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Philippines Catholic Church Joins Opposition
by Kazi Mahmood for IslamOnline
KUALA LUMPUR, April 2 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is facing a barrage of antagonism over a move for an all out peace in the Muslim dominated Mindanao region of the country.
As of Sunday, new groups of Christians have joined former president Joseph Estrada and the opposition against making any deals with the Muslims.
The powerful Catholic Church has joined the fray in lambasting Arroyo's administration saying its secret agreement with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) should not be kept "secret" for the sake of the Filipino public.
While there are signs that poll ratings favoring Arroyo are rising to an all time high due to her peace efforts and sound management of the political situation to this point, indications are that several official figures in Manila and Mindanao are opposed to the peace process.
Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal became the latest addition in the anti-MILF drive alongside Estrada and the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino (LDP) party.
All are pressing Arroyo to reveal details of the agreement with the MILF signed in Kuala Lumpur last weekend. Arroyo's administration, to this point, has not been willing to reveal the details, but may be forced to do so soon if the current senate launches a probe into the agreement, sources said.
Estrada has asked the senators responsible for the collapse of his impeachment trial last year to urge the Arroyo administration to make public the secret deal and to allow for it to be debated before any final decision is taken.
The deposed president on Sunday held a meeting with Cardinal Vidal and the LDP in which they decided on common grounds to oppose the government in every one of its moves in the peace deal with the MILF, sources told IslamOnline.
The same source revealed that the secret deal signed in Kuala Lumpur centers on an order the MILF would give its fighters to silence their guns starting Tuesday, ahead of peace negotiations with Manila.
"The suspension of military action will begin on April 3rd and will probably [last] until we can conclude a peace accord with the Arroyo administration," Eid Kabalu, spokesman for the MILF, told reporters in a teleconference from his base in southern Mindanao.
Another deal Arroyo reached with the MILF was that there would be no independence for Mindanao and Sulu provinces. Manila also informed the MILF that it would pursue an all out war policy against the Abu Sayyaf group that is still holding American Jeffrey Schilling hostage in Sulu.
Arroyo said the peace talks "shall be in the context of [the Philippines'] territorial integrity" as she sought to allay public fears on reports that the government had pledged to return fallen MILF camps to the rebels.
She added that the MILF had agreed that there would be no independence or any referendum in the region. The MILF, however, did not say that it abandoned the idea of an independent Mindanao while discussing peace in Kuala Lumpur.
In an interview with IslamOnline, Kabalu said independence was a salient point to discuss with Manila and insisted that the MILF's leadership had nothing in mind but an independent Mindanao.
The MILF's demand for an independent Islamic state for the Bangsamoro people had become one of the most contentious issues bogging down the resumption of formal peace talks during the previous administration.
During the March 24th meeting, however, an interim peace agreement was signed between the two parties, paving the way for the resumption of peace talks due to be held in both Manila and Kuala Lumpur.
In addition, Arroyo's two-month-old administration has unilaterally suspended offensive military operations against MILF rebels and has vowed to withdraw military troops in camps they seized from the MILF. The agreement has won the acclaim of peace activists in the Philippines.
The MILF has also been praised as a group seeking peace and not war, with several Muslim leaders in Mindanao and Manila hailing it as a matured group able to lead the Bangsamoro people towards prosperity under genuine autonomy.
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