The Philippine government has scrapped its controversial peace deal with the country’s Muslim minority after two weeks of deadly clashes in the south, the presidential palace said yesterday.
The pact signed last month between leaders of the mostly Christian country and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) had called for a Muslim homeland to be established on the revolt-hit southern Mindanao.
“Cancelation of the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain [MOA-AD] is a painful step,” presidential spokeswoman Lorelei Fajardo said, referring to the official name of the peace agreement.
PHOTO: AP
Fajardo said President Gloria Arroyo was “sensitive” to the objections of local Christian leaders, who are opposed to the agreement and have taken to the streets, branding it a “sellout.”
“The president is committed to peace,” Fajardo told journalists. “The administration is sensitive to public sentiments and the president is also committed to upholding the constitution.”
“In doing so she will seek a new agreement within the boundaries of the law set within the constitution,” she said. “The president will not allow adventurism by MILF forces to pressure government to sign any agreement, even if it is for peace.”
On Aug. 4, the Philippine Supreme Court issued a temporary restraining order against the agreement following protests by several politicians who saw it as “unconstitutional.”
Two rebel MILF commanders have since taken up arms, in defiance of the group’s leadership, and killed Christian civilians and looted and burned homes and farms. More than 100,000 people have been made homeless as a result of the fighting.
The rebel MILF commanders have linked their attacks to the Supreme Court’s suspension, saying that the government had designed the agreement to fail.
Described as a “landmark deal,” the proposed MOA-AD would have paved the way for a “comprehensive compact” to end 40 years of bloodshed that has left more than 120,000 people dead and tens of thousands displaced.
The pact had called for the establishment of what amounted to a state within a state with its own “basic law,” police and internal security force.
The region would have been allowed to run its own banking and finance system, civil service, education and legislative and electoral institutions.
It would also have been given full authority to develop and dispose of minerals and other natural resources within its territory.
NO EXCUSES: Marcos said his administration was acting on voters’ demands, but an academic said the move was emotionally motivated after a poor midterm showing Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday sought the resignation of all his Cabinet secretaries, in a move seen as an attempt to reset the political agenda and assert his authority over the second half of his single six-year term. The order came after the president’s allies failed to win a majority of Senate seats contested in the 12 polls on Monday last week, leaving Marcos facing a divided political and legislative landscape that could thwart his attempts to have an ally succeed him in 2028. “He’s talking to the people, trying to salvage whatever political capital he has left. I think it’s
Polish presidential candidates offered different visions of Poland and its relations with Ukraine in a televised debate ahead of next week’s run-off, which remains on a knife-edge. During a head-to-head debate lasting two hours, centrist Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, from Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s governing pro-European coalition, faced the Eurosceptic historian Karol Nawrocki, backed by the right-wing populist Law and Justice party (PiS). The two candidates, who qualified for the second round after coming in the top two places in the first vote on Sunday last week, clashed over Poland’s relations with Ukraine, EU policy and the track records of their
UNSCHEDULED VISIT: ‘It’s a very bulky new neighbor, but it will soon go away,’ said Johan Helberg of the 135m container ship that run aground near his house A man in Norway awoke early on Thursday to discover a huge container ship had run aground a stone’s throw from his fjord-side house — and he had slept through the commotion. For an as-yet unknown reason, the 135m NCL Salten sailed up onto shore just meters from Johan Helberg’s house in a fjord near Trondheim in central Norway. Helberg only discovered the unexpected visitor when a panicked neighbor who had rung his doorbell repeatedly to no avail gave up and called him on the phone. “The doorbell rang at a time of day when I don’t like to open,” Helberg told television
‘A THREAT’: Guyanese President Irfan Ali called on Venezuela to follow international court rulings over the region, whose border Guyana says was ratified back in 1899 Misael Zapara said he would vote in Venezuela’s first elections yesterday for the territory of Essequibo, despite living more than 100km away from the oil-rich Guyana-administered region. Both countries lay claim to Essequibo, which makes up two-thirds of Guyana’s territory and is home to 125,000 of its 800,000 citizens. Guyana has administered the region for decades. The centuries-old dispute has intensified since ExxonMobil discovered massive offshore oil deposits a decade ago, giving Guyana the largest crude oil reserves per capita in the world. Venezuela would elect a governor, eight National Assembly deputies and regional councilors in a newly created constituency for the 160,000
RSS