Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Teresita Q. Deles tells members of the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines (FOCAP) in a press briefing on Friday (16 July) in Makati that the government has been working on immediate doables to pursue political settlement of armed conflicts.  Among these include facilitating the return and rehabilitation of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Mindanao, affirming and strengthening the suspension of military offensives between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), and restarting peace negotiations on the basis of a fresh, mutually acceptable, and broadly supported platform and establishing mechanisms for the inclusion of all affected parties.


MANILA, July 16 – Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Teresita Q. Deles today reiterated that the government has been working hard to facilitate the rehabilitation and return of remaining internally displaced persons (IDPs) to their communities in Central Mindanao.

“We do not want to leave a legacy of displacement,” she told the members of the Foreign Correspondent Association of the Philippines (FOCAP) in a press briefing at the Mandarin Hotel this morning.

 

SECRETARIES Ging Deles (left), Presidential Peace Adviser, and Edwin Lacierda (center), Presidential Spokesperson, present the new chair of the government peace panel negotiating with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), Atty. Marvic Leonen (right), dean of the University of the Philippines (UP) College of Law, during a press briefing at Malacañang Palace on Thursday, 15 July 2010. (Click photos here and below for higher resolution)

MANILA – Putting the peace negotiations back on track, President Benigno Aquino III has named the chair of the newly-reconstituted government peace panel for talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

“I have taken a constitutional oath to ‘do justice for all.’  I intend to do just that.  I am aware of our history, our different cultures and the many just aspirations of our peoples.  Therefore, I have asked the current Dean of the UP College of Law, Dean Marvic M.V.F. Leonen, who understands what this may mean, to facilitate the discussions with the MILF and to chair the government’s negotiating panel,” the President said in a statement read by Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda during a press briefing at Malacañang Palace on Thursday.

I AM committed to a comprehensive, just and peaceful solution to the situation in Mindanao.  Therefore this early into my term, we have identified persons who will start to compose the peace panel who will resume talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.  I have instructed the panel to review the past agreements and recommended how we can move forward cognizant of the limitations that both parties have to deal with.  I view the negotiations as a dialogue to ensure that we can fully apprehend the problem and provide lasting solutions.  I have asked the panel to report to me and Secretary Deles directly.

We will learn from the mistakes of the past by ensuring that consultations be done at the soonest and most appropriate time with all the constituencies of the government of the Republic of the Philippines.  This includes not only the peoples in Mindanao but also the local governments involved, the legislature and those who keep watch over the pronouncements of our Supreme Court.

I have taken a constitutional oath to “do justice for all.”  I intend to do just that.  I am aware of our history, our different cultures and the many just aspirations of our peoples.  Therefore, I have asked the current Dean of the UP College of Law, Dean Marvic M.V.F. Leonen, who understands what this may mean, to facilitate the discussions with the MILF and to chair the government’s negotiating panel.  The other members of the panel will be announced soon.

I expect the talks to resume soon.  We will do our part to bring about peace and justice.  We hope that all of our people will respond with the same good intentions.

WITH THE President’s statement today, we take the first step forward – a very major step – towards realizing one of President Aquino’s promises in his inaugural speech.  Last June 30, 2010, at the Quirino Grand Stand, President Aquino told the Filipino people, “My government will be sincere in dealing with all the peoples of Mindanao.  We are committed to a peaceful and just settlement of conflicts, inclusive of the interests of all – may they be Lumads, Bangsamoro or Christian.”

Today, we advance the process of picking up the pieces of a tattered peace process and resuming the quest for a just peace for the peoples of Mindanao with the designation by the President of Atty. Marvic F. Leonen as the government’s chief negotiator in pursuing peace talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).