By CAROLYN ARGUILLAS
MindaNews
DAVAO CITY.— The “all out peace” and “primacy of the peace process” policy statements notwithstanding, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo ends her nine-year presidency with peace as elusive as it was under predecessor Joseph Estrada, the man who declared “all out war” against the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) on March 21, 2000. [Read also MINDANEWS SPECIAL: ‘GRP, MILF clash in drafts,’ Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 ]
For one who promised “all out peace” in contrast to her predecessor’s “all out war,” and who in her 2005 State of the Nation Address bragged “permanent peace in Mindanao is within reach,” Ms. Arroyo has become the only post-Marcos era president with at least two major wars fought against the MILF: in 2003 and 2008—both avoidable wars, coming as they did, in the midst of peace talks. More…