Press secretary Jesus Dureza said it matter-of-factly--Arroyo daw has laid the building blocks for peace. Yeah. Good soundbite of a lie.
For eight years, Arroyo and her peace panel dilly-dallied in their negotiations with the MILF. Under Arroyo, the peace process went nowhere and eventually had gone haywire. Malaysia entered into the picture to protect its territory Sabah and nearly convinced Arroyo to abandon all talk about reclaiming it as Philippine territory (in fact I remember a conversation Arroyo had with one of her department secretaries saying that he should not pursue the Sabah claim) if they continue brokering the talks.
At the twilight of her term, Arroyo's peace panel worked for the ultimate failure of the talks by acceding to an impossible thing. Members of the panel should have known that it is next to impossible to create the BJE. US pressure had lead to this debacle and now sectors are demanding Arroyo to step down or they would file an impeachment complaint for culpable violation of the charter.
Right now, we are back to square one. Foreign donors, including JICA, have decided to abandon peace initiatives and projects in Mindanao. I dont know about the Institute for Peace, but indications point to that direction also. And yes, we have not heard any gunfire nor mortar rounds nor seen shelling or bombing since an informal ceasefire has been established. Yet, many say that after the Ramadhan, fighting would definitely commence albeit with more intensity than before.
So, what is this legacy that Dureza is talking about? Is this the legacy of causing more war? Is this the legacy of turning the peace process back to square one? Yeah, it seems like it.
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