ILOILO CITY, Philippines, August 11 (IslamOnline.net) - A Philippine senator urged the Philippine government to propose the creation of the “Bangsamoro Federal State” in its peace talks agenda with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which is fighting for an independent Islamic state in Mindanao.

Senator Aquilino Pimentel Jr. said the proposed Bangsamoro Federal State is the “missing element” in the draft peace agreement prepared by the government which, if formally proposed, would enhance the prospects for concluding a final accord.

“The Moro peoples of Mindanao with whom I have made serious consultations over several years believe that the creation of a Bangsamoro Federal State would respond to their demand for self-rule without having to secede from the republic,” Pimentel stressed in a statement sent to IslamOnline.net Monday, August 11.

The MILF and the government are now having preliminary talks for the resumption of the formal peace negotiations being facilitated by the government of Malaysia. Both camps have expressed confidence they would be able to reach an agreement that would bring about a lasting peace in Mindanao.

Pimentel asserted that a federal state would enable the Muslims in the country’s southern island of Mindanao “to preserve, develop and enhance their Islamic culture without undue interference from the central government.”

But he is not only pushing for the creation of a federal state in Mindanao. Pimentel is also batting for the adoption of the federal system of government for the country.

He reasoned a federal republic would hasten the country’s economic development besides establishing “the foundations of a just and lasting peace in Mindanao in the face of recurrent Moro rebellions in the island that have sapped our energies for centuries.”

He argued that this third world country’s experience has shown that the unitary system of government “concentrates all resources needed for the development of the nation in the hands of the central government,” which is located in the capital Manila.

“As a former mayor of Cagayan de Oro, a city in Mindanao, in the ‘80s, I can tell you how difficult it was to access funds needed for the development of the localities; a situation that is virtually unchanged today.

“The vaults that contained the money that was needed to build the infrastructures of development were and are still located in Manila. The bureaucracy that was needed to unlock the vaults of the national treasury was and still is located in Manila. The officialdom that was needed to decide where the money in the national treasury was to be spent was and still is located in Manila,” he lamented.

To him, this has “demonstrated ineluctably” that all these years “the unitary system of government had stymied national development.”

He further argued that the recurrent Moro rebellions of Mindanao have so drained the Philippines’ meager resources that it faced continuing shortages of schools, medical supplies and basic infrastructures that could otherwise have been addressed at least partially, if not fully, were the nation’s attention focused solely on economic development rather than getting it diverted by the need to crush the rebellions.

Pimentel said he is “confident that the Moro peoples of Mindanao will accept and stick to a peace agreement with the government where a commitment for the creation of a Bangsamoro Federal State is made.”

He asserted that “it enjoys a well-nigh universal acceptance from the Moros of Mindanao: from the rebel leaders like Nur Misuari of the Moro National Liberation Front and Salamat Hashim, and now, Murad of the MILF, the Moro traditional and political leaders, the Ulamas, the Moro Academics, the Moro studentry, the Moro businesspeople, and other sectors as well.

The senator, who authored the Local Government Code of 1991 that devolved the central government’s functions to the local governments, added that the federal system of government in practice protects regional diversity in interests or ideas from infringement by national majorities.

He argued that it responds more easily to local conditions as it allows areas to protect and express their unique values, which may be religious or social.

“It is, thus, submitted that the federal system is the system of government that is most ideally suited to speed up the economic development of the nation and to address the just grievances of the Moro peoples of Mindanao.

“It bears stressing that the Moro rebellions in Mindanao are not a parochial problem that concerns only the people of Mindanao. It is a national problem that is or ought to be the concern of all citizens.”

It’s not only that. Pimentel also wants the Americans to be involved in the peace talks. “As a final point on how to get the peace process in Mindanao on track, may I suggest that aside from the substantive matters that should be discussed at the negotiating table, the government should get the United States involved directly in the peace talks.”

“To ensure that we get to talk peace, real peace not a short and sham stoppage of a shooting war, I have suggested that we ask the U.S. to act as an honest broker for peace in Mindanao,” further said Pimentel, who voted against the continued stay of the U.S. military bases in the country and the treaty that would allow regular visits of U.S. forces.

That means that the U.S. should send not its soldiers to war against the MILF rebels in Mindanao but to send its diplomats, instead, to work for peace in the island using the methods of peace.