COTABATO CITY; The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) has committed to working with the national government to fully deliver the promises of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB), saying it wants more than the formal conclusion of the peace process.
“For its part, the MILF does not seek merely the formal conclusion of the peace process. We seek the successful realisation of the aspirations for which this peace process was undertaken,” the MILF said in a statement.
“We trust that both parties will work hard, and work together, to deliver the promises of the CAB in full,” it added.
The statement followed a meeting at Malacañang last Wednesday between President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. and the MILF leadership, led by chairman Ahod “Al Haj Murad” Ebrahim and vice-chairman Mohagher Iqbal, who also chairs the MILF Peace Implementing Panel.
The MILF said it welcomed the meeting with renewed hope and described it as objective and forward-looking.
According to the statement, Marcos acknowledged that the gains of the Bangsamoro peace process could not have been achieved without the MILF's cooperation.
The MILF said Marcos also conveyed his intention to “demonstrate decisive intervention” in accelerating the fulfilment of the remaining CAB commitments.
These include commitments on normalisation, socioeconomic development, camp transformation, security arrangements, transitional justice, reconciliation and confidence-building measures.
“We received these words in the same spirit in which they were given: as a recognition that peace is built by partners who keep faith with each other,” the MILF said.
In a Facebook post on Nov 6, the Presidential Communications Office said Marcos and Ebrahim discussed the remaining CAB commitments and reaffirmed their shared commitment to advancing the peace process.
Presidential Peace Adviser Secretary Mel Senen Sarmiento, who attended the meeting, said the president had instructed him and other concerned government agencies to work closely with the MILF in implementing the CAB.
The government and the MILF signed the CAB in 2014, paving the way for the creation of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao in 2019, following the ratification of its enabling law, Republic Act 11054, also known as the Bangsamoro Organic Law. - Inquirer/ANN
