Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton described the peace and order situation in the Philippines as “fragile” following the issues hounding the peace talks between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

Clinton made the remark as she presented government chief negotiator Miriam Coronel-Ferrer with the Hillary Rodham Clinton Award for Advancing Women in Peace and Security at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday (Thursday in Manila).

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Ferrer was recognized as the only female chief negotiator for a government in a peace process “anywhere in the world.”

Ferrer shared the Clinton Award with Staffan di Mistura, United Nations special envoy tasked to seek a peaceful resolution to the conflict in Syria.

Clinton said the peace agreement between the government and the MILF “was just the beginning” of the search for a lasting resolution to the decades-long conflict in Central Mindanao.

“Now, the treaty is just a beginning. The situation in the Philippines is fragile; the work must continue,” Clinton said at the awarding ceremony.

Clinton, who had announced her presidential bid in the 2016 US elections, juxtaposed the important role women play in attaining peace and security in many parts of the world with Ferrer’s work as the first female government chief negotiator.

“Even in those worst situations, we can’t see women as victims, we must see them as so much more. They are agents of change, they are drivers of progress and, yes, they are makers of peace,” Clinton said.

She described the Moro insurgency in the Philippines as a “conflict that raged in the country’s second largest island for decades.”

“There were many attempts, I certainly did what I could while I was Secretary of State to encourage such efforts to try to bring a bloody insurgency to an end. But it was not until Miriam Coronel-Ferrer stepped into the leadership role and took over the negotiations for the government that real progress began,” Clinton said.

Clinton noted Ferrer’s “mantra” of inclusivity that ultimately led to the signing of the peace agreement with the MILF.

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