MindaNews / 27 March – A group of peace advocates warned Friday, the 12th anniversary of the signing of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB), that the peace process “is in danger of drifting and deterioration due to leadership gaps, stalled implementation, and weakening trust between the parties.”
The CAB was signed, after 17 years of peace negotiations, on 27 March 2014 by the Government of the Philippines (GPH) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
“Twelve years after the signing of the CAB, what should be a moment of consolidation has instead become a moment of uncertainty,” the Advocates for Peace, which is composed of about 50 groups from different sectors of society, said in a statement.
The statement, titled “A Call to Safeguard the Bangsamoro Peace Process,” was released following the group’s activity held in Metro Manila dubbed “12 Years After: CAB Anyare (what happened)?”
The face-to-face and online activity was spearheaded by Teresita Quintos Deles and Miriam Coronel-Ferrer, former secretary at the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) and GPH peace panel chair, respectively, during the Benigno Aquino III administration, during whose term the CAB was signed.
The Advocates for Peace cited the headless Peace Implementing Panel (PIP) of the GPH, which was raised last month by the MILF after the resignation of GPH PIP chair Cesar Yano.
The Advocates for Peace noted that without a GPH PIP chair, and with the directions across government agencies “unclear,” the core commitments are stalled—from decommissioning and socio-economic packages to camp transformation and long-promised security sector reforms, including the disbandment of private armed groups.
According to the group, the Marcos administration “has yet to fully internalize the CAB as a framework for governance.”
The Advocates for Peace also pointed out that trust is eroding between the government and the MILF – with mixed signals, delays, and public silence fueling uncertainties.
The group called on President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to take decisive action to restore direction to the peace process, including reconstituting the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity (OPAPRU, formerly OPAPP) under Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr.
The Advocates for Peace likewise urged the MILF to continue exercising firm internal leadership— maintaining organizational integrity and discipline within its ranks, and strengthening inclusivity, transparency, and accountability in governance.
“That this (12th CAB) anniversary passes without clear direction or meaningful commemoration is itself telling. It reflects a deeper failure of prioritization,” the group said.
It clarified that they issued the statement not to undermine the peace process, but to prevent its erosion.
“Left unaddressed, this drift will deepen—undermining trust, delaying commitments, and putting at risk the gains of the Bangsamoro peace process,” the group stressed.
During the open forum, Deles lamented the apparent lack of decisive leadership by Marcos on matters involving the Bangsamoro peace process.
The call for decisive leadership by the President was made two weeks ago but there was no official response, she said, adding that they are reiterating the plea today given the urgency to address the Bangsamoro peace architecture.
“There is a need to fix the whole system because the implementation (of the CAB) really has to be the work of all of the government. The accountabilities must be clear,” she said in Filipino.
For her part, Ferrer underscored the urgent need for the government to designate the GPH PIP chair.
“Some components (of the CAB) have to go through the peace infrastructure. But if that’s not working, that is a dangerous thing. Where will the MILF go if that mechanism is not working?”
But Ferrer lauded the MILF for totally not pulling out or abandoning the peace agreement.
Last week, MILF chair Al Haj Murad Ebrahim announced the front is ‘temporarily pausing’ its engagement on several aspects of the CAB due to the leaderless GPH PIP.
In his statement for the CAB’s 12th anniversary, OPAPRU’s Galvez said the CAB “remains a historic milestone in our collective pursuit of a just and lasting peace in Mindanao.”
“It stands as a testament to the power of dialogue, mutual respect, and shared resolve to finally put an end to armed conflict in our land,” he said.
However, Galvez admitted the Bangsamoro peace process has been facing challenges.
But he assured that OPAPRU will continue to support all aspects of the Bangsamoro peace process, particularly in the decommissioning of MILF forces that forms part of the normalization aspect of the CAB.
He said they will focus on carrying out interventions “that will transform the lives of former MILF combatants and their families, and turn their areas into peaceful, progressive, and resilient communities.”
Early this week, the independent, foreign-led Third Party Monitoring Team also urged the GPH and the MILF recommit to the CAB, as the “overall Bangsamoro peace process is at a very sensitive juncture as a result of the continuing delays and obstacles.”
Last month, a Cotabato City-based think tank, the Institute for Autonomy and Governance (IAG) and peace watchdog Climate Conflict Action (CCA), issued a joint statement warning that the Bangsamoro peace process “is on the brink of collapse.” (Bong S. Sarmiento / MindaNews)
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