Filipino women leading the peace process in Mindanao
Manila (AsiaNews) - The future of Mindanao, a predominantly Muslim region in the southern Philippines, depends not only on economic conditions, but also on a greater role by women in the community, said Miriam Coronel-Ferrer, 54, first woman to head the team negotiating on behalf of the Filipino government with Muslim rebels from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front ( MILF).
Together with Teresita Deles, 65, Aquino's adviser on the peace process, Coronel-Ferrer is pushing for an expansion of the role of women in post-conflict Filipino society.
"We will see more women taking active roles, not just as wives or mothers or sisters of politicians but because they are leaders in their communities," said Coronel-Ferrer.
The appointment of a woman at the helm of the team negotiating with Muslim rebels was a gamble for the Aquino government.
In October 2012, the delegation led by Marvic Leonen, which included Miriam Coronel-Ferrer, signed the first draft of a framework agreement with the MILF in more than 40 years of conflict.
"In the beginning, it was a stumbling block but that has been overcome," Coronel-Ferrer said of being a female negotiator with the Muslim rebels. Now "it creates a different dynamic."
In December 2012, Leonen was appointed as judge at the nation's top court and Coronel-Ferrel became the head of the government's peace panel.
Highly diplomatic, Miriam Coronel-Ferrer's 12-member team includes nine women. One of them is Iona Jalijali, 39, who helped draft a bill to promote breast-feeding.
This forced the rebel side to include women as part of their negotiating team. Last August, Raissa Jajurie joined the MILF team. A human rights lawyer, Jajurie is also coordinator for the Moro Program of the Alternative Legal Assistance Center.
So far, the Filipino government and MILF have agreed to three of the four points needed for a final peace agreement that would stop a war that killed more than 100,000 people in four decades. As part of this process, on 8 December 2013, MILF accepted the proposal of law for local government election.
In the coming weeks, the delegation led by Ferrer will try to convince the rebels to sign two of the main points in the future agreement, namely disarming the rebels and approving judicial compensation for the victims of fighting.
However, the MILF is but one Islamic group involved in the fight that has caused bloodshed in Mindanao since 1972. Others include Abu Sayyaf, a terrorist group close to al-Qaeda created in the 1990s and the Bansamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), a group set up in 2011 by former MILF members bent on total independence of the region.
The success of the negotiations is a great opportunity for the predominantly Muslim region and for the entire country.
According to many economists, a peace agreement could increase the nation's gross domestic product by 0.3 percentage points.
The island is rich in natural resources, estimated at US$ 300 billion, including gold and oil.
After the signing of the agreement in October 2012, investment pledges jumped more than four times from a year earlier.
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31/08/2023 13:53
