Deles: Let’s accompany the peace process

Manila, Feb. 14 – As formal negotiations between the Government of the Philippines (GPH) the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) began its 25th round in Kuala Lumpur on Monday, Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Teresita Quintos Deles underlined the need for stakeholders to support or “accompany” the peace process.

“We all know the GPH-MILF peace table is reaching the substantive stage,” she stated during the general assembly with employees of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) at the agency headquarters in Pasig.

“The three-day peace negotiations will be very hard discussions. So let’s accompany them,” added Deles.

The peace adviser expressed hopes that the government and the MILF will end the formal talks on a positive note. “We want to have good news announced at the end of the talks so we can sustain gains in the peace table, move forward, and draw near to achieving a political solution to the decades-old armed conflict.”

“There are numerous challenges in the different fronts of governance. Nevertheless, we are hoping that tuwid na daan (straight path) will continue to guide us. It is the only way to achieve peace,” Deles said.

In her engagements with various stakeholders in the country, she has reiterated that the Aquino administration hopes to forge a peace agreement with the MILF before the middle of the President’s term in 2013. “The President aims not only to sign within his term but also to implement and assess signed peace agreements and not pass it to the next administration,” she pointed out.

Amidst challenges and difficulties, the peace process “needs deep understanding, faith, and faithful accompaniment from all sectors including the religious, business or private, and civil society,” Deles has time and again reiterated in her messages.

In his opening statement during the 25th GPH-MILF formal exploratory talks, GPH panel chair Dean Marvic Leonen told the MILF peace panel “to focus once more on the substantive issues and explore common grounds.”

“We acknowledge that the issues that we tackle now are the more difficult ones, but we are optimistic that we can find mutually viable solutions,” he added.

Leonen stressed his call to the MILF: “Let us redouble our efforts to conclude these negotiations in the soonest possible time.  The sooner, the better.”