CLARK FREEPORT – Former House Speaker Jose de Venecia said here that the International Conference of Asia Political Parties (ICAPP) backed Pres. Aquino’s recent meeting with leaders of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in Japan which he described as “historic.”
In an interview here, De Venecia, who is founding chairman and chairman of the standing committee of the ICAPP, justified the President’s meeting with the MILF, saying the “heads of government must intervene when negotiations (for peace) are floundering and not moving.”
“We are endorsing, with the Asian political parties, more than 300 of us in Southeast Asia, Central Asia, South Asia, Central Asia, Western Asia and the Arab world are supporting the historic reaching out by Pres. Aquino (to the MILF),” he said.
De Venacia was here yesterday to receive an award from the Clark Development Corp. for his contribution in rehabilitating the Clark Freeport from the devastation caused by Mt. Pinatubo’s eruption in 1991.
De Venecia, who had been a five-time Speaker of the House of Representatives, is also the founding president and chief executive of the Centrist Asia Pacific Democrats International.
“I hope we can put to bed (the peace negotiations) within the next 18 months, or hopefully even faster,” he said.
He recalled that in 1996, he and then Pres. Ramos “teamed up to work out the 1996 peace agreement with the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF).”
“That formula should be revived,” he stressed.
De Venecia also noted that “We have Japan, England, Turkey helping out in the peace process and, of course, Malaysia as referee or facilitator of the peace process.”
“The time has come to put this to bed,” he added. The political opposition is demanding for a full disclosure of the President’s Tokyo meeting with MILF leaders.
“The people are entitled to know in the spirit of transparency what happened during the furtive talks,” House Minority leader Edcel Lagman said in a statement.
The two-hour meeting which took place in a hotel near the Narita airport in Tokyo was the first time that a Philippine President has met with the chairman of the rebel group since the on-again, off-again peace talks started 14 years ago.
Lagman, an ally of former President and now Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, said Aquino should explain the reason in making his trip to Japan a secret. Members of the media were not informed of the said trip until an international news website released the report.
Lagman also said Aquino should tell what pieces of legislation are necessary to enhance the successful implementation of any peace accord and how much is the budgetary requirement for the conduct of the negotiations.
However, he said that the opposition supports the peace efforts, but stressed the need for transparency in this.
