MANILA – An aide of former president Fidel Ramos, who holds a masters degree in dispute resolution from an American university, has been named the Arroyo administration’s new adviser on the peace process, a senior Malacanang official said.
Press Secretary Cerge Remonde said Annabelle Abaya was appointed by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to to the position of presidential adviser on the peace process which was left vacant when Secretary Avelino Razon Jr. quit to join the mayoralty race in Manila in the May 2010 polls.
Remonde said Abaya is no stranger to the government’s determined bid to talk peace with communist rebels and the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in Mindanao.
Aside from serving as the spokesman of Ramos when he was president, Abaya was also a member of the government panel in the peace talks with the National Democratic Front (NDF), the umbrella organization of communist rebel groups like the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA).
She is president of the Conflict Resolution Group Foundation Incorporated or Core Group and conflict resolution consultant of the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and the Asia Foundation.
Abaya’s biodata released by Malacanang disclosed she holds a master’s degree in dispute resolution from the University of Massachusetts in the US. In addition, she holds a doctorate also in conflict resolution from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy from the US.
According to Abaya, the challenge for her in the last eight months of the Arroyo administration is t come up with a breakthrough in the off-and-on peace negotiations with the MILF.
In addition, Abaya emphasized the urgent need to focus on addressing issues related to women, indigenous people and climate change in resolving the decades-old conflict in Mindanao.
“If there is global climate change, there will be a lot of changes that will be upon us,” she pointed out.”What we need to do is think about how we will adapt.”
Another priority, Abaya said, is a review the peace agreement signed between the government and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) of Nur Misuari, which led, among others, to the establishment of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
At the same time, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita disclosed that President Arroyo already has a list of possible replacements for Cabinet officials who are expected to resign in the coming weeks to run for local or national elective positions in the 2010 polls.
Ermita estimated that 15 Cabinet members have already resigned or are expected to resign soon, including Secretary Gilberto Teodoro of the Department of National Defense (DND) who was chosen by the ruling coalition’s national directorate as its presidential standard bearer next year.
The latest to resign was Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) so that he could concentrate on his plan to join the presidential race.
However, Ermita admitted he and other Malacanang officials could not predict who the President would appoint if Cabinet vacancies occur as he explained: “The choice fo fill a vacant position is only with President Arroyo. She holds her cards close to her chest.”
But he assured there would be no hiatus because the President immediately appoints an officer in charge, who will take over a vacant Cabinet position until a more permanent one is named.
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