Peacebuilding update: Philippines

A good up-to-date summary of the peace situation in the Philippines by fellow peace worker Susan Granados.

MINDANAO PEOPLE'S PEACE AGENDA

:: On July 23, 2009, the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) declared its suspension of military operations or SOMO against the MILF.

:: Two days later, July 25, the MILF issued a corresponding order to all its field commands to suspend all military actions or SOMA against government forces.

:: The SOMO and SOMA were declared after almost one year of renewed fighting between the Philippine Government and the MILF that resulted after an aborted signing of an initialed Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) between the two parties. On October 14, 2008, the Supreme Court of the Philippines declared this draft agreement unconstitutional, leading to further escalation of hostilities that displaced more than 600,000 people in Central Mindanao.

:: In late 2008, the formidable Bishops Ulama Conference (BUC), a convergence of high-ranking religious leaders who have resolved to give an interfaith dimension to the continuing search for peace in Mindanao, had tasked a section of the “academic community” in Mindanao to conduct a series of community dialogues and consultations covering the whole of Mindanao on how to put the peace process forward after the MOA-AD controversy.

:: Dubbed “Konsult Mindanaw,” these dialogues began in February 2009 and would soon end. About 800 focus group discussions (FGDs) have been slated to be conducted in eight Mindanao regional groupings, namely: Basilan-Sulu-Tawi-Tawi, Zamboanga Peninsula, Davao region, Caraga, Central Mindanao, Socsksargen, Northern Mindanao, and Lanao region.

:: While government-inspired, Konsult Mindanaw is being done independent of government. It has been made sure that in the dialogues, ample representations cover various sectors among Muslims, indigenous peoples, Protestants and Catholics. The sectors include women, youth, rural and urban poor, local government units, nongovernmental organizations, internally displaced persons, traditional leaders, religious groups, academics, business practitioners and professionals. Special group discussions are being conducted among artists, armed groups, and children. It is hoped that the result of these community dialogues would put the Mindanao peace process back to its track with more vigor and resolved.

:: In February 2009, a civil society – led consultation process was conceived and is currently being undertaken by seven major peace networks in Mindanao, under the umbrella network of networks “Mindanao Peaveweavers” (MPW). Named “Mindanao Peoples Peace Agenda” (MPPA), the objectives include: (1) the development of a common understanding of a Mindanao Peoples Peace Agenda (MPPA) among the MPW member networks and the wider Mindanao peace constituency, and (2) the translation of these Mindanao Peoples Peace Agenda into public policy and lobby points that would help increase engagement of civil society and grassroots in formal policymaking processes in the country.

:: The consultation process hopes to end in a Peoples Peace Assembly to be held in October or November 2009, with the end in view of arriving at consensus points to support and help sustain the peace process in Mindanao.


GRP–MILF PEACE TALKS

:: On July 28-29, 2009, the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) Panels finally ended their impasse and held a special meeting in Kuala Lumpur and issued a Joint Statement which included agreements on the following:

.. Mutual effort to sustain both the Government’s Suspension of Military Offensives (SOMO) and the MILF’s Suspension of Military Actions (SOMA).
.. Acknowledgment of MOA-AD as an unsigned and yet initialed document, and commitment by both parties to reframe the consensus points with the end in view of moving towards the comprehensive compact to bring about a negotiated political settlement.
.. Work for a framework agreement on the establishment of a mechanism on the protection of non-combatants in the armed conflict.
.. Work for a framework agreement on the establishment of International Contact Group (ICG) of groups of states and non-state organizations to accompany and mobilize international support for the peace process.

:: In this same statement, it was mentioned that the GRP Panel Chairman took serious note of the concern of the MILF on the implication of the exclusion from the SOMO of some MILF commanders tagged as “rogues” by the Government.

:: The formal resumption of the GRP-MILF Peace Talks was set to the third week of August with two issues top in their agenda: Formation of the International Contract Group and setting up of a mission that will protect non-combatants from harm’s way. But the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) postponed the resumption of peace talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

:: The two parties would also discuss the possible return of the International Monitoring Team (IMT) and the Ad Hoc Joint Action Group (AHJAG). But decision on their return is still hazy as this will require the concurrence of contributing countries.

MILF CONSULTATION AMONG THEIR PEOPLE

:: The MILF conducted Mindanao-wide consultation meeting of grassroots leaders on August 7- 12, 2009.

:: Ghazali Jaafar, Vice Chairman of the MILF for Political Affairs, said the purpose of the consultation is to provide updates on the recent developments on the peace process between the government and MILF, particularly on the four issues reached by the government and MILF during the special meeting of the two parties’ peace negotiating panels in Malaysia last July 28-29, 2009.

:: Jaafar also said the consultation is not as massive as what the MILF had on May 29-31 in Darapanan, where at least a million people came and participated in said direct consultation.


GRP TALKS WITH THE NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC FRONT OF THE PHILIPPINES (NDFP)

:: The NDFP is the umbrella organization of revolutionary forces in the Philippines led by the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its armed wing, the New People's Army (NPA).

:: Secretary Avelino Razon of the Office of the Presidential Assistant on the Peace Process (OPAPP) recently announced that peace talks with the NDFP will resume in Oslo, Norway in October instead of this year as originally set.

:: Peace talks between the Philippine government and the NDFP reached an impasse in 2004. A year later (2005) the Joint Agreement on Security and Immunity Guarantee (JASIG), providing “safe conduct pass” to panel members to the talks, was suspended.

:: In 2008, a Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL) was signed between the two parties. CARHRIHL is the first out of four main agenda in the GRP-NDF peace talks. The other three are: (1) Social and Economic Reform, (2) Political and Constitutional Reform, and (3) Disposition of Forces.

:: At the moment, a series of regional consultations are being conducted by the Philippine Ecumenical Peace Platform (PEPP), which is supported by the Norwegian Ecumenical Peace Platform (NEPP), all over the Philippines on a draft agreement between the Philippine government and the NDF on Social and Economic Reforms.

:: These consultations are spearheaded by the Ecumenical Bishops Forum (EBF), the Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches (PCEC--a member of PEPP), together with the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) and the Association of Major Religious Superiors in the Philippines (AMRSP).

Peacebuilding and Transformation....

click on the title for a well written exposition on the meaning of peace - "Shalom" or "Salaam," in our context, as Dann traces the genesis of our work for peace in Mindanao Philippines.

Recommendations from the fields of Mindanao

Since 9-11, the U.S. has been poviding $30 million in military assistance annually as part of a counter-terror operation in the Philippines. This assistance is being subsumed in the larger civil war between Bangsamoror freedom fighters and the Philippine government. Unfortunately, this puts the U.S. on the side of one of the most corrupt governments in Asia, where impunity is widespread.

Human rights groups such as Amnesty international, Human Rights watch and the United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions have all conducted and issued extensive reports on this in the past several years. The Committee to Protect Journalists ranks the Philippines 6th in it's world impunity index, worse than Mexico, Russia and Afghanistan. Filipino humanitarian workers in Mindanao recently found over 200 houses burned by the Philippine army, which is directly supported by American tax dollars. Peacebuilders field workers have witnessed the deployment in central Mindanao of “ghost units” of the Philippine military, operating without insignia or identification.

To top it off, Melissa Roxas, an American woman from California volunteering as a community health outreach worker, was recently abducted, tortured and accused of being a communist. Evidence suggests that this was carried out by agents of the Philippine military. This has been widely reported in Philippine news, but not in the U.S.

These are just several examples of the many human rights problems in the Philippines. The government and military here have virtually no accountability. Rarely is there prosecution and conviction of perpetrators, if even an effective investigation.

Currently, only $2 million of the 30 million U.S. military aid is contingent on human rights conditions. We are at an important juncture as the government and Muslim sides in Mindanao have declared a truce in the fighting and the country heads into it's "election season" for the 2010 presidential elections. The U.S. government needs to make it clear that fighting terror does not mean condoning rampant impunity and disregard for basic human rights.

Therefore, we at Peacebuilders Community are remmending the following policy initiatives:

1) Immediate suspension of U.S. military aid to the Philippines pending an inquiry into counter-insurgency military operations, human rights and impunity, especially the case of American citizen Melissa Roxas.

2) Creation of a multi-sectoral task force to visit the Philippines to investigate the human rights situation and make recommendations for further policy changes.

3) Re-positioning of U.S. policy and program initiatives related to the civil war in Mindanao as a more neutral arbiter.

4) Conven an international advisory group of peace "elders," especially from the Muslim nations, to help shepherd the peace process forward for both the Muslim and Communist insurgency and to submit recommendations for a long term transitional/restorative justice process (aka, truth & reconciliation commission).

5) The creation of a UN peacekeeping force to intervene in Mindanao.

6) Creation of an environmental report card/sign posts for appropriate development so that the root causes of conflict are addressed in an ecological way.

Amplifying 100,000 Voices

I sometimes wonder if the energy I put into writing has any more practical results than interesting words on a screen. I was heartened this past month in relation to the essay “Silencing 100,000 Voices” I posted last month and which was picked up by a local online news outlet called Mindanews. Two weeks ago I met a Muslim non-profit/NGO worker who also participated in the March rallies for peace I wrote about. He was also extremely frustrated that it had been ignored in the national press (which readily picks up stories of violence in the Muslim community.) He told me that he had been personally moved by the essay, and had forwarded it to a number of people in his network. The next day he got a call from a local radio broadcaster who apologized for not covering the peace rallies and promised the lack of coverage would not be repeated. While it’s nice to know that someone likes your literary work, it’s great if it actually promotes positive change in an often discouraging situation! Accuracy in the media is such a crucial component in encouraging the greater Mindanao population (often manipulated by both deliberate and unintentional misinformation) to understand, and eventually transform, the current conflict.

Philippines takes first place in number of new internal refugees (IDPs)

While a number of high profile conflicts such as in Sudan and Sri Lanka continue to generate global media interest, what is happening here in the Southern Philippines remains relatively under-reported, as I highlighted last month on this blog in "Silencing 100,000 Voices". Below is a statement by the Mindanao People's Caucus, an organization I work with, calling attention to this and to the human cost of this war....

Mindanao Peoples Caucus Statement

May 11, 2009
Philippines with the Highest Number of new IDPs in the World:
A Wake Up Call for the Peace Process!

TWO years back, the Philippines has been named one of the most corrupt countries in the world by Transparency International. In 2008, the Philippines hit a new world record and like the most corrupt record, this new record brings only shame and international concern. According to Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC), a Geneva-based leading international body monitoring conflict-induced internal displacement, the Philippines ranked first in the number of IDPs worldwide by registering 600,000 evacuees in 2008. This figure is higher than that of Sudan (550,000) -- a country similarly long beset by internal armed conflict.

The 600,000 IDPs in Mindanao topped that of Kenya (500,000), Democratic Republic of Congo (at least 400,000), Iraq (360,000), Pakistan (over 310,000), Somalia (300,000), Colombia (270,000), Sri Lanka (230,000) and India (over 220,000).

This comes as a surprise detour for the Philippines which was well into track one of the peace process, having a viable political formula already determined at the negotiating table and a ceasefire which had effectively silenced most of the guns in Mindanao for the last five years. The more than 600,000 internally displaced persons or "bakwits" in Mindanao is a concrete testimony of the human costs of suffering that armed conflict brings especially among the civilian population.

The skirmishes since August 2008 claimed 276 deaths and 138 injuries, said the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC). But the number of civilian casualties is rising. In Datu Piang alone, 168 civilians died in the crossfire between government troops and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), according to the recent record of Bantay Ceasefire.

It has been over nine months since the government launched its military operations against three MILF field commanders and so far, the human costs of such tactical operations, has only succeeded in terrorizing the lives, homes, properties, livelihood and security of hundreds of thousands of civilians. The most horrifying of which was the tragedy that befell the Mandi family. As they traversed a treacherous river in Datu Piang last September 2008 in order to escape from the fighting, they were fired upon by a fighter plane. Six children died instantaneously during the attack, including a pregnant mother and an old man. No one was held responsible for wiping out the entire Mandi family.

Last March 1, two teenagers in Guindulungan, Maguindanao were electrocuted by a live barbed wire serving as a perimeter fence of the detachment of the 46th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army based in Barangay Macasampen, Guindulungan. Based on the Bantay Ceasefire field report, the two victims, named Mentato Mamalinta, 15, and Mohammad Bayan, 14, were riding a cow on their way back to the Tambunan Evacuation Center when the animal set foot on the a barbed wire which was tapped to the service line of the Maguindanao Electric Cooperative. The two victims fell on the same live wire when the animal felt the electric shock.

Having the highest number of IDPs in the world is not something to be proud of. It is a cause of international embarrassment and only shows our collective failure to resolve this raging armed conflict in Mindanao. MPC calls on the government and the MILF to immediately resume the peace talks and bring the negotiation towards a viable political settlement. We urge the government and the MILF to reactivate ceasefire mechanisms following the earlier call of the EU Parliament to expand the mandate of the International Monitoring Team.

MPC also supports the plan of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) to establish an independent human rights commission in Mindanao. The independent commission will be of great value in protecting the rights of the ordinary people especially the internally displaced persons who are absorbing the brunt of war and violence caused by this renewed fighting in Mindanao.

It is time to push for the resumption of the peace talks and discuss outstanding issues on the ancestral domain right at the negotiating table. It is time to bring back the International Team and the Joint Ceasefire Committee to enforce and fully implement the ceasefire agreement, it is time to bring those thousands of evacuees back to their homes.