Negotiating with the MILF was a big mistake. Resuming talks with it would a graver one. If MILF does not get what it wants, there will be trouble. The bloodshed that followed the SC order suspending the signing of the MOA-AD is an example. If it gets its demand, there will be an even greater trouble. Would the residents of the ceded area allow themselves to be governed by MILF? Imagine the power struggle that would most likely ensue! Lesson: let not any bandit group browbeat us into submission.

What is the solution? Vigorous implemention of Republic Act No. 8371, also known as “The Indigenous Peoples Rights Act of 1997,” the State recognizes and promotes certain rights of Indigenous Cultural Communities/Indigenous Peoples (ICCs/IPs) within the framework of the Constitution. If Tausogs, Manobos, T’bolis, Dumagats, Mangyans, agtas, and other ethnic groups are given title to the lands that are rightfully theirs, would they still join any armed group demanding rights to ancestral domains? Land ownership is tribal, not religious. Let it be that way.