The Supreme Court should not strike down the Muslim homeland agreement between the Arroyo government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) since it would make it difficult to restart the peace process with the separatist rebels, a member of the government negotiating panel said.

In an interview with abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak, Prof. Rudy Rodil, member of the government’s peace panel, said a decision by the Supreme Court to strike down the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) would create a major obstacle to the peace process.

"Because if it is struck down, the government is going to lose face. Will the other side [MILF] still believe them?" he asked.

Speaking at a forum Thursday on the MOA-AD organized by the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, Rodil said a decision by the Supreme Court to declare the agreement illegal or unconstitutional may even lead to resumption of armed conflict.

"What if the SC strikes down the MOA? There will no longer be a peace process. If there is no peace process, what will we have?" Rodil said, adding it would raise the prospects of renewed war, widespread displacement of civilians and other humanitarian problems.

Rodil, a historian who has studied the armed conflict with Moro rebels since the seventies, said it would be hard to push the peace process forward if the Supreme Court decides against the MOA-AD.

"What we’re seeing now is the difficulty of moving forward if the court strikes it down. It’s not a simple problem," he said.

Rodil said a negative ruling would result make it "really very complicated."

"The thing is, it’s a negotiation. You agreed. When you talk about renegotiation after a strike [by SC], there will be many psychological elements that includes loss of face," he said.

Rodil said the government panel has not yet discussed what it would do in case the Supreme Court strikes down the agreement.

Ret. Gen. Rodolfo Garcia said last Saturday that the panel may "revisit" the MOA-AD in case the Supreme Court decides against it.

Rodil agreed, saying "I’m sure we’ll talk about how we can move forward."

He stressed the need to continue the negotiations in order to avoid resumption of war.

"What’s clear is, we cannot stop the negotiations. That’s how important peace is. Nagkakagulo na nga uli e," Rodil said.

Arroyo not the problem

Rodil disagreed with the view of some of the critics of the MOA-AD who say that the reason for the apparently strong opposition to the homeland deal is the unpopularity of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

He said the issues raised by critics of the MOA-AD, such as lack of consultation, constitutionality, were the same ones raised in 1997 after then President Ramos reached a peace agreement with the Moro National Liberation Front.

"GMA is not the problem because during the time of FVR, the issues raised were the same," he said. "The president is not the problem."

Rodil said the "deeper problem" is the "credibility between the Christians, the Lumads and the Moslems."

He said this underlying problem "erupts whenever there is a trigger such as the MOA-AD."

"The trigger in 1996 was the SPCPD [Southern Philippines Council for Peace and Development]. The trigger in 1988 was Moslem Mindanao," Rodil said. "There are many other triggers."

He said there is a "social phenomenon in Mindanao" that must be understood by the various stakeholders.

Media as bridge

During the forum, Rodil appealed to media not to fan religious or racial biases, spread misinformation, or incite war.

He said media should not make problems worse by riding on the statements of politicians who fan the flames of war.

Rodil said media should act as a "bridge" that "encourages healthy exchange of views" on the problems in Mindanao.

He said media has a unique role since it has access to both sides, the government and the MILF.

"You cross the bridge in these formal negotiations both sides, and you be a bridge within civil society level. We need bridges of peace, and media can play that role," Rodil said.

He said media "should not get involved in the cockfights (sabong) because we already have too many fights."

Rodil lamented that there are many stakeholders such as Catholic bishops with "strong influences in the community, but they are not part of the talks for peace."

Failed state

Musib Muat, a member of the MILF peace panel, said in the same forum that the MOA-AD can be a major leap forward in solving the decades-old armed conflict in Mindanao.

Muat said Muslims can also use the issue of lack of consultation since many of the government policies and programs in the south, which have transformed them from a majority population to a minority group, were done without consulting the Muslims.

These include homestead and land resettlement policies, which have marginalized the Muslims from their ancestral lands.

Muat said the territory being proposed in the MOA-AD, which includes the current Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao plus more than 700 other villages, is smaller than what the Muslims got under the Tripoli Agreement.

Muat belied allegations that the MOA-AD would lead to confiscation of private properties since the accord is clear that private property rights will be respected.

He said the Muslims will establish a government that will be "democratic and civilized."

Muat warned that if the peace process fails this time and fighting resumes, the Philippines will really become a "failed state."

He said Moros have been fighting for 300 years and they can continue fighting, but society as a whole may not be able to stand more conflict. (abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak)

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