STATEMENT of UNYPAD: Respect the Civilians, Resume the Peace Talks

5 June 2009

The United Youth for Peace and Development, (UNYPAD) Inc., a Philippine-wide youth organization, expresses its serious concern over the unending and unjustified military operations in Moro communities. More than 10-month military operations against MILF commanders resulted to nothing but indescribable humanitarian crisis in Mindanao.

For almost every day, we are being greeted by news reports on armed encounters between troops of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF) of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

Sad to note, in every armed encounter, those who suffer most are the hapless non-combatants among the Moro, Lumads and Christian Settlers. They have always been forced to flee their homes leaving behind them their sources of livelihood and hard-earned properties. What is worse is that there are times that these fleeing non-combatants are being caught in the crossfire.

Amidst this unending anxiety, the UNYPAD, a peace advocate organization based in Cotabato City, Mindanao, cannot afford to remain as a mere spectator.

It is for this reason that in the 4th General Assembly of UNYPAD, held in Cotabato City on June 5-7, 2009, the following urgent calls were come up:

* For the government to stop its military solution against MILF Commanders. It should instead maximize the present peace and ceasefire mechanisms established in and by the GRP-MILF peace process;

* For the AFP and BIAF to respect and adhere to the principles of International Humanitarian Law, Geneva Convention IV and Additional Protocol II;

* For the concerned authorities to conduct investigation and immediate action on the reported food blockade allegedly perpetrated by the military against affected communities and that the inhumane conditions of the IDPs in their respective evacuation centers must be taken seriously;

* For the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) and other human rights groups to look into the reported cases of illegal and forced abduction of civilians in the evacuation centers allegedly committed by the Philippine soldiers;

* For the GRP and the MILF to honor, in letter and spirit, the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) that their respective peace panels have already initialed;

* For the Government of Malaysia and other international communities to do the utmost effort in pushing the GRP-MILF peace process forward;

* For the GRP and the MILF to hearken the cry for peace of the more than half a million people who have always been suffering the most in times of war, and
That the GRP and the MILF immediately return to the negotiating table.

The UNYPAD strongly believes that without the GRP and the MILF resuming the peace negotiations immediately, their gains in the peace process as well as gains achieved by other peace advocates will ultimately be brought to naught to the detriment of the people that both the GRP and the MILF vow to serve and represent.

The UNYPAD reiterates its call that the GRP and the MILF should now listen to the cry of the people for peace and it also calls on its fellow peace advocates to exert more efforts in urging the GRP and the MILF to sign Peace Agreement that will finally place the Mindanao conflict into total closure.