CELEBRATING THE SUCCESSFUL END TO NEGOTIATIONS! HELPING PAVE THE WAY FOR THE BANGSAMORO TRANSITION!

SUPPORTING THE PROCESS OF BUILDING PEACE IN MINDANAO!

The forging of an Annex on Normalization last January 25, 2014, the last of four annexes to the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro (FAB), brings to a close 17 years of negotiations between government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) for a political settlement to the four-decade Moro rebellion in Mindanao. We congratulate the peace panels of government and the MILF, including all the men and women who were involved in the peace negotiations since January 1997. The incremental gains from their efforts through the years made possible the successful conclusion of the negotiations. Now that we have a negotiated political formula for ending the Moro rebellion, we can earnestly start the hardest challenge of all: implementing the peace agreement to its letter and spirit. The most significant of the many measures agreed by government and the MILF is the establishment of the Bangsamorothe autonomous entity with far greater political and economic selfgovernance powers than the current Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. As a commitment to Mindanao peace, let us help pave the way for the successful birth of the Bangsamoro entity. Let us contribute our ideas and thoughts through the public consultations, or through other means like the mass media, to ensure that the charter of the Bangsamoro effectively responds to the needs and aspirations of grassroots communities. Further, let us unite and soon ask Congress to enact the Bangsamoro Basic Law without hitches. We call upon our political leaders to give way for the establishment of the Bangsamoro. Let us set aside personal and political interests and allow meaningful changes to truly happen in the Bangsamoro areas. Let us all join hands and remain vigilant in ensuring that the dividends of peace will reach the homes of the poorest of the poor, the internally displaced persons who are yet to return to their homes, the war victims and the ordinary Moros, Christians and indigenous peoples who should be at the center of all efforts to implement the peace agreement.

Its about time we move forward to a promising and hopeful future for Mindanao and the Philippines! Let us bid goodbye to the dreadful waste of opportunites, economic resources, and personal energies because of war and conflict: Since the 1970s, at least 120,000 people killed and more than two million people displaced due to war. As a result, there is low level of human development in conflict-affected communities. A 2005 World Bank study estimated between $2 B to $3B was lost in terms of direct output in central and southwestern Mindanao from 1970 to 2001 due to the conflict. If indirect impact is considered, overall economic cost of the conflict could be over $10 billion during 19752002. Government spent P73 billion for war materiel from 1970 to 1996; P20 million per day during the all-out war in 2000, or a total of P1.34 billion; In the 2000 war, damage to infra accounts to P202 million, P125 million to agriculture. The 2003 war damaged P130 million to infra and P47 million to crops, livestock and fisheries.
Pailig Development Foundation, Inc., CSO Forum for Peace, Mindanao CSO Platform for Peace, Mindanao Peoples Caucus, EcoWEB, Inc., MSU-IIT Institute for Peace and Development in Mindanao