Peace pact with MILF still far off — Govt

From the Manila Standard Today (Jan 21): Peace pact with MILF still far off — Govt

AFTER failing to conclude a final peace agreement with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in a self-imposed deadline last month, the Aquino administration on Sunday admitted that “much work is still needed” to finish the four annexes needed to complete the landmark accord. The two panels resumed formal negotiations in Kuala Lumpur the same day, and government chief negotiator Miriam Ferrer described the talks as “crucial.”

“Much work is still needed to find a middle ground on certain core issues,” Ferrer said. “Both parties are open to consider options on the remaining difficulties across the annexes, including the technical impasse pertaining to the Bangsamoro Transition Authority.”The four annexes on power-sharing, wealth-sharing, normalization and transitional arrangements and modalities will make up the comprehensive peace pact with the MILF.

Ferrer said both parties were bringing technical experts to provide advice on matters relating to natural resources and transportation. “This is to ensure that we will make informed decisions on these issues,” she said. She expressed optimism it would take just one more round of negotiations before the annexes were signed. “There may be some items over which we would have to confer once more with our respective principals before we seal the texts,” Ferrer said. “With conviction, goodwill and earnest partnership with the MILF, we can make this [the signing of the peace pact] happen very soon.”

Earlier, presidential peace adviser Teresita Deles said the normalization process with the MILF would also result in the disarmament of other armed groups in Mindanao. “You don’t just talk about the arms of the MILF, but also of everyone else. That is part of normalization,” Deles said. “How can you ask the MILF to completely disarm if other groups or some families are armed? We are looking for a real partnership among the government, the MILF and other governance constituencies to look at this matter on how to make a life more secure, to trust in the state forces to make them secure, and be engaged in other productive activities.”

Deles said both parties would also work to reduce and control the firearms in Mindanao. “As put in the framework agreement, decommissioning is phased and calibrated and will start once political commitments are delivered. We agreed that substantial decommissioning happens when the basic law is delivered,” Deles said. “The MILF shall undertake a graduated program for decommissioning its forces so that they are put beyond use.”

President Benigno Aquino III has said he wants a new law creating the Bangsamoro—the new autonomous political entity embodied by the framework agreement with the MILF—to be enacted by 2015. He said an interim authority should be in place by 2015, or a year before the next national elections. “We need the organic act enacted into law by 2015. This will be passed through Congress and approved in a plebiscite and we hope to install the new government with a mandate after 2016 elections. There will be an interim authority from 2015 to 2016,” Mr. Aquino said. The President acknowledged that the spoilers of the peace process would still be there, but he expressed optimism that they would be a spent force by the time the Bangsamoro was put in place.

http://manilastandardtoday.com/2013/01/21/peace-pact-with-milf-still-far-off-govt/