The political atmosphere was dominated by incessant efforts from all the stakeholders to resume the formal peace talks between the government (GRP) and MILF and review the implementation of 1996 Peace agreement between GRP and MNLF. Other than brief skirmishes in some areas, the overall security situation in Mindanao remained calm and peaceful as compared to the previous months.

The only incident worth mentioning is that the Congressman from Basilan province Wahab Akbar was killed in a bombing incident in the House of Representatives area which is considered as one of the safest locations in the Philippines. So far, no credible clues have been found to find out the culprits behind bombing incident.

GRP and MILF Peace Panels held exploratory and executive level talks in Malaysia in the months of October and November 2007 to build confidence building measures between both parties that eventually fostered both parties to break its 13-month impasse in the talks and increased the chances to sign the agreement on ancestral domain. Especially, a compromise seems to have been reached on what areas would comprise the future Bangsamoro Juridical Entity (BJE). Both parties agreed to resume the ‘Formal Peace Talks’ in the month of January 2008. On the request of GRP and MILF peace panels, the Malaysian government extended the IMT-4 for one more year. The GRP – MILF peace panels renewed the AHJAG’s (Adhoc Joint Action Group) ‘Interim Guidelines’ that had expired few months ago. AHJAG is a GRP-MILF peace process mechanism to resolve sensitive cases and persecute criminals.

The MILF had earlier rejected autonomy as proposed by the Philippine government. What it is negotiating for is a “Bangsamoro Juridical Entity” that will have as its core area the present six-province, two-city ARMM – Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-tawi, Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur and Shariff Kabunsuan and the cities of Isabela and Marawi.

The much awaited tripartite meeting between the government, the Organisation of Islamic Conference and the MNLF was finally held in Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) in the month of November 2007 to review the implementation of 1996 Peace agreement. Prof. Nur Misuari, the Founding Chairman of MNLF, along with his spiritual adviser were allowed to participate in the tripartite meeting by the Philippine government with the condition to present “sovereign guarantee” from the Saudi government which MNLF failed to provide. Nur Misuari’s lawyer stressed that “sovereign guarantee’’ requirement was an “impossible condition”.

Prof. Nur Misuari’s speech therefore was read by a MNLF spokesman. In the speech Misuari questioned the legality of the Philippine government’s plan to forge a peace agreement with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). Referring to the MILF as a “splinter group” from the MNLF, Misuari quoted an American diplomat as saying “any peace agreement that might be entered into in Kuala Lumpur between the GRP and the MILF will be illegal.”

Prof. Nur Misuari warned that should the Arroyo administration sign a peace deal with the MILF, “then there will be a complete transformation of the political situation in the Bangsamoro homeland. The MNLF will be thrown back to square one and left with no other possible option but to return back to their original demand for self-determination, decolonization and independence of the Bangsamoro Homeland.”

To review the implementation of 1996 peace agreement, the parties in the tripartite meeting created five joint working groups on: the Shari’ah and Judiciary; the Special Regional Security Force and the Unified Command for the Autonomous Region in Mindanao; Natural Resources and Economic Development issues; Political system and representation; and Education. The parties in their two-page Communique set January 14, 2008 as the date for the next Tripartite Meeting, to discuss the progress reports from the five joint working groups.

NP’s Work

Sulu Team
The NP team paid courtesy call to the Governor of Sulu Province and introduced NP and the mandate of Nonviolent Peaceforce in Sulu. Governor Tan accorded welcome to the NP team and shared his pleasure and appreciation to have an international team present in Sulu. On the recommendation of Governor to establish credible working relationship with Area Coordination Centre (ACC) to coordinate NP activities, the NP team met head of ACC and shared ideas of collaboration. .

CBCS, one of the main partner organizations in Mindanao, invited NP to become part of the steering committee of the Task Force Basilan. On the advice of NP main office, NP Sulu team participated in the meeting in Basilan. The Task Force Basilan is comprised of representatives from CSOs and local government units to establish proactive network on conflict prevention and rapid response and to increase the role and effectiveness of civil society. The steering committee requested NP to be the link between the Task Force Basilan (civil society) and Armed Forces of Philippines. Later NP team was invited to take part in events during Mindanao Week of Peace.

NP team participated in “Sulu IDPs Community Leaders Meeting” organized by CBCS and Jaga Lupa Sug – Civilian Local Peacekeeping Force. The idea is to address the IDPs situation and to organize IDPs in Sulu. There was a request for NP to be actively involved and support implementation of the project. Later the NP Team arranged detailed elaborative discussions with local community IDP leaders in NP office in Sulu. The local IDPs leaders came from three seriously conflict affected municipalities i.e. Indanan, Patikul and Parang. NP Sulu Advisory Body has already identified these three municipalities as priority areas for NP team to operate.

To increase NP’s visibility among local communities, NP team attended Rido (clan conflict) settlement in Patikul and that provided the team the chance to meet local communities’ leaders as well as military and to improve relations, and establish new contacts.

Like the NP Central Mindanao team, the NP Sulu team contributed to the renovation work of its newly rented office building by cleaning, scrubbing and mopping of the floor and walls of the house, as it had been abandoned for a long time and there was a lot of dust and cobwebs all over the place. The job of general cleaning took quite a considerable amount of time due to the extent of the dust and neglect of the house. With support from the main office, the team also engaged in the purchase of most of the needs for the Sulu Office. Quite a considerable number of the office needs from beds to printer and telephone have been acquired and already set up and operational.

As according to the NP Mindanao project plan, the NP Sulu team with the full support and in the presence of the Project Director constituted the Advisory Body for Sulu. The Sulu Advisory Body is only meant to cover Sulu and fully involve in the operational activities at the grass roots level while the Advisory Board is meant for the Mindanao wide project. The Advisory Body conducted its first meeting on the 4th of October 2007 and was attended by the project director as well. Two senior Sulu Advisory Body representatives also serve on the NP Mindanao Advisory Board due to their knowledge and influence in the province.

During the meeting of the Advisory Body, the NP Sulu team was able to narrow down and determine which areas of the island to concentrate in the next few months. Through the advice and network of NP local partners, it was decided to focus more on relationship building and gradual introduction of NP in the identified critical areas in close coordination and support of local partners working groups on the ground.

The Sulu team with the support of our local partners and main Office hired two local translators, one Muslim as a full-time staff and a Christian on a part-time basis. There are plans to make the Christian translator full time in the future as the pace of work picks up. The two translators are being oriented to the work of NP in general and their specific roles in the programmatic activities in Sulu.

On the recommendation and invitation of local partners, the NP Sulu team attended the planning session for the Mindanao Week of Peace in Sulu. The Mindanao Week of Peace is a yearly event to celebrate peace in Mindanao. In Sulu, in particular, it is hosted on a rotational basis by Civil Society Organizations. The team also attended a torum for discussion of the report of the findings and plans for disarmament and gun-ban in Sulu. The Center for Humanitarian Dialogue in collaboration with the Sulu Provincial Government had commissioned an expert from Geneva to help study and find ways to reduce loose fire arms and eventually to implement a total gun ban in populated and city centres of the Island Province. According to the report, Sulu Island has the highest amount of loose and unlicensed firearms in the whole of the Philippines.

Central Mindanao Team (CMT)
After proper and thorough coordination at all the necessary levels with the local government units, MILF, GRP and the local civil society, CMT members started operating from the newly renovated field office in barangay Elian / Dapiawan. The office became functional on a gradual basis; the official opening came as a result of more than five months of step-by-step approach for gaining acceptance of the community and the endorsement of the main parties having authority in the area. The team organized an opening celebration event attended by more than 80 guests representing the local communities, civil society, local government units, the joint CCCH, local monitoring teams and International Monitoring Team.

During November CMT increased its size by welcoming a new team member who replaces the one who had left in June. The team started introducing the new ICP to all the local contacts, partners and authorities. At the same time CMT is working to develop and further strengthen the relations with the local communities, the civil society and the representatives of the main parties to the conflict.

NP partners United Youth of the Philippines (UnYPhil Women) and Consortium of Bangsamoro Civil Society (CBCS) launched a series of community level awareness campaigns on women and children's rights and they requested to use NP premises for initial seminar on the above mentioned issue. The team was also requested to be present during the seminar and connect with the participants. And it was also invited, together with the main office, to take part in the launching of a peace building program of Kadtuntaya Foundation (KFI) and Tiyakap Kalilintad in eleven brangays in Maguindanao province. NP will be one of the partners and supporters of the activities in the project.

NP CMT visited barangay Kalipapa area (Datu Piang municipality) as tension broke out between the newly elected barangay chairman and the former one. CMT met representatives of the local community and of the MILF local peace panel. It is estimated that a number of 100 families are displaced because of the tension. NP informed several agencies and local partners on the situation and followed up with the authorities on the ground in collaboration with local partners. NP has been requested to visit the area on regular basis.

The CMT team along with local staff continued to be fully engaged in the office renovation process. The Central Mindanao Team (CMT) members acquired the construction materials and did an important part of the renovation work by themselves. This gave the CMT the opportunity to interact more with the neighboring communities by buying materials from different vendors in and around barangays Elian and Dapiawan (where the office is located). During this time CMT was also in close touch with the main office for communicating with the higher authorities and for preparing a smooth transfer to the new field office (from the temporary location in Datu Piang poblacion).

There were small, scale rido based incidents of violence in barangay Kitapok and sitio Bankat (Datu Saudi municipality). CVOs (local paramilitary) supported one of the parties and the sporadic fighting lasted for a few days. Most of the civilians from the affected area evacuated to a nearby brgy. Kitango. During the fight a few mortar shells came very close to the place where the evacuees were located. During the incident CMT visited the evacuees and stayed in touch with the local peace advocates, LGUs, ground commanders and the local monitoring teams, and through the main office informed the key partner organizations of NP, international humanitarian NGOs and the joint ceasefire structure of MILF and GRP. After the settlement of the fight MILF placed a peacekeeping post in the area.

CMT held elaborative discussion with local partners on the ground to strengthening the communication between the local peace advocates and NP and setting up an early warning system and early response through community intervention in close collaboration with authorities on the ground.

NP Cotabato Main Office (CMO)
The Cotabato Main Office organized an intensive brainstorming programme meeting with the project staff on “Early Warning System and Early Response through Community Intervention”. The Project Director facilitated and oriented project staff on the modus operandi of the early warning system. NP team formulated daily situation assessment form and finalized the activities to launch the initial stage of Early Warning System.

The Project Director and Communication officer simultaneously visited the NP field sites in Sulu and Central Mindanao and supported filed work on the ground. The CMO held meetings with relevant authorities to get clearance before occupying and making operational NP field offices. The CMO supported the field offices in identifying and hiring of local staff.

CMO maintained regular communication links with various top-level arms of the Government of Philippines and the two revolutionary groups. These included the GRP and MILF Coordination Committees on Cessation of Hostilities (CCCH), the MNLF political leadership, Armed Forces of Philippines and relevant Mayors. To overcome hindrances to secure work visa, CMO secured letters of support from NP partners and from the Office of Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process and Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila.

CMO and Central Mindanao team met the head of the MILF Peace panel and members of the Central Committee, and briefed them about NP mission and activities on the ground. The meeting was valuable in terms of sharing insights from the field work and receiving feed-back and recommendations on how NP's work could strengthen the peace process at the grassroots level.

The main office continued to have regular meetings with the key members of the advisory board to strategize NP programmatic activities to further consolidate the role of civil society in streamlining peace. The key partners fully supported NP to help the partners in establishing an early warning system and early response through community intervention in close collaboration with the authorities. The partners appreciated gradual growth and importance of NP Mindanao project and stressed the need to bring more ICPs on an asap basis. The CMO participated in CSOs meetings in Cotabato, analysing the security and human rights situation, peace process and other protection issues.

The Project Director maintained communication with the representatives of various donor organizations and updated them on the work of Nonviolent Peaceforce in Mindanao. The Project Director was invited in a dinner meeting with the senior delegates from embassies of European Union countries as they were visiting city of Cotabato. The Country Representative of Asia Foundation visited NP Cotabato office along with his Mindanao staff and discussed their programme activities in Mindanao. The Project Director shared NP Mindanao project details and field activities. The Project Director in close coordination with NP Brussels office refined proposals with latest updates to submit to potential donors.

On the invitation of European Commission Brussels, facilitated by NP Brussels, the Project Director participated as a speaker in EC high level conference on “Early Warning to Early Action” and presented NP International Unarmed Civilian Peacekeeping Project in Mindanao Philippines. During the stay in Brussels, project director had meetings with NP Programme Director, Fund Raising Director and European Coordinator.

NP main office continued sharing relevant situation updates from the ground with NP partner organizations, local/national/international NGOs/INGOs, International organizations and other networks contributing for peace in Mindanao Philippines.

Written by Atif Hameed