Need to resolve remaining GPH-MILF annexes underscored

From the Philippine News Agency (Apr 3): Need to resolve remaining GPH-MILF annexes underscored

Mohaqher Iqbal, chair of the negotiating panel of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), maintained his previous assertion that the three remaining annexes to the peace talks between the Front and the Philippine government should be completed before the May 2013 elections so that the newly-created Transition Commission (TransCom) can proceed with its task of drafting the Basic Law.

Iqbal, in a press briefing held today at the Crowne Plaza Hotel here, said these annexes are so ‘vital’ to the Basic Law, a law that will replace the Organic Act that created the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

“This is why the postponement of the peace talks is not a good move,” said Iqbal.

The scheduled peace talks on March 25 to 27 were postponed on a later date in April based on the request of President Aquino.

The three remaining annexes to the GPH-MILF talks include power-sharing, wealth-sharing, and normalization.

The Annex on the Transitional Arrangements was completed in February.

Iqbal, who also chairs the TransCom, said that once the annexes are laid down, the TransCom’s task would be finished in 2014.

They expected to establish the Transitional Authority by 2015, a year before the presidential elections.

When asked if the Commission would be able to complete its task on time, Maulana Alonto, an activist from Lanao del Sur and a member of the TransCom, said that they “would race against time.”

“But we won’t do this in a haste. We will do it according to the road map that we have agreed upon. This will depend primarily on the Commission,” said Alonto.

Secretary Teresita Deles of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP), during the opening of the first meeting of the TransCom, stressed the seriousness of the challenge to ‘complete’ the peace track.

“We will not cease in our steps forward. As the President said, we do not want to pass on an unfinished business to the next administration. We are in a race against time. Without setting rigid deadlines, we have a timetable and we are serious about it,” said Deles.

One of the issues perceived by many as factor in the postponement of the GPH-MILF talks was the crisis in Sabah, Malaysia.

But Iqbal was quick in saying the Sabah crisis “is a non-issue”, both to the ongoing peace negotiations and to TransCom’s job.

He said that the claims of the Sultanate of Sulu over Sabah “had never been an issue in the negotiations.”

“It was not even part of the MILF agenda,” he stressed.

Also, he said the Sabah issue will not be part of the ‘talking points’ of the TransCom as it drafts the Basic Law.

The Sabah issue, according to Commissioner Johaira Wahab, has several dimensions.

“There is political, security, historical, and humanitarian aspect of the Sabah issue. These aspects are being dealt with accordingly,” said Wahab.

She, however, admitted the TransCom can’t resolve any of those issues attached to Sabah as this is not part of their ‘power’ or authority.

The proper venue, she stressed, is the Department of Foreign Affairs through proper diplomatic channels.

But even if the settlement of the conflict in Sabah is not part of the mandate of the TransCom, she said it does not prevent the Commission from not reaching to the affected communities.

“Even if we can’t resolve that, there is nothing that would prevent us from reaching us to the communities, because, they are, after all, Bangsamoro,” said Wahab.

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