Gov’t-MILF talks to resume on July

MANILA, Philippines - Concerned over complaints of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) on the snail-paced peace negotiations, government panel chairman Miriam Coronel-Ferrer announced yesterday that the next round of formal exploratory talks would finally resume next month.

Ferrer added she has also handed over to MILF chief peace negotiator Mohagher Iqbal the government’s full proposals on the wealth-sharing annex for the MILF to study and consider.

“The panel chairs have already agreed on a date early next month to further discuss the annexes on wealth sharing, power sharing and normalization,” said Ferrer, who met Iqbal at the Oslo Forum 2013 organized by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue earlier this week in Norway.

Iqbal, Malaysian third-party facilitator Tengku Datu Abdul Ghafar Tengku bin Mohamed, MILF peace panel member Maulana Alonto and MILF consultant Raissa Jajurie also attended the Oslo forum.

The forum provided a venue for senior third-party conflict mediators and other key peace process actors to share experiences, identify challenges, and reflect on their own and others’ peace process practices. 

Ferrer said both panels are completing the remaining annexes on wealth sharing, power sharing, and normalization that, together with the framework agreement on the Bangsamoro, will comprise the government-MILF comprehensive agreement.

Ferrer said the annex on Transitional Arrangements and Modalities was already signed by the parties last February.

For his part, government peace panel member Senen Bacani expressed optimism that a comprehensive agreement will be signed in the next two months.

“I am very hopeful that we will finish this comprehensive agreement in a month or two,” he said.

MILF vice chairman Ghazali Jaafar did not share Bacani’s optimism, saying the rebel group’s leadership has yet to approve the government proposal for a fresh round of formal talks.

“Those (talks in July) is what we have been hearing very recently but we have not yet officially received such a proposal,” he said.

The talks, which began in 1997, aim to create an autonomous Muslim region in Mindanao.

The two sides signed a preliminary agreement in October outlining the broad terms for a peace treaty that would be signed by 2016, before President Aquino leaves office.

However, both sides have since acknowledged difficulties in threshing out the details of key issues like wealth- and power-sharing within the proposed autonomous region, as well as disarming and demobilizing the MILF.

The government statement said next month’s proposed talks would further discuss “wealth-sharing, power sharing and normalization.”

Bacani said there are only a few remaining issues on the annexes but added these are the most difficult, hence the need for due diligence “so that when the comprehensive agreement will finally be signed, it will pass legal and constitutional scrutiny.”

He added they wanted to make sure that the comprehensive agreement would not follow the fate of the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain that was declared unconstitutional in 2008.

The government, Bacani said, continues its consultations with the House of Representatives and the Senate, including the newly elected legislators, to ensure they are updated on the peace negotiations and to get their support.

“We need a little patience and understanding for these delays as we have no control over the schedules of other people,” Bacani said.

“What is important is that we continue to be committed to settle these issues, and once and for all complete the comprehensive agreement so that the Bangsamoro Transition Commission can also start drafting the Bangsamoro Basic Law,” he added.

Ferrer and Presidential Adviser on Peace Process Teresita Deles are also attending the two-day high-level seminar on Gender and Inclusive Mediation Processes that began yesterday in Oslo.

The seminar intends to “generate more consultative processes by promoting women’s effective participation and building inclusive, gender-sensitive mediation capacity at international, regional and national levels.”

The seminar was organized by the United Nations Department of Political Affairs, Crisis Management Initiative, and the Peace Research Institute Oslo.