The success of the peace negotiations between the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Philippine government remains to be tested. And there is only one important issue left so that the final frameworks of the pending peace agreement is signed by both parties.
However, the question that lingers in the air is how come the most controversial issue came at the last phase of the peace negotiation? Did the Philippine government feel that requiring the MILF to surrender its arms to find a lasting peace in Mindanao was a very complicated and sensitive issue that requires utmost care in the negotiation process? If that is the stand of the government, why on earth did it seal a peace agreement with the MILF knowing full well that it won't budge in to the demand of government to give up its arms?
The issue seems to be murky beforehand and the government peace negotiators knew at once when the MILF laid down its intentions in the frameworks which clearly said that the Bangsamoro Sub-state would have its own armed forces.
What if the MILF will not budge in to the government's call to lay down its arms? Will this mean the end of the peace negotiation with the MILF? At this stage, nobody can make a final claim yet that the peace agreement will be doomed once the MILF doesn't agree to the government's proposal to give up its arms. But historical facts showed that Moro rebels in Mindanao love their weapons more than their wives. And what is the guarantee that the MILF will abide to the government's decision to surrender its arms if only to, once and for all, ink the peace agreement which will eventually create another sub-state in Mindanao, in place of the Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).
s far as I'm concerned, the Philippine government was made to believe that the MILF is a much better group than the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF)? For me, they're both wolves in the sheep's clothing. And what if the MILF fails to come up with the positive expectations of the Bangsamoro people because it is only preoccupied with building up its armory from the revenues it raised from the wealth-sharing ventures with the government rather than attend to the basic needs of its constituents, consisting not only of Muslims but majority Christians as well?
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