The Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) said Friday that sincerity and transparency, a holistic approach to the peace process, inclusion of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and Lumad issues, and effective dissemination of results were among the common issues raised by the people during the just-concluded nationwide “Dialogue Mindanaw.”

Fr. Albert Alejo, head of the Project Management Team for Dialogue Mindanaw, said a strong clamor for sincerity and transparency from both government and MILF peace panels surfaced during the small group discussions.

“You don’t impose your own version of the peace process,” he said during the sharing of “Dialogue Mindanaw” preliminary results before members of media held Thursday afternoon at the OPAPP headquarters in Pasig City.

Alejo said the people were calling on both panels to be transparent in the negotiations.

“One group of the government will speak this way then somebody will drop a bomb somewhere. This sends a message that the government is not sincere,” he said.

Alejo also revealed that based on the consultations, a need for a holistic approach to the peace process was brought up.

“There’s appreciation that peace talks clearly revolve around political issues like boundaries, governance and sharing of natural resources. You can’t separate the political issues from the socio-economic concerns of the people such as delivery of basic services,” he said.

In some areas like Jolo, Tawi-Tawi and Cotabato, participants appealed for the inclusion of the MNLF and Lumad position and perspective of the peace talks.

Alejo likewise shared that on the issue of disseminating the outputs, people asked how the OPAPP proposed to extend the results to the panel to help in solving the long-drawn conflict in Mindanao.

“Dialogue Mindanaw,” held in 13 areas all over the country, was a series of consultations which aimed to get the pulse of the people on the ongoing peace talks between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

A total of 4,158 participants from 15 sectors of society participated in the “reflective dialogues” wherein they voiced out their sentiments and ideas on how to resolve the decades-old conflict in southern Philippines.

Alejo, at the same time, said the people were very happy and appreciated the fact that they were invited in the dialogue.

“People were very happy to have been consulted. They appreciated being invited,” Alejo said. “Some were mistrusting. Some were excited. Some didn’t even know what’s happening, but at the end of the day, people appreciated the process.”

Alejo said many of the participants are not the ones who are normally invited in consultations. Alejo also said “one secure, confident statement” floated up in the consultations.

“Some can’t read and write. Most came from the poor sector,” he said. “It’s the openness of the people to accommodate changes in the Constitution if this is what it takes to end the conflict in Mindanao."