MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) - The peace process between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the country's largest Muslim rebel group, has continued to gain headway, as the Transition Commission, a body created to draft the Basic Law for the new Bangsamoro region in the south, was set to hold its first en banc session in the coming week, a government official said today.
The 15-member commission will begin its work on drafting the Basic Law following its first meeting on April 3, government peace panel chair Miriam Coronel-Ferrer said., Of its members, seven were nominated by the government while eight were recommended by the MILF.
"The government panel will work closely with the Transition Commission in continuing to reach out to the public and coming up with a draft law that will embody the just aspirations of the peace negotiations," she said.
The draft Basic Law will be certified as urgent by President Benigno Aquino III and submitted to Congress for passage, and it is subjected to a plebiscite in the proposed core territory of Bangsamoro. Once the law is ratified, the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao will be abolished and the new Bangsamoro region will be established.
Amid calls of civil society groups for both parties to resume formal talks, Ferrer assured stakeholders that "the two-week postponement does not in any way derail a process that has already gained momentum and wide support, locally and internationally."
She said that the government's request for more time to review the draft documents and the remaining issues only indicate the kind of due diligence it has always exercised in the process.
The government asked the MILF to postpone the March peace talks to give Aquino more time to study three of the four annexes of the framework agreement on the Bangsamoro (FAB), which was signed by both parties in October last year.
The government and the MILF panels are set to finalize three out of four annexes, which together with the FAB will constitute the comprehensive agreement.
The annex on transitional arrangements and modalities, which lays out the road map for the establishment of Bangsamoro, was signed by the parties on February 27. Those almost completed are the annexes on power-sharing, wealth-sharing, and normalization.