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Philippine talks with MILF fail

Philippine government attempts to alter the timing of a plebiscite derailed a hoped-for territorial deal with the country’s largest Muslim rebel group and set back, yet again, hopes for peace in the volatile south.

Sources from the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) said yesterday that Manila’s negotiators tried on Friday to delay the referendum on enlarging a previous Muslim homeland until after a political agreement was reached.

That would have reneged on a previous commitment to hold the vote six months after a deal on territory was signed, originally scheduled for Aug. 5.

Both sides had hoped to wrap up the talks on an ancestral homeland this week in Kuala Lumpur ahead of Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s annual state of the nation address tomorrow.

“Government has to get its act together,” Camilo Montesa said, policy adviser at the Institute for Autonomy and Governance at Notre Dame University on the southern island of Mindanao.

“It must have a more comprehensive and coherent strategy on how to deal with the Muslim problem in the south and do away with its more tactical approach on the peace negotiations,” Montesa said.

Analysts say opposition among powerful Christian and Muslim families in the south and government hawks to a formal peace deal with the MILF and Arroyo’s reliance on their support mean Manila’s negotiating strategy is wobbly and easily thrown off course.

Eliseo Mercado, a Catholic priest and peace advocate, said it was impossible for Manila to deliver what it had pledged in an agreement when Arroyo, who has survived at least three coup plots and three impeachment bids, has “no political and social capital and is extremely unpopular.”

While a deal on ancestral lands was no guarantee a final settlement to one of Southeast Asia’s most intractable conflicts was in the offing, it was an important step along the way to ending violence that has killed 120,000 people since the late 1960s.

Real progress appeared to have been made when Arroyo this week supported postponing Aug. 11 elections in the Muslim south because progress in talks with the 11,000-member MILF made a new political setup a possibility.

Some lawmakers in Manila were opposed to the postponement and complained that they did not know what had been agreed with the MILF. They said Congress was not consulted on the issue.

“Some of these people were allies of the president and their opinions and sentiments may have somewhat affected government’s position,” Montesa, a lawyer, said.

Cementing the MILF, which has been observing a fragile truce with the government since 2003, into a political structure in the south would unleash a wave of investment into the resource-rich island of Mindanao and boost the entire country.

Rodolfo Garcia, a retired army general and Manila’s chief negotiator, said yesterday the negotiations remained open, describing them as an “impasse not a total collapse.”

“We can still save it,” he said.
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