The MILF and its leadership hereby extend:
To all Peace-loving Peoples regardless of nationality,
tribe, culture or religion.
Our Greetings of Peace and expressions of Sense of
Justice:
It is matter of fact that there is an ongoing peace
negotiation process between the Moro Islamic
Liberation Front (MILF) and the Government of the
Republic of the Philippines (GRP). This peace
negotiation is conducted with the Third Party
mediation and tender of good offices of the Government
of Malaysia;
The peace negotiation came in the wake of the need to
reverse the "all-out-war" policy of the previous
Estrada Administration. It's objective was to find a
negotiated political settlement of the Mindanao Conflict and the problems of the Bangsamoro People;
The Framework for the resumption of the Formal Peace
Talks between the parties was agreed to, including the
security, rehabilitation and ancestral domain aspects. Terms of Reference (TOR) in regards to the Cessation
of Hostilities were meant to hold, while at the same
time the peace process moves on;
For this purpose, both the MILF and the GRP Peace
Panels have prepared for the next round of Peace Talks
in Kuala Lumpur, which would be scheduled immediately
following the end of the Eid-ul Adha (culmination of
the pilgrimage season);
It is a matter of record that Defense Secretary Angelo
Reyes has taken a negative attitude toward the peace
process, despite the conformity of the Cabinet
Oversight Committee on Internal Security on the TOR
already signed by the Parties in the presence of
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Prime Minister
Mahathir Muhammad of Malaysia;
To complement the TOR, the parties signed the Joint
Communiqué of May 2002, to address the issue of the
interdiction of criminal elements and
kidnap-for-ransom groups. It was ironically Secretary
Eduardo Ermita of the Office of the Presidential
Adviser on the Peace Process who initiated the signing
of a Communiqué. Its implementing mechanism was never
set up owing to the non-cooperation of the Department
of Defense (DND) and the Armed Forces of the
Philippines (AFP);
The current military offensive against MILF community
base in Camp Rajamuda, Pikit, North Cotabato, and in
particular the Islamic Center/Mosque located in Sitio
Buliok, Pagalungan, Maguindanao were justified on the
pretext of serving warrants of arrest against lawless
and criminal elements. The excessive use of force and
the massing of numerous troops that even brought
untold misery to thousands of civilians betrayed the
sinister plot to capture MILF Chair Salamat as a
"high-value target";
The pattern of offensive military actions under the
Arroyo government has followed the same course as that
of her predecessor, the Estrada government. Defense
Secretary Reyes, who was then the AFP Chief of Staff
during the Estrada administration, has thrown a monkey
wrench on the peace negotiation process;
Despite his lack of actual combat experience, Reyes
became the architect of the "all-out-war" policy
against the MILF and the Bangsamoro people with a
"heavy-handed military push", in order to bolster his
personal political ambitions. Behaving like
conquering armies, former President Estrada, Reyes,
and his field commanders desecrated the mosque at Camp
Bushra and Camp Abubakre. They deliberately brought
and feasted on roasted pigs (lechon) and liquor
(beer), which are both abominable acts to celebrate
and mark their colonial occupation of the MILF
community bases;
It is evident that Reyes and his field commanders have
repeated the same repressive acts without regard to
the sufferings of the innocent civilians and
non-combatants. The assault on Camp Rajamuda and the
Buliok Islamic Center/Mosque was done to coincide in
time for the celebration of the Eid-ul Adha. This
barbaric and dastardly act was done in complete
disregard of the order of their Commander-in-Chief to
suspend military operations in due deference to the
religious sensibilities of the Muslims like the
Bangsamoro people. Or was it Reyes giving the actual
orders with President Arroyo merely assenting after
the fact?
The MILF and its leadership find the present Arroyo
government no different from the previous Estrada
administration in its anti-Muslim policy toward the
Bangsamoro People. Although this administration makes
us believe that it is pursuing peace, it is more
treacherous;
This administration does not respect our human rights.
It does not respect the culture and religion of other
people. It does not fulfill its commitments. It
applies double standards; it is deceitful and
manipulative, "back-channeling" as it actually strikes
at the back. It is hypocritical in declaring one hand
a Muslim holiday of obligation, but in the same
gesture harming innocent children, defenseless women
and the aged population;
For all the foregoing inhuman conditions, the
Bangsamoro people and the MILF leadership remain
committed to seek a negotiated political settlement of
the Mindanao Conflict and of the Bangsamoro problem.
Thus the MILF and its leadership serves notice to the
whole world that the Bangsamoro People and its
Homeland cannot long endure living in its present
colonial status under the Philippine Republic;
In the name of the suffering Bangsamoro People, the
MILF and its leadership invoke their rights protected
under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and
Humanitarian International Law, and the pursuit of the
rights to self- determination under the Charter of the
United Nations. The MILF and its leadership can only
negotiate under an environment of trust, to be
guaranteed through third party mediation, and good
faith in the fulfillment of covenants/agreements that
bind both civil and military authorities.
February 26, 2003, Bangsamoro Homeland
Very truly yours,
/sgd/
SALAMAT HASHIM
Chairman
