RP govt, rebels unite to expedite peace

RP govt, rebels unite to expedite peace

By Oliver Teves

CAMP PAULINO SANTOS, Philippines (AP): For 25 years, Mimonte Dadungan and his fellow Moslem rebels dreamed of overrunning the government's military camp here in the forests of Mindanao.

For months in 1974, the 46-year-old member of Moro National Liberation Front, the largest of the Moslem rebel groups, battled soldiers guarding the camp before his commanders decided it was too well-defended and backed off.

Now Dadungan and scores of other former guerrillas have realized their vision of getting into the camp -- sort of. A year after a peace agreement between the MNLF and the government, the first class of 204 one-time MNLF fighters is being trained in the camp to be integrated into the Philippine army.

As a candidate soldier, each former guerrilla receives US$170 plus an allowance of $30 monthly -- income they and their families never earned as insurgents. In addition, the government has promised housing loans and other development projects to boost the quality of life for Moslems in the southern Philippines, now outnumbered by Christians in many provinces.

"This is the result of our armed struggle," Dadungan said. "Like crops, we have to harvest them now."

But while a quarter-century of fighting that killed 120,000 people has largely stopped, eradication of the bitter poverty that bred the struggle for Moslem self-rule in the southern Philippines remains a distant vision. At the same time, two smaller, more militant Moslem groups continue to reject the peace settlement, signed Sept. 2, 1996.

The pact created a rebel-led council that will oversee economic development projects in 14 southern provinces for three years. A referendum will then determine how many of the provinces join an existing four-province autonomous government.

Shortly after the agreement was signed, MNLF Chairman Nur Misuari was elected head of the four-province government, the Autonomous Region in Moslem Mindanao.

Last week, Misuari embarked on a "peace caravan" around Mindanao, the main southern island and one of the Philippines' poorest areas, to win support for enlarging the autonomous region and for constitutional changes that would strengthen representation of the southern Philippines in the national government.

The integration of 7,500 former rebels into the military is a key element in building trust between Moslems and Christians. Army Lt. Col. Carlos Magno, the chief military trainer and commander of Camp Paulino Santos, which sits in a remote mountain village in Maguindanao province, is a chain-smoking 23-year veteran of the war against the rebels.

But the special forces officer, who converted to Islam after marrying a Moslem woman, is a strong supporter of the government's peace initiative.

"If we cannot achieve peace, how can this place become progressive?" he asked. "If we can achieve this ... economic development will boom in this area."

MNLF Chairman Misuari, however, is less upbeat, saying the area is still in dire need of infrastructure, including a container port, additional roads and a new airport.

"We have not really produced anything positive to address the demands of the people," he said in an interview.

Despite the lack of concrete economic achievements, however, a stable foundation has been laid for eventual growth, Misuari said.

He said foreigners have expressed interest in an unprecedented number of potential investments, and about $426 million in foreign aid has been pledged for the southern Philippines.

"This is quite an achievement ... because Mindanao has always been painted black, Mindanao has always been portrayed as ... dangerous and risky," he said.

Misuari acknowledged that the current peace may be "deceptive" because its long-term prospects depend on ongoing peace talks with a breakaway rebel faction, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the larger of two groups that have rejected the MNLF accord.

The MILF still wants to establish a separate Moslem state, which it says is an "ideal solution" to decades of neglect and discrimination by the Manila government. But even Al Haj Murad, the MILF vice chairman and chief of staff, has left some room for reconciliation.

"If we can work out a solution wherein (Philippine Moslems) could also enjoy their own system, even within the Philippine sovereignty, we are not closing that option," he said.