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Portent of War in Mindanao…
Only three days following that, the artificial incident in North Cotabato about an alleged take over by MILF of barangays of North Cotabato flared and massive propaganda about the incident exploded in the media. Unfortunately for the people behind the incident, the national government was prepared to address that simulated troublemaking with full force. The destabilizers had to creep back to where they started from.
Behind all these developments, many countries are eager to see the final, successful resolution of the talks: US, Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia, Brunei, East Timor, Libya, even Iran and the entire Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC), continuously watch about what will happen to the peace process.
It must be borne out that the MILF is not necessarily a monolithic entity. There are serious disagreements within its organization, but that proves it is quite rational than otherwise. During the time of Salamat, he and his own military commander, disagreed over major policy points. The rift almost reached a point that one had to leave the other. Now the old man is dead, the MILF leadership is constrained to create synergy among themselves and rein in the organization into a cohesive unit. But that is next to wishful thinking.
It now appears that the GRP-MILF peace pact is being killed by enemies of the administration for strategic purposes — that is the ouster of Gloria from Malacañang before the turn of 2009-2010 thus preventing her from taking the credit for peace in Mindanao and from changing the Philippine Constitution that is full of holes in favor of the so-called landed gentry and the country’s economic giants.
The battle cry of the anti-peace advocates is that the Government is giving away their titled real estate property or business interests in Mindanao to the Muslim tribes. For those whose sentiments will be inflamed this effectively opens the floodgates for the flow of materiel of war such as high powered guns, money, manpower, logistics and other support to anyone willing to lead the beginning of a war in Mindanao.
While many leaders of the Roman Catholic Church like Cotabato Archbishop Orlando V. Quevedo, are supportive of the executive branch’s efforts, it is one of the wealthiest institutions in the country with huge real estate holdings — some of which will severely be affected by the GRP-MILF peace pact’s ancestral domain agreement. There is every reason for the enemies of Mrs. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to court the Catholic hierarchy, given that the head of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), is terribly in love with the concept of toppling Gloria from her perch in Malacañang.
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