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MANILA: The Philippine government has scrapped its controversial peace deal with the country's Muslim minority after two weeks of deadly clashes in the south, the presidential palace said Thursday.
The pact signed last month between leaders of the mostly Christian nation and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) had called for a Muslim homeland to be established on the revolt-hit southern Mindanao island.
"Cancellation of the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) is a painful step," said presidential spokeswoman Lorelei Fajardo, referring to the official name of the peace agreement.
Fajardo said President Gloria Arroyo was "sensitive" to the objections of local Christian leaders, who are opposed to the agreement and have taken to the streets branding it a "sell-out."
"The president is committed to peace," Fajardo told journalists. "The administration is sensitive to public sentiments and the president is also committed to upholding the constitution.
"In doing so she will seek a new agreement within the boundaries of the law set within the constitution.
"The president will not allow adventurism by MILF forces to pressure government to sign any agreement, even if it is for peace," she said.
On August 4 the Philippine Supreme Court issued a temporary restraining order against the agreement following protests by serveral politicians who saw it as "unconstitutional."
Two rebel MILF commanders have since taken up arms, in defiance of the group's leadership, and killed Christian civilians and looted and burned homes and farms. Over 100,000 people have been made homeless due to the fighting.
The rebel MILF commanders have linked their attacks to the Supreme Court's suspension, saying that the government had designed the agreement to fail.
Described as a "landmark deal," the proposed MOA-AD would have paved the way for a "comprehensive compact" to end 40 years of bloodshed which has left more than 120,000 people dead and tens of thousands displaced.
The pact had called for the establishment of what amounted to a state within a state with its own "basic law," police and internal security force.
The region would have been allowed to run its own banking and finance system, civil service, education and legislative and electoral institutions.
It would also have been given full authority to develop and dispose of minerals and other natural resources within its territory.
The proposed homeland would have been governed by the Bangsamoro (Muslim) Juridical Entity (BJE), with full authority to send trade missions to and strike economic cooperation agreements with other countries and send representatives to UN agencies and the Association of Southeast Nations.
Fajardo said any further peace accord would be forged only in consultation with legislators and local politicians - the two groups opposed to the pact.
Peace efforts would now focus on "authentic consultations with the people (and not) negotiations with armed groups," she said, not naming the MILF.
The policy toward such armed groups "will be about disarmament, demobilisation and rehabilitation," she said.
MILF vice-chairman Ghadzali Jaafar said attempts to renegotiate the agreement were unacceptable, adding that "as far as the MILF leadership is concerned, the MOA-AD is already a done deal."
He said the 12,000-strong rebel group would not re-negotiate the draft, "even if it means an indefinite postponement of the 11-year-old peace process."
- AFP/yb
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