CHIEF PEACE NEGOTIATOR University of the Philippines law dean Marvic Leonen explains his new role. LYN RILLON

 MANILA, Philippines—President Benigno Aquino III has assembled a new panel to negotiate peace with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), and ruled out at the outset the establishment of a separate territory that the secessionist group demanded during the Arroyo administration.

The President has instructed the new team to “review the past agreements and recommend how we can move forward cognizant of the limitations that both parties have to deal with.” He said the government would learn from “the mistakes of the past.”

Marvic Leonen, dean of the University of the Philippines College of Law and described as an expert in constitutional and international law, will chair the peace panel, replacing Foreign Undersecretary Rafael Seguis.

Mr. Aquino has also approved the creation of an advisory body to cover all peace panels, including one to negotiate with the communist National Democratic Front.

“We will learn from the mistakes of the past by ensuring that consultations will be done at the soonest and most appropriate time with all the constituencies of the government of the Republic of the Philippines,” Mr. Aquino said.

He added: “This includes, not only the peoples of 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.”

“We do not want any palliative measures. No more dribbling with respect to the peace negotiations,” Leonen said at a media briefing yesterday in Malacañang.

“If they want us to respect, to recognize and confirm and implement with good faith what the past negotiating panels have entered into, then we expect the same attitude on their part,” he said.

MOA-AD

In the statement read by his spokesperson Edwin Lacierda on national TV, the President said he was “committed to a comprehensive, just and peaceful solution to the situation in Mindanao.”

“I view the negotiations as a dialogue to ensure that we can fully comprehend the problem and provide lasting solutions… We hope that all of our people will respond with the same good intention,” he said.

Teresita Deles, the President’s adviser on the peace process, said the government was hoping to restart official negotiations with the MILF “within the first quarter of this administration.”

The talks collapsed in 2008, after protests from varied sectors forced then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to withdraw the memorandum of agreement on ancestral domain (MOA-AD), which was ready for signing and which the Supreme Court later pronounced unconstitutional.

The MOA-AD would have established a separate territory in the south under a Bangsamoro Juridical Entity complete with its own security force and monetary system.

The cancellation of the signing ceremony triggered attacks from Moro rebels whom the leaders of the 12,000-strong MILF claimed were rogue members.

No surprises

In an apparent reference to the controversial document that was drawn up with little consultation, Deles said: “We are initiating mechanisms for a continuing dialogue from hereon so we will not be caught in a situation where everyone was surprised about an agreement that was put forward.”

Leonen said the peace panel would adhere to the Supreme Court’s ruling on the MOA-AD. “We will be faithful to the Constitution,” he said.

But MILF deputy chair Mohagher Iqbal, who was Seguis’ counterpart in the Moro peace panel, was guarded on the government announcement.

“Our stand is clear. The peace talks should continue [from] where we stopped,” Agence France-Presse quoted him as saying yesterday.

MILF panel

On the phone with the Inquirer in Cotabato City, MILF spokesperson Von Al Haq said the group’s central committee would soon reconstitute its peace panel, which was deactivated at the end of the Arroyo presidency.

Asked to comment on Leonen’s appointment, Al Haq said the matter was internal to the government, “but we welcome this development.”

“Whoever sits as government panel chair does not matter because we are negotiating with the Philippine government and not with one or two persons,” he said.

Iqbal refused to comment when asked whether he would be reassigned to chair the MILF peace panel for the resumption of talks under the Aquino administration.

Two of the panel members—lawyer Lanang Ali and activist Bobby Alonto—have offered to give way to others who wished to contribute to the peace efforts.

The separatist insurgency has claimed 150,000 lives since 1971 and has persisted despite a 1996 peace treaty signed by the larger Moro National Liberation Front that gave rise to the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

The MILF rejected that treaty.

Rich experience

Deles described Leonen as a constitutional expert who specializes in land tenure issues.

“He brings to this critical task a varied and rich experience and expertise in advancing people’s rights, having worked on various concerns ranging from agrarian reform, access to justice, ancestral domain, health, environment, international economic law, to the Mindanao question,” she said.

Deles also said Leonen had “earned the respect of the peoples of Mindanao” because of his efforts to engage the academe and marginalized sectors and communities in resolving issues.

Catholic priest Eliseo Mercado, a peace advocate and director of the Institute for Autonomy and Governance, said Leonen was “very competent.”

“I have confidence in him,” Mercado, who has followed the peace process with the MILF since Day One, told the Inquirer.

Leonen holds degrees in economics and law, both from UP.

In 1987, he founded the Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center Inc.-Kasama sa Kalikasan to respond to the need to provide legal services to the upland rural poor and indigenous communities. By Christian V. Esguerra, Edwin Fernandez

Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 03:51:00 07/16/2010With reports from Inquirer Research and Agence France-Presse