Peoples’ Caucus (MPC), Mindanao Peoples’ Peace Movement (MPPM), Mindanao Solidarity Network (MSN) and the Mindanao Association of State Colleges and Universities Foundation (MASCUF).
2012 Mindanao PeaceWeavers’ Assembly Declaration
“Weaving Peace, Building Hope, Engendering Change”
While caught in the wrath of typhoon Pablo and on the occasion of our General Assembly on our tenth year, we, the delegates and network representatives of the Mindanao PeaceWeavers (MPW) born here in Mindanao and now taking root in Luzon and the Visayas, and herein brought together by our cherished desire for peace, continue to assert our support and commitment to the basic tenets, principles and advocacies for peace contained and expressed in our Mindanao Peoples’ Peace Agenda (MPPA).
Drawing the strands of peace we work with from this seminal MPW document, we continue to weave our distinct tapestries of peace singly and together with our fellow peace weavers and builders. Our current call has us pursuing the realization of the following immediate goals:
1. Use and popularize the MPPA as the anchor document for all and further peace advocacies by the MPW.
2. Undertake sustained lobbying efforts towards fast tracking the Framework Agreement on Bangsamoro (FAB) and attendant transition measures, including recommending members to the Transition Commission to be established.
3. Pursue a sustained voters’ education campaign aimed at broadening the scope and breadth of support for peace in Mindanao.
4. Expansion and promotion of the Indigenous Peoples-Moro- kinship and Settler harmony.
5. Document and popularize the experiences of the MPW and its networks to promote lessons and best practices.
Also in recognition of our common call for peace, we must laud the October 15 historic signing of the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro (FAB) by the Government of the Philippines (GPH) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). We view with optimism the statements and actions taken by both panels since that historic day. And we look on with interest and expectation towards critically participating in the processes towards further defining the Bangsamoro that now becomes the centerpiece of this peace process. We see this and the ongoing efforts by all concerned as the newest strands spun into the broad tapestry of peace we seek woven into Mindanao’s history and future.
We close this assembly with the fervent hope that the recent gains in peace are built upon by all of us engaged in bringing peace to Mindanao and our people. Guided by the grace of the Almighty, let us all move onward with our grand task of weaving peace, building hope and engendering change.
Adopted and approved by the Mindanao PeaceWeavers’ General Assembly this 5th day of December, 2012, here at Felis Resort, Davao City.