By Hader Glang
ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines
The Philippines government and the country’s one-time largest rebel group have warned that failure to pass a law on the Muslim south could encourage the spread of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) amid reports of recruitment in the region.
Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) chief negotiator Mohagher Iqbal said in a weekend press statement that “Talks between the government and the MILF should show unity and sincerity in attaining peace to steer the Muslim community away from ISIS (ISIL) influence.”
Adding that the presidential palace had expressed similar concerns, he explained that "The danger of ISIS is not the actual confrontation” but rather “the ideology of radicalism which is infectious.”
On March 27, the government and the MILF signed a peace deal that brought to a close 17 years of negotiations and ended a decades-old armed conflict in Mindanao -- the second largest and southernmost major island in the Philippines -- while granting Muslim areas greater political autonomy.
The deal committed President Benigno Aquino III and the MILF to pass a law creating the Bangsamoro Region -- which will supplant the current Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao once the law is passed and ratified -- before the 2016 presidential elections.
Last month, Aquino personally submitted a draft of the law to Congress leaders during a turnover ceremony at his office, the Malacanang Palace.
Iqbal stressed that the MILF could help curb extremism in Mindanao, “If the Bangsamoro people will be empowered and the Bangsamoro Basic Law will be passed in the Congress as a good legislation.”
Meanwhile, Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said in an interview with state radio dzBB that the government is working with the group for the bill’s passage for this purpose.
"We encouraged the entire Filipino nation to support the establishment of the Bangsamoro political entity, which the Palace said would address the failures of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao,” he said.
While lawmakers continue deliberating on the draft bill, the government and MILF peace panels have started discussing other difficult processes on the road to establishing the Bangsamoro.
Last week, negotiators announced that plans for the disarming of MILF rebels are already being undertaken, with three foreign experts and four local ones expected to join an independent body that will oversee the decommissioning process.
In August, clips were uploaded on the video sharing site YouTube showing members of both the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters – a splinter group of the MILF - pledging support to ISIL.
Jose Lorena, undersecretary with a Philippine government body that oversees ongoing peace talks, recently told reporters that the Anti-Terrorism Council is carefully studying the "road of radicalization" in Southeast Asia and Mindanao.
"Our national security was verifying the road of the [ISIL] in our country. As of now, there has been no proven fact or evidence to prove it," he said, adding that programs to limit the threat of ISIL were being established.
www.aa.com.tr/en
