Talks stalled as MILF insists on BTA leadership

From Malaya (Dec 18): Talks stalled as MILF insists on BTA leadership

THE Moro Islamic Liberation Front reported a “technical impasse” in the last round of formal talks with government but reported gains in the follow-on details of the Bangsamoro framework agreement signed last October. The nature of the “technical impasse” was not disclosed, although it was believed it was the failure of negotiators to address properly the sole leadership of the MILF to head the Bangsamoro Transition Authority.

The MILF, in its website, said Malaysian facilitator Dato Tengku Ab’ Ghaafar bin Mohamed adjourned Saturday the 34th round of exploratory talks held in Malaysia “without a closing program, joint statement, and date for the next round of talks.” The MILF said its peace panel did not push for the issuance of a joint statement and scheduling of the next round of talks because “there are no formal agreements whether in the level of the panel or of the technical working groups (TWGs) that merited mentioning or acknowledgment.”

Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said the technical impasse is “not insurmountable” but was mum on whether the target to sign a peace agreement by year end is still possible. The government and MILF peace panels were supposed to finish the annexes to the Bangsamoro framework on wealth-sharing, power-sharing and normalization before the year ends. It was in these areas that the MILF reported “tremendous gains.” “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,” it said, citing an estimate given by a member of the MILF peace panel secretariat. Lacierda said: “How the government panel looks at it is that the ‘technical impasse’ as how the MILF described it is not insurmountable. In fact, there has been progress made so we don’t see any reason why the annexes will not be signed. But, as to the schedule, as to the date, that is something that we would leave with the government panel. We don’t have any specific schedule on that.”

The MILF said the chairman of its peace panel, Mohagher Iqbal, had warned prior to the adjournment of the talks that they were heading for a technical impasse after a “grueling session that started in the TWG level” last Friday on who is going to lead the Bangsamoro Transition Authority which will be set up under the framework agreement. “The government peace panel wanted the ‘Bangsamoro’ to lead it, which the MILF argued as a menu for the ‘struggle of the fittest and chaos’ as this would imply that the chairman of the BTA is open for grabs,” it said. It quoted Maulana Alonto, a member of the MILF peace panel who is sitting in the panel-to-panel TWG discussions on modalities and transitional arrangements, as saying that “the MILF leading the BTA is a non-negotiable matter,” noting the 16 years of peace negotiations.  It said Alonto “pointedly told” government negotiators that the MILF-led BTA formulation “is a crucial position that the MILF Peace Panel can never abandon and therefore it is a ‘take it or leave it’ proposition to which the GPH Peace Panel should give serious thought to before rejecting or modifying it.” The MILF website also said that Iqbal does not believe that the stance of the government peace panel reflects the “thinking” of President Aquino, who witnessed signing of the framework agreement in Malacañang last October 15 together with MILF chairman Murad Ibrahim.

Lacierda said once the panel finishes the annexes, they would still have to be approved by the principals. He said presidential adviser on the peace process Teresita Deles told him that “significant progress” has been made after the “impasse” and that a number of points are being discussed “very, very positively.” He said the matter of who will head the Transition Commission is “not an issue” because President Aquino will appoint eight persons from the MILF as members of the 15-member commission. An executive order creating the Transition Commission was signed yesterday by Aquino. “That can be resolved. Again, the position of Secretary Ging Deles and the chair, si Miriam Coronel-Ferrer, is that that particular impasse is not insurmountable. That is a matter of language that we can discuss,” he said.

http://malaya.com.ph/index.php/news/nation/20258-talks-stalled-as-milf-insists-on-bta-leadership