Gov’t, MILF sign Bangsamoro peace pact

MANILA (PilipinasNews) — Nine years after the Indonesian government and the Free Aceh Movement signed a landmark peace deal which officially ended almost three decades of fighting in the Indonesian province of Aceh, the Philippines followed with another peace deal that seeks to close one of the deadliest and longest-running armed conflicts in this part of Asia.

Following 17 years of hard negotiations, the Government of the Philippines (GPH) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) finally signed in ceremonies in Malacanang Thursday a Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB), bouying up hopes for long-term peace in Mindanao, once dubbed the land of promise.
The five-page document was signed in Malacañang by the GPH and MILF panel members in the presence of more than 1,000 guests from various sectors of society.
Deles, along with President Benigno Simeon Aquino III, MILF chief Al Haj Murad Ebrahim, and Malaysia Prime Minister Dato Sri Mohd Najib Bin Tun Hj Abdul Razak witnessed the historic signing.
Various groups hailed the signing of the peace pact.
Regional Governor Mujiv Hataman of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) the comprehensive peace deal that will bring peace and development in the Muslim region.
”Today is the culmination of years of intensive peace talks and marks a new beginning for us, a historic deal that will chart the future of the Moro people,” Hataman, a former partylist representative who worked for Moro human rights while in the House of Representatives.
”We are grateful to President Benigno Aquino III for showing real political courage in moving the peace process forward,” he added.
Hataman said the Moro struggle have already claimed lives and shed blood and the signing of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) will surely usher free exercise of self-determination among Muslims in southern Philippines.
He said the new agreement will surely heal the wounds of the past brought about by neglect, inequality, abuse and human rights violations. 
 Military and police officials in mainland Mindanao whose area of operations cover most of the provinces of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) are supporting the attainment of genuine peace in Mindanao.
In separate statements, Major Gen. Romeo Gapuz, commander of the 6th Infantry “Kampilan” Division based in Camp Siongco, Maguindanao and Chief Supt. Noel Delos Reyes, ARMM police regional director, said peace is everybody’s desire, especially soldiers and policemen who are themselves stakeholders of the peace agreement signed Thursday  in Malacanang.
“Our people, our policemen and law enforcers are also excited in the historic event today because we are among the beneficiaries and will enjoy the dividends of peace,” Delos Reyes said.
The signing of Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) will usher peace and development in the impoverished region.
Delos Reyes lauded the peace negotiators who sacrificed to come up with an acceptable and comprehensive peace agreement after 17 long years of crafting it.
Gapuz, meanwhile, stressed that the military assigned in Maguindanao and elsewhere in Mindanao have maintained the primacy of the peace process.
“We are behind the peace efforts of the national government, we will support it wherever the accord brings us,” Gapuz said.
He said more than anybody else in the island, the military is the first to try to avoid internal armed conflict for this is no longer necessary in this modern times. 
GPH chief negotiator Miriam Coronel-Ferrer stressed that the CAB signing will benefit not only Filipinos.
“The sealing of the comprehensive agreement is important not only for the Bangsamoro, the people of Mindanao and all other Filipino citizens who have all to gain as one country pursuing its unfinished task of nation-building.”
“It is also our global contribution to the pursuit of peace in our immediate neighborhood, the Southeast Asian region, and the rest of the world,” the chief negotiator said  in Malacañang.
“Many other countries continue to face similar troubles. Our experience, our mechanisms, our approaches have become a rich source of inspiration to these countries that remain challenged by their respective domestic conflicts,” she added.
 Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Teresita Quintos Deles said that the CAB “is going to be a major contribution for the peace and development of the entire country.”
“Our call really is to let the Bangsamoro have their chance for peaceful lives where there can be sustainable development,” added the peace adviser.
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The CAB puts together all the agreements signed by both parties: the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro, the four Annexes and the Addendum, the Ceasefire Agreement of 1997, and the Tripoli Agreement in 2001, among others.