By Hader Glang
ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines
The secretary general of the 57-member Organization of Islamic Cooperation has arrived in Manila for a four-day visit to meet officials and discuss issues surrounding a peace process with the Philippines' largest one-time rebel group.
The visit comes in the wake of what has become known as the Mamasapano massacre, in which 44 police commandos searching for two renowned terrorists were killed.
The government has since said it will file charges against 90 suspects from one-time rebel group the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and splinter organization the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters for their deaths
Iyad Bin Amin Madani, the secretary general of the OIC - who led an eight-man delegation - met Friday with Secretary Teresita Quintos Deles, the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process.
In a press statement emailed to The Anadolu Agency on Saturday, Deles said the secretary general had reaffirmed the OIC's long support.
“The OIC has contributed so much to the peace process since the Tripoli accord, and now more than ever Filipinos both Muslims and Christians look to you for guidance and support to open a new era of social peace and progress in Mindanao,” she said she had told Madani during the meeting.
In turn, Madani expressed the OIC’s full support and commitment, saying its mission is to boost its role.
He added that the OIC has long been involved in the effort to address the conflict in Mindanao and secure the welfare of Muslims in the country.
Prior to his arrival, Madani took part in a three-day visit to Malaysia where he met Prime Minister Najib Razak.
OIC member Malaysia has been facilitating talks between the Philippine government and the MILF, which concluded in the signing of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro peace deal March 27, 2014.
The deal is aimed at ending a 45-year conflict that has killed around 120,000 people, displaced two million and stunted economic growth in one of the Philippines’ poorest regions.
Madani has said they had “discussed the status of the peace agreement on the Southern Philippines... [and] stressed the need for all parties to remain committed to the peace agreement."
Malaysia's national news agency Bernama reported that Madani had sought Malaysia’s advice regarding the status of the agreement and the two men had discussed “the unresolved issue, especially after the killing of [the] 44 police commandos.”
“Since the Malaysian prime minister spearheaded this [peace agreement], we want to listen to him on this and on the current status of the agreement, and where he sees a role for us,” Bernama quoted Madani as saying.
Madani acknowledged that the Mamasapano encounter has affected the process, Bernama added.
During his visit to the Philippines, the secretary general will also meet top leaders of the Moro National Liberation Front and MILF to strengthen the Bangsamoro Coordination Forum, which was created by the OIC to harmonize the two Moro fronts.
Madani is also expected to meet President Benigno S. Aquino III, and Senate President Franklin M. Drilon before flying back to Saudi Arabia on Monday.
The OIC is the second largest inter-governmental organization, next to the United Nations, composed of 57 member-states spread over four continents.
With Madani are Sayed El-Masry, OIC Special Envoy for Peace in the Southern Philippines; Maha Mostafa Akeel, director of the OIC Department of Information; Dr. Hassan Ahmad Abdein, Head of the OIC Department of Muslim Communities and Minorities; Saidu Dodo, Liaison Officer for OIC Special Envoy for PCSP; Mohammed Adoum, Personal Assistant to the OIC Sec-Gen; Mohammed Naghi, Protocol Officer; and Ahmad Madani.
In 2012, the OIC was granted “observer status” in the peace talks after both the government and the MILF acknowledged its active involvement in efforts to restore peace in the Philippine south.
It was also the OIC that brokered the 1996 agreement between the Ramos government and the Moro National Liberation Front. The peace agreement resulted in the establishment of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
