ROXAS TO ADMIN: GET TO WORK IN RESOLVING MINDANAO CONFLICT

Liberal President Senator Mar Roxas today said that the administration must now proceed in creating genuine and lasting peace in Mindanao, after the Supreme Court has set the constitutional parameters that a future peace agreement will follow.

He said all concerned parties must respect and abide by the Supreme Court decision declaring the GRP-MILF Peace Panel Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain as unconstitutional, and that he would assist the peace efforts in his capacity as senator. The peace panel, he added, must be reconstituted with trusted and competent representatives reflecting the true interests of Mindanaoans.

"In declaring the MoA-AD as unconstitutional, the Supreme Court provided guidelines on the conduct and outcome of the peace process. We should now move forward. I am willing to talk and cooperate with all parties, including the MILF, so we can pursue lasting peace and development in Mindanao," Roxas said.

The Ilonggo senator also noted that the administration must now shift its ideas on how to achieve peace, as the MoA-AD clearly could not have done this.

"The MoA-AD would not have provided peace anyway because it dismembers our country and advocated a solution outside the Constitution, a basic principle that the Arroyo administration cast aside in the name of false and impossible peace. The people seek genuine and lasting peace, not a photo-op peace as this administration wanted," he said.

He reiterated the need for vigilance on the part of the citizenry, so as to block off any more attempts by the administration to bring about Charter Change. The unconstitutional MoA-AD had earlier been seen as a pretext for opening the 1987 Constitution to amendments.

"Hinding-hindi natin prayoridad itong Cha-Cha sa ngayon. Siguraduhin muna natin na handa tayo para sa financial tsunami na parating dito, at na mabibigyang serbisyo pa rin ang mga mahihirap," he said.