MANILA, Philippines - A former Senate president on Thursday said that the inclusion of Malaysia in the government peace talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front gave the rebel group the status of a "nation."
The analysis came from former Senate President Franklin Drilon during a press conference he held in Makati City with Senator Manuel Roxas II.
Roxas and Drilon - the president and national chairman, respectively, of the Liberal Party - are opposed to the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain which government and the MILF was supposed to sign in Kuala Lumpur on Aug 5 before it was stopped by the Supreme Court.
In that forum, the LP leaders said said the Philippine government should treat the problem with in Mindanao as internal and solve it as such.
"Itong problema sa Muslim Mindanao sa pagitan ng mga Filipino ay problema ng mga Filipino at malulutas lamang ito ng mga Filipino (The problem in Muslim Mindanao among Filipinos is the problem of the Filipino people which only the Filipino can solve)," Roxas said.
He said although the people are grateful to the countries, not only Malaysia, and other international organizations helping in the problem with MILF, the Filipinos should be allowed to solve it by themselves.
"Dapat huwag nating hayaan na manghimasok, mag-interfere, mag-interject ang mga dayuhan sa isang problema na internal sa atin,"he said.
Drilon said the government, at present, is "internationalizing a domestic problem."
"Nung pumayag tayo na pumasok ang Malaysia e binigyan natin ng status ang MILF bilang isang bansa na nakikipag-usap sa bansang Pilipinas. Nung pumasok ang Malaysia lalong tumindi ang pagtingin na ang MILF ay pwedeng kilalanin bilang isang bansa at yan ang nangyari sa MOA," Drilon said.
The former Senate President said he and Roxas oppose the MOA because it will enable the MILF, through the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity (BJE), to sign a treaty and establish its own embassy.
"Iyan ay hindi pupwede dahil iisa lang ang Pilipinas, hindi pupwedeng dalawa," Drilon said.
He said when he was still in Senate, he was a peace adviser to the government panel talking to the National Democratic Front (NDF).
He said they talked abroad but the host country did not interfere in their talks.
"Walang pangatlong bansa na nakikialam sa amin. We talked with the NDF, we faced them across the table. No one intervened," Drilon said. - Amita Legaspi, GMANews.TV