Abaya is new Peace Adviser

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/23 October) -- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has named Annabelle Abaya as Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process, vice former police chief Avelino Razon who resigned last week to run for mayor of Manila in May 2010.

Press Secretary Cerge Remonde announced the appointment in his regular Friday press briefing this afternoon, the Office of the Press Secretary reported.

“In her brief remarks, Abaya said her priority as head of the Office of the President-Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OP-OPPAPP) is to initiate the resumption of peace talks with the National Democratic Front (NDF) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF),” the OPS reported.

The talks with the MILF had resumed since both parties issued a suspension of military operations on July 23 this year.

The OPS quoted Abaya as saying she is “honored for the opportunity to explore opportunities for a lasting peace in Mindanao during the President’s remaining eight months in office.”

“We still need to do some work. There are still two very big peace talks that need to happen and these are with the MILF and with the NDF,” Abaya said.

“On her plan to boost the morale of both peace panels, Abaya said she will review the peace settlement of 1987 with the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and “look at recommendations for what have been learned, motivate that we need to change, and the need for it to strengthen,” the OPS reported.

The peace agreement with the MNLF was signed on September 2, 1996. This is the agreement whose implementation is currently under review.

According to the OPS, Abaya is “a former Palace spokesperson (who) holds a graduate degree in public administration from Harvard University, another graduate degree in discreet resolution from the University of Massachusetts in Boston, and a doctorate in conflict resolution from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in the United States.”

Abaya is also the president and founder of Conflict Resolution Group Foundation Inc., an active member of the Government of the Republic of the Philippines peace panel with the NDF and concurrent conflict resolution consultant of the World Bank the Asian Development Bank, and The Asia Foundation. (MindaNews)