Senate bet to push for inclusion of women in gov’t peace panel

by Rico Biliran/MindaNews
Tuesday, 16 March 2010 23:50

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/16 March) - Re-electionist Sen. Pia Cayetano said she will push for the inclusion of women in the government peace panel in peace talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). “We will work for the inclusion of women in the peace panel with the provision stated in the law," Cayetano, a Nacionalista Party senatorial candidate, told reporters here over the weekend.

Cayetano, who is also the president of the Coordinating Committee of Women Parliamentarians of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), said that under the Magna Carta for Women, "women's group shall also be represented in international, national, and local special decision-making bodies.'

"The peace panel is a decision-making body. If it’s not, what's that?" the senator, a co-author of the law, asked.

Cayetano’s statement came just as peace advocates called for the possible appointment of women to the government peace panel to replace businessman Tomas Cabili and former South Cotabato Rep. Adelbert Antonino, who resigned as peace panel members last month.

The current government panel is headed by Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Rafael Sequis with Agrarian Reform Secretary Nasser Pangandaman and indigenous peoples leader Ronald Adamat as members.

Last year, female protesters were credited for helping end Liberia's 14-year civil war through aggressive sit-in style demonstrations, including at the country's peace talks.

Pastor Reu Montecillo, co-chair of the peace group Mindanao Peoples Caucus (MPC), said Malacanang should consider a suggestion that the panel include women as it would bring women’s perspectives to the peace negotiations.

“Women are the primary bearers of the weight of conflicts, so it would be wise to have their voice in the panel,” said Montecillo in a statement.

"Peace panels headed by women have better chances of forging a peace agreement expeditiously rather than those headed by men," said former senator Santanina Rasul who is a former adviser of the government peace panel that forged a final peace accord with the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) in 1996.

Rasul believes women are the "missing ingredient" in the ongoing peace negotiations between the Philippine government and the MILF.

The former senator said the government should make use of women in the peace negotiations by making the head of the peace panel a woman.

Asked if she and NP presidential standard bearer Sen. Manny Villar would overhaul the peace panel if they win in the May 10 general elections, Cayetano replied "No need".

"We have a law that clearly warrants the participation of women in the peace panel. We can do it now," she said.

Cotabato Rep. Emmylou Talino-Mendoza earlier declared her support to the designation of two women as new members of the government peace panel.

In a local daily report, Speaker Prospero Nograles strongly endorsed the inclusion of two women as members of the five-person government panel negotiating peace with the MILF.

Nograles said there are many women leaders in Mindanao such as noted peace and human rights advocate and director of the Philippine Council on Islam and Democracy (PCID) Amina Rasul, and civic leader Margie Moran Floirendo, both of whom have a strong understanding of the MILF rebellion.

In a related development, a total of 397 peace advocates actively took part in the conclusion of the nationwide "Dialogue Mindanaw" at the Datu Amirbahar H. Jaafar Convention Center of the Mindanao State University in Tawi-Tawi.

The outcome of the dialogues would help government and MILF peace negotiators in finding a genuine and lasting solution to the Mindanao problem, according to the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP).

“Dialogue Mindanaw” is a series of consultations launched by the OPAPP in collaboration with civil society to provide the people, particularly the stakeholders the opportunity to air their views and opinions on the ongoing peace process. (Rico Biliran/MindaNews)