The new Aquino government is rearing to resume the peace process on two fronts. The most likely to begin first is the peace process between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). Dean Marvic Leonen of the UP College of Law heads the GRP Peace Panel and Vice Chair Mohagher Iqbal continues to be the head of the MILF Peace Panel.

The new government has a complete new slate in the GRP Peace Panel. The other members of the panel are UP Professor Miriam Coronel, former DA Secretary Senen Bacani, Upi Vice Mayor Ramon Piang and Dr. Hamid Barra of the National Commission for Muslim Filipinos (NCMF). There are two from the University of the Philippines, two from Mindanao – Ramon Piang of the Indigenous Peoples and Dr. Hamid Barra from Marawi City representing the NCMP. Though Senen Bacani is not from Mindanao, he works as a business consultant of La Frutera in Datu Paglas (and prior to that, he was with Dole Philippines in South Cotabato).

On the other hand, the MILF have retained its three most senior negotiators – Iqbal, Mastura and Alonto. The two new members are Prof. Aboud Sayid Lingga of the Institute of the Bangsamoro Studies, Abdullah Kamlian and Antonio Kinoc (Alternate) of the Indigenous Peoples.

There are two statements articulated by PNoy during his inaugural. The first is a commitment that his government will pursue the peaceful negotiated settlement that is fair to all – Muslims, Indigenous Peoples and the Christians. The second is his guarantee that his government will be sincere in dealing with Mindanao issues, particularly the peace process.

In an earlier forum, PNoy, prior to his election to the Presidency, has also articulated what he called the four pillars of his emerging national peace and security framework that will guide the GRP Peace Panels. These four pillars are the following: (1) good governance; (2) delivery of basic services, specifically education and health; (3) sustainable development; and (4) security sector reform.

While no one can quarrel with good governance, delivery of basic services and sustainable development, the so called four pillars of the emerging National Security Framework are completely in line with the US Government Counter-Insurgency Guide of 2009.

This perception is further exacerbated by the recent pronouncements of both the Secretary of National Defense (SND) Voltaire Gazmin and AFP Chief of Staff, Gen. Ricardo David. SND Voltaire Gazmin has declared that the New People's Army (NPA) must first surrender before peace talks can start. AFP Chief of Staff General Ricardo David has announced that the AFP would defeat the revolutionary movement in three years.

Though the two generals do not define national security policy, their inputs, no doubt, carry much weight. It will be hard to disengage the peace process from the current thinking within the defense establishment, particularly the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

On a positive note, the GRP Peace Panel Chair, Dean Marvic Leonen, has re-assured the public that the new Aquino peace policy is NOT counter-insurgency but a comprehensive peace. Besides, re-articulating PNoy government’s commitment to a negotiated peaceful settlement and sincerity in dealing with the Bangsamoro, he also says that the Aquino government is OPEN to the possibility of Constitutional change to solve the Bangsamoro problem. This last statement has become ‘controversial’ of sort since the new government has not made this pronouncement.

On the other hand, the MILF Chair, Murad Ibrahim, al hajj, has articulated the official MILF stance vis-a-vis the peace process. He says that the MILF remains open to reframe the agreement's consensus points and move toward a "comprehensive compact" to bring about a negotiated political settlement to the Mindanao conflict. With a sense of humor, he hopes to arrive at a comprehensive peace pact within his life time as they are growing in years and he has no guarantee that the new generation is equally committed to the peace process with the GRP.

There is, however, an increasing perception that the botched Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) will neither be signed nor renegotiated. For this reason, many are closely following the discourse on ‘re-framing of the consensus’ points that would possibly lead towards a ‘comprehensive compact’.

On the GRP and the National Democratic Front (NDF), the road towards the resumption of the peace talk looks bumpy, to say the least. The GRP Peace Panel members seemed to have been named though not made officially public yet. This early, the two controversial statements made by PNoy in his first SONA have become very contentious an issue as the prospect of the resumption of the peace talks appears on the horizon. The first statement was on PNoy’s seeming insistence on a nationwide (malawakang) ceasefire before the talk. The second is PNoy’s allegation that the NDF has NO concrete proposals for peace.

The NDF Chair, former priest Luis Jalandoni, has criticized the GRP’s position as well as the pronouncements of SND Gazmin and AFP Chief of Staff Gen. David. The NDF has articulated that the framework of the resumption of the peace talks between the GRP and the NDF remains the agreed and signed agreements between the GRP and the NDF. These are the Hague Declaration of 1992, the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG) of February 1995, the Joint Agreement on the Formation, Sequence and Operationalization of the Reciprocal Working Committees (RWCs) of the GRP and the NDFP Negotiating Panels of June 1995, and the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL) of March 1998.

The hope for the resumption of the GRP-NDF Peace Talks is high notwithstanding the seeming hard positions of the two principals. There is, no doubt, the two principals need to talk more and be open to discuss their two positions at the ‘table’ instead of at the media. While media network is important to ensure transparency of any peace talks, but other media practitioners delight in the controversy and the rhetoric of both sides.

I believe that the general public is tired of war – whether on the battlefield or in the media. People want peace and to move on with their lives. Everyone, including the military on both sides, knows that war is not an option. It is on this note that the resumption of the peace talks on all fronts is, indeed, a DUTY!

This early, even before the GRP and the MILF Peace Panels officially meet, there are dissenting voices and conflicting signals being heard and felt in Mindanao.

While the new members of the GRP Peace Panel are, generally, accepted, Mindanawons can claim for only two out of the five – Dr. Hamid Barra and Upi Vice Mayor Ramon Piang. The Chair, though from the far north, is accepted, because his writings and advocacy are well known among the Civil Society Organizations and the MILF.

However, the heads of LGU’s outside of the ARMM, look at the present peace panel with suspicion. In the same way, the greater majority of the populace watch the peace panel with guarded vigilance.

Then last week, a lightning bolt struck Mindanao with the public announcement of former Representative Lualhati Antonino as Chair of the newly established Mindanao Authority or MindA. The Chair of MindA enjoys a Cabinet rank and by law is the head ‘honcho’ in Mindanao.

Secretary Antonino is a politician and a 3-termer Representative of General Santos City. As a politician, she has a share of friends and detractors alike. To say that she is controversial is an understatement. The controversy stems from her strong stance vis-a-vis the 1996 Final Peace Agreement that the GRP and the MNLF signed in 1996. Then Rep. Antonino, the late Congresswoman Clara Lobregat and Rep. Daisy Fuentes were popularly known as the Tres Marias who went to the Supreme Court to oppose the said agreement.

As the chief ‘honcho’ of MindA, she has to deal with the realities on the ground including the peace talks and formula of settlement with the rebel fronts, particularly with MILF. The CSO’s aligned with the botched MOA- AD see the appointment as an obstacle to the peace process that seeks to carve an Ancestral Domain for the Bangsamoro people.

Yet, on the other hand, Secretary Antonino represents the sentiment and thinking of the greater majority Mindanawons. We may NOT agree with her position on the peace process, yet the fact remains that her stance is popular and reflective of the settlers’ thinking, with few exception. It is interesting to note the phenomenal popularity of former President Estrada’s all-out- war policy that he actually won the May elections in Mindanao except in the ARMM.

Secretary Antonino like her predecessor, Sec. Jess Dureza, is a politician. Politicians by nature are pragmatic people. They work in the realm of possibilities in order to navigate turbulent waters. With few exceptions, politicians do NOT have fixed and unmovable positions. Personally, I do NOT believe (until proven otherwise) that Secretary Lualhati or her daughter General Santos City Mayor Darlene Antonino Custodio belong to the said few exceptions. I believe she is open to reason and would listen to wise counsel.

Moreover, her long stint in the House of Representatives remains a formidable social capital that may be needed to call upon when the push comes to shove in Congress.

The other issue that is often the topic of discussion both in the national level and the local level is the presence of so many international players on the ground.

First is the issue of Malaysia’s facilitation in the GRP – MILF Peace Talk. Former President Arroyo was the one who requested the help of Malaysia to facilitate the peace talk.

There are several objections to Malaysia’s facilitation of the talk and they have bases for the said objection. Malaysia is NOT perceived as neutral facilitator. Malaysia is a principal in the Philippine claim and the Sulu Sultanate’s assertion that Sabah is part of the Sulu Ancestral Domain.

The MNLF under Chairman Nur Misuari is, vehemently, oppose to Malaysia’s participation in the peace talk. Chairman Misuari may have an axe to grind against Malaysia for handing him over to the Philippine government in a silver platter when he sought ‘sanctuary’ in Sabah for his rebellion case in 2002. But at the crux of Chairman Misuari’s opposition is the claim of the Sulu Sultanate over Sabah.

Second is the presence of other foreign players on the ground, particularly the International Monitoring Team or IMT. Both Malaysia and the IMT have ‘internationalized’ the MILF Rebellion. The IMT is tasked to monitor the ceasefire between the GRP and the MILF. In the reconstitution of the IMT, its role has been expanded to monitor also the civilian protection components on the ground. It is composed of Libya, Brunei and Japan.

Third is the establishment of yet another group of foreign players known as the International Contact Group or ICG. Initially, the ICG is composed of the United Kingdom, Japan and Turkey as member countries. Lately, Norway has also joined this band wagon.

Another tier (4th among foreign players) in the ICG is the so-called International NGO’s. They are the following: the Asia Foundation (US), the Center for Humanitarian Dialogue (Swiss), the Conciliation Resources (UK) and the Muhammadiyah (Indonesia) .

Fifth, there is, yet, another set of independent monitors both of the ceasefire and the civilian protection component that assists the IMT. They are the Non-violent Peace Force or NVPF and the Mindanao People’s Caucus.

Last but not the least of the foreign players is the ubiquitous presence of American Special Forces under the so-called Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA). They are equipped with high tech drones, ‘hummers’, fast naval crafts, helicopters and planes for their transport and marketing. They claim that they are on the ground to monitor the movement of the terrorist groups and to train their counterpart in combating terrorism.

To add more voices at the ‘table’, there is the growing voice from the local groups seeking inclusion at the table. They claim that the locals have more legitimate right to be present in the talks since it is their land and their peoples that are the real issues of the negotiation.

With more and more groups wanting to and petitioning GRP and the MILF to be present in the peace talk, the table, the sub-table and the sub-sub table are bursting to the seam! WHEW!

There are two slogans that fittingly describe the ‘table’. The first one is the phrase that says: ‘the more, the merrier’ and the second that says: ‘too many chefs spoil the broth.

With all these so many players at the table, new and old, we begin to surmise whether these players constitute the brewing imbroglio in the peace process in Mindanao. Abangan!

I am constantly being asked by friends and co-advocates for Mindanao about the position or place of Mindanao in the new government.

In the inaugural speech of PNoy, Mindanao got two lines and in his first SONA, Mindanao’s two lines became a paragraph. That is progress!

Many people in Mindanao are beginning to think that Mindanawons play second fiddle in the PNoy’s government. The word now in use is “saling pusa’.

Yet, the real thing is far from true as pointed out to me this week by a friend in PNoy’s Cabinet.

Cesar Purisima, the Secretary of Finance, is from South Cotabato and General Santos City then called Dadiangas. Dr. Enrique Ona, the Secretary of Health, is also from Mindanao. He hails from Pagadian City. The Chair of the newly created Mindanao Development Authority who is, by law, a member of the Cabinet, will definitely be a Mindanawon though his/her appointment is still to be announced. Then there is the Chair of the newly created National Commission on Muslim Filipinos who is also a member of the Cabinet. All in all there will be four (when completed) Mindanawons in PNoy’s Cabinet.

One of the great advocacies of Kusog Mindanaw of which I preside is an appointment of at least one Mindanawon USEC or ASEC in every department. There are no if’s and but’s. This is a question of belonging and participation in national governance.

Often, Mindanao’s ‘separatist’ politics is questioned by the peoples of Luzon and the Visayas. But the politics of separatism, while rooted in distinct and separate identity, arises in the context of poverty, neglect and politics of exclusion.

The opposite of the politics of exclusion is the politics of inclusion. And there is NO better way to demonstrate the politics of inclusion than Mindanawons being present at the table and participating in the discussion of issues that matter to Mindanao.

Mindanawons will NOT act as ‘saling pusa’! Either they are members of the family or they go and look for a new family. Yes, it is a question of belonging and being able to identify with the state where Mindanawons are full citizens and NOT second fiddle!

But the acid test of belonging, more than a post here and there, is the BUDGET ALLOCATION. PNoy’s government is preparing its first – the 2011 National Budget. ABANGAN!

Mindanao’s contribution to the national wealth is estimated at about 33%. In the past, beginning with President Fidel Ramos, there was a conscious and intentional push to increase the share of Mindanao in the National Budget. In some line agencies, Mindanao’s share in the national budget rose from 9% to 15% and in other agencies; it rose as high as 19%. But in the recent past, the share of Mindanao, practically dwindled back to its pre-Ramos level.

With PNoy’s assumption to the Presidency, a new hope emerges in Mindanao for a fair deal. Perhaps, Mindanao’s share will not dramatically rise to 33% of the budget of every line agency to be devoted to the development and upliftment of Mindanao but something near the said figure.

Among the private sector, Mindanawons hope that some of their corporate taxes are paid in the places where their plants, plantations and explorations, are located. Makati has become so progressive, simply because the mega-corporations that hold offices in Makati pay their corporate taxes in that city notwithstanding their plantations, mining operations and industries are located in Mindanao. The tragedy is the fact that these corporations dump their wastes and toxic materials in Mindanao yet they pay their corporate taxes in the City of Makati.

Another powerful symbol that Mindanao is in the agenda of PNoy is his physical VISIT to Mindanao in his first hundred days in office.

It is rather weird that when he weighed in the possibility of entering into the presidential contest, he rushed to Mindanao to seek guidance and counsel. Then when he was elected to office, he did NOT rush to Mindanao to share the joy and the fruit of the said guidance and counsel. Anyway, there are still few weeks left to his remaining 100 days...

In the same vein, the President, hopefully, holds an ‘Iftar’ dinner with Muslim leaders in Malacañang during the month of Ramadhan. Iftar dinner is a very powerful occasion of being together and sharing not only the table of the host but also his hospitality. I pray that the day comes where the President plays host to his Muslim constituency in a gesture of solidarity and welcome.