A number of President Aquino’s Cabinet men have responded positively to the agenda of a peace mission from Southern Philippines as the week-long lobbying in Manila culminates with a two-day "National Solidarity Conference on Mindanao" (NSCM) in Diliman, Quezon City starting Friday.

Mindanao People's Caucus (MPC), which advocates peace from the grassroots, organized the mission to bring to what some leaders from the South call "Imperial Manila" the tri-people's – Christian, Muslim, and Lumad – agenda focusing on various issues related to finding an end to the conflict in the South.

They also brought with them Bishop Orlando B. Quevedo's suggestion on the need for the Aquino administration "to be open to the principles of self-determination and probe how such a guiding principle could be implemented in fidelity to the spirit of the Constitution while transcending or amending its letter."

MPC chairman Pastor Montecillo said the NSCM is "our effort to try to understand what political negotiated settlement is all about to come up with our own plan on how to popularize and explain it to our constituents as part of our contribution and support to the peace process." It will be held at the University of the Philippines in Diliman.

In a statement from the organizers, they received assurances on their agenda during their meetings starting on Monday with some of Aquino's Cabinet officials.

Among the responses: – Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin assured them the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) will come up with a directive ordering soldiers and government militias not to occupy public facilities such as schools and barangay halls (in Maguindanao, some soldiers have occupied even mosques) and the AFP will probe allegations that soldiers are recruiting minors from the indigenous community.

– Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo emphatically declared that members of the Citizens Volunteer Organizations (CVOs) will be disarmed, that in the government-Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) peace talks something will happen and "LGUs should be taken as part of the government" in relation with the MoA-AD fiasco.

Lawyer Mary Ann Arnado, MPC secretary general, informed Gazmin that her group has been a staunch supporter of the Mindanao peace process.

"We want to support efforts to come with viable solutions to achieve peace in Mindanao," she said, adding MPC would like also to support the Department of National Defense (DND).