MAKATI – The Transitional Justice and Reconciliation Commission (TJRC) launched publicly its report on how to heal the wounds of war and address the legitimate grievances of the Bangsamoro in two consecutive events held in Cotabato City earlier this week and another in Makati City yesterday.

 

During the public launch of the report held in Cotabato City witnessed by more than 200 individuals, organizations, and representatives from local, regional, national, and international entities, TJRC Chairperson Mô Bleeker explained how the TJRC produced the report. “There is no model. This approach offers a combination of efforts that are mutually reinforcing and can contribute to long stranding process of change towards peace, Rule of Law, and towards a society that manages diversity constructively and is in condition to prevent the commission of atrocities.”

 

Bleeker is joined by GPH delegate, Atty. Cecilia Jimenez; and MILF delegate, Atty. Ishak Matura; GPH alternate delegate, Atty. Mohammed Al-amin Julkipli; and MILF alternative delegate, Atty. Rusty Kalim in the commission. Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs’ Jonathan Sisson serves as the commission’s senior adviser.

 

Aside from the legislative track involving the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), the 2014 Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) also outlines socio-economic interventions and normalization programs to which the search for transitional justice and reconciliation is included.

 

As stipulated in the CAB, the TJRC is mandated to undertake a study and to make recommendations with a view to promote healing and reconciliation among the communities affected by the decades-old conflict in Mindanao especially in the Bangsamoro region. Its mandates include the following efforts: to address legitimate grievances of the Bangsamoro People; to correct historical injustices; to address human rights violations; to address marginalization through land dispossession.

 

“We know you consulted more than 3,000 individuals spanning 210 Muslim, Lumad, and Christian communities in Mindanao and the Sulu archipelago, and we are truly grateful for every step you took in coming up with this report,” said Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Secretary Teresita Quintos Deles in her message during the Cotabato City public launch she attended.

 

"We know that the process could not always have been easy and, particularly for the community facilitators who worked with you, there are new pains and trauma that also need healing. The process you chose to undertake is truly a hallmark of the inclusiveness the Bangsamoro peace process has always striven to embody, and we have no doubt it will make large strides towards bridging the divides between our peoples and healing the wounds left by war," she added.

 

Chief negotiators for the Government and the Philippines (GPH) and the MILF – Professor Miriam Coronel-Ferrer and Mohagher Iqbal – were also present during the launch.

 

Bleeker, in her presentation, detailed the content of the findings and reiterated the importance of an independent body, as prerequisite to achieve results that answer the needs of victims and contribute to prevent the recurrence of the conflict. She ended stating that the TJRC was told there was a Bangsamoro problem and that the TJRC has come to the conclusion that there is a Bangsamoro opportunity for the Philippines.

 

For her part, Deles concurred with Bleeker's statements and added that transitional justice was necessary to achieve genuine peace. “Without justice and reconciliation, there can be no true peace. Without justice and reconciliation, the most we can hope for is nothing but a prolonged ceasefire, where the wounds of war never heal the deep divides it worsens will never be bridged,” explained Deles.

 

Malacañang directs OPAPP to set TJRC report in motion

 

Deles revealed during her speech that Executive Secretary Paquito N. Ochoa, Jr. issued a memorandum of instructions to OPAPP to put in motion the recommendations in the TJRC report.

 

“Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa, ‘Noting that the TJRC Report contains specific recommendations addressed to various government agencies as to actions that may be taken to help address legitimate grievances and and correct historical injustices,’ yesterday signed a Memorandum of Instructions…” shared Deles.

 

According to the peace adviser, the memorandum instructed the PAPP to "(1) endorse the TJRC Report to the relevant agencies for the agencies’ review and assessment; (2) convene and coordinate with the agencies to work towards the adoption and implementation of the recommendations; and (3) identify and mobilize resources to support the programs that may be implemented, and, 4) In addition the PAPP is likewise mandated to]encourage and initiate activities towards the mainstreaming and popularization of the framework for transitional justice and reconciliation." The MOI likewise required the PAPP "to present a report to the Executive Secretary on her compliance with these instructions."

 

The OPAPP secretary then outlined concrete actions on how the TJRC report could be implemented. “We will seek at the earliest possible time to draw up Memoranda of Agreements to institutionalize the partnership along these different tasks with selected government agencies.”

 

Among those named by the OPAPP secretary are the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos (NCMF); the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP); the Department of Education (DepEd); the National Historical Commission (NHC); the Claims Board for Human Rights Victims of Martial Law; the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) regional government; and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR). Deles said that those agencies “have already initiated relevant processes and reforms on which the work of truth-telling, memorialization, redress, and reconciliation can build”.

 

“We will also seek to work closely with the Peace and Human Rights Desks of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP), respectively. We will further mobilize the Steering Committee for the National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security, pursuant to UNSCR 1325, to revisit their programs with the additional lens of transitional justice and reconciliation”

 

“As well, we will try to expand our efforts by tapping the expertise and knowledge base of the academic community and civil society,” she added.

 

“This Bangsamoro opportunity is one we ignore at our own peril. And we take heart in seeing that the parties in this peace process are not ignoring this opportunity and are in fact doing all they can to make sure we take it and make the most of it. Despite setbacks and difficulties along the way, no one is backing out. No one is giving up—not the MILF, not the government. And we ask you not to give up as well,” concluded Deles.

Photo:TJRC