GAINS. The government peace panel holds a video conference from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia after the 35th round of peace talks.
The government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front are getting closer to arriving at a final peace agreement. In a video conference from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Saturday, January 26, government peace panel chair Miriam Coronel-Ferrer said a comprehensive peace agreement on the Bangsamoro -- one that will replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao -- can be signed by March.
After the 35th round of formal exploratory talks, the government and the MILF now have "a clearer process" and "a more definitive timeframe" to complete the comprehensive agreement, Ferrer said, as both sides expect to sign all 4 annexes on power-sharing, wealth-sharing, normalization, and transitional arrangements and modalities, on February.
A number of "milestones" were achieved during the latest round of talks. The draft annex on Transitional Arrangements and Modalities has been completed by the technical working groups and approved by the peace panels. It is now due for review by the panel's respective principals. This development indicates that both parties have overcome the apparent "technical impasse" over whether the MILF should lead the Bangsamoro Transition Authority.
But Ferrer said there was never any conflict on the idea that the MILF would have a lead role on the transition authority. "It was really the question of how to put in the proper language to reflect the fact that, of course, this is a peace agreement with the MILF, that the new government emerged out of this peace process and therefore, that in the transition, the MILF will play a leading role," Ferrer said.
The government and the MILF also signed the terms of reference for the Third Party Monitoring Team that will "review, assess, evaluate and monitor" the implementation of the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro and its annexes.
Power-sharing and wealth-sharing
Ferrer said talks on the power-sharing and wealth-sharing annexes are now on their final stages, and only 3 remaining issues have to be threshed out. For the power-sharing annex, both parties are still discussing items on:
- allocation of power regarding natural resources
- transportation and communication
- matter of regional waters
For the wealth-sharing annex, the remaining contentious issues are:
- how taxes will be devolved
- the automatic appropriation and release of block grants and subsidies to regions and local governments
- shares and revenues from mineral and other natural resources.
Normalization
Meanwhile, work on the normalization annex is expected to take longer than the other annexes as this includes one of the most contentious aspects of the current stage of the talks -- decommissioning.
Ferrer said the TWGs on normalization are in the process of drafting indicative timetables that will merge together all the different elements needed in the polital process, side by side socio-economic and transitional justice elements. These are the issues that are still under consideration:
- security component
- loose firearms in the regions
- Bangsamoro police force
- maintenance of the ceasefire
Although talks on the normalization annex only started after the signing of the Framework Agreement, Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Teresita Deles said that unlike other provisions on the annexes on power-sharing and wealth-sharing, items under the annex on normalization do not have to go through legislation and can be implemented right away.
These items include the development track for education, health and livelihood services for communities and combatants that, Deles said, can be rolled out "even by next month."
Ferrer said the inventory of firearms owned by the MILF can begin as early as March.
"[The process of normalization] will definitely start within this year because that's the first that's the first step and that first step is accompanied by some deliverables in the politcal process such as the Executive Order, creation of the Transition commission and all other elements," Ferrer said.
Transition Commission to be named within 2 weeks
Members of the 15-member Transition Commission can be named within two weeks, Deles said.
Both parties have already submitted their respective shortlists to the President, who will appoint the members. A total of 8 members will be nominated by the MILF while 7 members will be nominated by the government side.....
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