LAWMAKERS continued to question the sincerity of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in its peace talks with the government even as a congressman vowed to elevate the Mamasapano massacre to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights.
At the same time, Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. has appealed to the MILF to implement more confidence-building measures that would renew the trust of the people and boost waning support for the Bangsamoro Basic Law.
Marcos made the appeal after Magdalo party-list Rep. Gary Alejano denounced the MILF’s supposed move to put up a new training camp in Panglima Estino town in Sulu while they are pursuing peace talks with the government.
“This is a sign of bad faith,” Alejano said. “This is a cause for alarm. We will wake up someday they have doubled their forces without us knowing.”
The succession of news about the MILF’s actions during the Mamasapano incident and the training camps and its supposed currying of Malaysian favor have caused a waning in the enthusiasm of lawmakers in the BBL, Marcos said.
“I beg of you for the sake of our peace process. If we care that much for the peace process, I implore you to advice the MILF leadership to do better in terms of these trust building measures so that we can move forward in the peace process,” Marcos said.
“We have stopped here. And we have lost the trust and confidence of the public,” said Marcos.
While he has suspended public hearings on the BBL that would bring lasting peace to Mindanao, Marcos clarified his positioning has always been “whatever it takes we must continue the peace process.”
“The peace process must come to a definitive end wherein we can say there is true and lasting peace in Muslim Mindanao….but these trust-building measures, these confidence-inspiring measures are important for us to return to the peace process,” said Marcos who is drafting the proposed BBL.
But Abakada party-list Rep. Jonathan de la Cruz, a member of the House independent bloc, that should not prevent them from bringing the matter to an international tribunal, like the UNCHR.
“We have spoken to some family members of our fallen heroes and they really want justice,” de la Cruz said.
The independent bloc\s leader, Leyte Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, said that the Aquino administration’s “restructuring of the truth” is not helping.
“We are appealing to President Aquino and the rest of the key players in the ill-fated Mamasapano operation of the PNP-SAF to stop restructuring the truth and come out instead, once and for all, with the complete story in the interest of truth and transparency,” Romualdez said.
“As we remember our brave and gallant PNP- SAF 44 who sacrificed their lives exactly one month after the tragedy in Mamasapano, Maguindanao, the piecemeal revelation of the details and the twists and turns we see in the involved officials pronouncements as the days go by only add more confusion to the story than clarity,” he added.
“We also want to appeal to President Aquino to make public the detailed explanation on his actions during the height of the Mamasapano incident which he gave to some of our colleagues in Malacanang last Monday night. If the President felt our colleagues had the right to know, the more do the people,” he added.