Govt, MILF negotiators tackle annexes but reach 'impasse'

From GMA News (Dec 16): Govt, MILF negotiators tackle annexes but reach 'impasse'

Peace negotiators of the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front met in Malaysia to work on the draft annexes that would complement a framework peace agreement they signed last October. But while the government side said both sides made substantial progress on the draft annexes, the MILF said the talks ended in a "technical impasse." “It was a very rigorous process with hard and exhaustive discussions but we are pleased to note that the GPH-MILF table has found common language on many of the remaining issues,” new government chief negotiator Miriam Ferrer said as the talks ended Saturday evening, the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process said.

Both panels formed new teams of two panel members each and their respective heads of secretariat to flesh out the annex on Transitional Arrangements and Modalities. This annex detailed the political road-map that will lead to the establishment of the elected Bangsamoro government in 2016.

Ferrer said the team on Transitional Arrangements and Modalities was able to complete a draft. During the talks, the technical working groups (TWGs) for the annexes on Power-Sharing, Wealth-Sharing and Normalization also submitted their output to the panels.“We will now be conferring with our principals on all the current drafts produced by the TWGs and elevated to the panels for resolution,” Ferrer said. She added that while both sides had aimed to complete all the annexes this year, the panels recognize the amount of detail that still needs to be worked out. “Flexibility has always been our trademark in this process. There are difficult issues, but no issue is insurmountable,” she said.

On the other hand, the MILF said the 34th exploratory peace talks ended in a “technical” impasse after the Malaysian facilitator, Dato Tengku Ab’ Ghaafar bin Mohamed, adjourned the session at 7:30 p.m. Saturday. It noted there was no closing program, joint statement, or date for the next round of talks. The MILF said its peace panel did not push for a joint statement and date for the next round of talks, as that there are no formal agreements whether in the level of the panel or of the TWGs that merited mentioning or acknowledgment. However, it echoed the government's assessment that the parties made "tremendous gains" on the four annexes, including power sharing, wealth sharing, modalities and arrangements, and normalization. "The work on power-sharing is 95 percent settled; on wealth-sharing, 60 percent settled; on Modalities and Arrangement, 99 percent; and on Normalization, 30 percent," the MILF quoted a member of its peace panel secretariat as saying.

Heading for technical impasse

MILF peace panel chairman Mohagher Iqbal forewarned the parties of a “technical impasse” after a grueling session that started in the TWG level. At the time, both sides were discussing whether the MILF would lead the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA). The government peace panel wanted the “Bangsamoro” to lead it, but the MILF argued that such a position might lead to “struggle of the fittest and chaos” as this would imply that the chairman of the BTA is open for grabs. Iqbal said that he does not believe this position of the government peace panel reflects the thinking of President Benigno Aquino III.

MILF peace panel member Abhoud Syed Lingga suggested that the series of events both in the international and domestic fronts pointed to efforts to reconcile the GPH-MNLF Final Peace Agreement of 1996 and the GPH-MILF Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro. Another MILF peace panel member, Maulana Alonto, said the MILF leading the BTA is a non-negotiable matter, arguing that the MILF has long been the partner of the government in peace-making in the last 16 years. In the plenary session of the panels that climaxed the end of the talks, Alonto pointedly told the GPH Peace Panel that the MILF-led BTA formulation that has been reflected in the Modalities and Transitional Arrangement Annex draft is a crucial position that the MILF Peace Panel can never abandon. He added it is a “take it or leave it” proposition, to which the government peace panel should give serious thought before rejecting or modifying it. “This treatment is not reasonable, fair, and humane,” said Datu Antonio Kinoc, an alternate member of the MILF peace panel.

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