NEWSFLASH

ASSEMBLYMEN ASK FOR REORGANIZATION OF PEACE GROUP

Cotabato City, May 7, 2000 - Four assemblymen of th Autonomous Regon in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) yesterday urged President Estrada to reorganize the membership of the government panel conducting peace negotiations with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

Assemblymen Fayzah Dumarpa (Lanao del Sur), Nazir Ynawat (Sulu), Ibrahim Ibay (Maguindanao), and Faisalin Tago (Lanao del Sur), members of the ARMM Regional Legislative Assembly, said the very slow progress in the peace process shows that the composition of the government negotiating team leaves much to be desired.

They batted for the appointment of a Mindanaoan "acceptable to both parties" as head of the government panel.

"The chief government negotiators must preferably come from Mindanao, for he is expected to have a complete grasp of the root causes of the insurgency problem. He should also be familiar with the idiosyncrasies of the indigenous tribes in Mindanao, particularly the Muslims," Dumarpa said.

The four ARMM assemblymen also threw their full support behind the call of Senaors Aquilino Pimentel Jr., Teofisto Guingona Jr., and Robert Barbers, all from Mindanao, for a simultaneous cessation of hostilities by the government troops and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) fighters and the immediate resumption of the peace talks.

Dumarpa, Ynawat, Ibay, and Tago stressed that peaceful approach to Muslim confict remains the only viable and acceptable solution to the problem.

They said that military solution has historically been ineffectual in quelling Muslim resistance as shown during the Spanish colonial era and even during the past several decades of the Philippine republic.