Canada plays role in Philippines peace
MANILA, PHILIPPINES — One of the world’s oldest and most brutal insurgencies may finally be coming to an end.
The government of Philippine President Benigno Aquino and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front worked out the final details of a peace agreement on Saturday in Malaysia. It could halt nearly half a century of war during which as many as 100,000 Filipinos have been killed in fighting in Mindanao at the southern end of the sprawling western Pacific archipelago.
In a good example of what can sometimes be achieved through soft power, Canada has played a quiet part in helping to create the mood required to strike the deal on political autonomy for the Muslim majority in the south of what is an overwhelmingly Christian country.
A senior Mountie, Assistant Commissioner Randy Beck, was invited to the Philippines last fall to discuss the creation of a joint police force on the island of Mindanao with government officials, Islamist leaders, advocates for a civil society and academics, as well as indigenous and women’s groups.
Among the reasons the Filipinos specifically asked for Canadian help to shape their future police force was because the Mounties have had long experience in multi-jurisdictional (municipal, provincial and national) policing and have worked with indigenous peoples.
“Each day is a challenge but I’ve been really encouraged by the good will expressed by both sides and the thirst for engagement and for peace,” Beck said in an interview last week when it was already known that peace negotiators were getting close to reaching a deal. “It’s all about partnerships. They have a fantastic opportunity here. We’ve come a long way.”
Key to Beck’s work running the Independent Commission on Policing was that “we try to stay above the historical paradigm. It is a daunting, some might think insurmountable problem, given the history of the conflict. But this is an opportunity.
“We are only a piece of the puzzle. We are recommending how to build a new house by applying best practices from around the world.”
The pact agreed to in Malaysia addresses long-standing security questions that have severely damaged the Philippines. It includes a large degree of political autonomy for Muslims in Mindanao as well as revenue sharing of natural resources in a region known to be loaded with significant gold, silver and copper deposits.
The Comprehensive Agreement of the Bangsamoro was the result of 13 years of on-again, off-again negotiations. The goal has been to try to find a way past bitter disagreements between Christians and Muslims that have their origins in the 19th century when the Philippines was under Spanish colonial rule.
From the government and public’s point of view, the most crucial component is that the extremists have agreed to disarm. While the Filipino political leadership cheered the deal, it was greeted with guarded enthusiasm by many others. That is because the hard part will be its implementation.
The most ruthless Filipino Is- lamic group, Abu Sayyaf, which has ties to al-Qaida and wants to establish an Islamic state in Mindanao, refused to participate in the talks and refused to call off its terrorist strikes.
The Moro National Liberation Front led an audacious attack on Zamboanga City five months ago that resulted in the deaths of more than 200 insurgents and 25 civilians and members of the security forces.
Still, the tentative peace deal shows that Filipinos on both sides of the religious divide are fed up with the conflict. It represents a fresh way forward for the Philippines, which has been crippled by the costs of the insurrection in the south and the need to have a substantial part of its armed forces on more-or-less constant operations there. Moreover, it provides a chance to win Muslims in Southeast Asia away from the temptations of extremism, which is very much in the West’s interest.
Beck is slated to return home in mid-April. The Mountie believes it is possible that he or other Canadians might be asked to provide practical advice on how to unify the police in Mindanao and teach subjects such as ethics, human rights and general policing principles.
Such activities help ward off criticisms that the Harper government’s only interest in Asia is making money. Canada’s Disaster Emergency Response Team was involved in November to help Filipinos cope with the dire consequences of typhoon Haiyan.
With so many Filipinos flourishing in Canada, and ties between the countries growing, Ottawa and the Philippines should consider other ways Canada might help secure a lasting peace in Mindanao.
Because Canadian soldiers spent years monitoring ceasefires in Cyprus, the Golan Heights and the Sinai, it might, for example, be a good fit for Canada to dispatch troops to monitor the pending ceasefire and the surrendering of weapons.