[In the news] Mindanao civil society groups launch Peace Talks Watch – Interaksyon.com

Mindanao civil society groups launch Peace Talks Watch – Interaksyon.com. by Ria Rose Uro, InterAksyon.com OZAMIZ CITY — Mindanao civil society groups have strengthened their monitoring of the peace process by launching the Peace Talks Watch. On Monday, as the peace negotiating panels of the government and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) convened for their…

Human Rights Online Philippines

June 27, 2011

2–3 minutes

Civil Society, Cotabato, Davao City, Iligan, In the News, Interaksyon.com, Mindanao, Moro Islamic Liberation Front, MPC, Negotiation, Peace and Human Rights, Philippine

Mindanao civil society groups launch Peace Talks Watch – Interaksyon.com.

by Ria Rose Uro, InterAksyon.com

OZAMIZ CITY — Mindanao civil society groups have strengthened their monitoring of the peace process by launching the Peace Talks Watch.

On Monday, as the peace negotiating panels of the government and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) convened for their 22nd exploratory talks, monitoring billboards will be set up in strategic locations in Iligan, Cotabato, and Davao cities.

According to Abdul Malik Cleofe of the Mindanao Peoples Caucus (MPC), the billboards will be marked “365 Days Countdown to Peace” and will contain major updates from the negotiations.

The one-year timeframe is in keeping with the optimistic estimate of both panels within which they can hammer a political settlement, said Cleofe.

Juanito Enriquez, managing director of the Civil Society Organizations Forum for Peace (CSOFP), said the peace talks watch is one way of formally reminding the government and MILF negotiators that the people are interested in seeing a definite conclusion to negotiations.

“Let us see the end of talks and the beginning of implementing the measures necessary to empower the Moro people and reverse historical injustice,” stressed Enriquez.

“We are highly confident in the capacity of both panels to see the process through these aims,” he added.

Read full article @ INTERAKSIYON.com

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HRonlinePH says…

“Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal.” Martin Luther King, Jr.

This is actually an old assertion that we would like to reiterate. Both the Government and the MILF should always bear in mind that peace should always be based on social justice.