This time, no flip-flopping on MILF deal, Palace vows

From the Manila Standard Today (Jun 24): This time, no flip-flopping on MILF deal, Palace vows

After being accused by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front of flip-flopping on the issue of wealth-sharing, Malacañang has promised that this time, the draft annex submitted to the MILF will no longer be modified by the government.
“The details (on the wealth-sharing annex) coming from the government side have already been ironed out,” deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte.”We are ready, and we are optimistic.”

The government’s decision to revise its draft annex on wealth-sharing caused formal talks with the MILF to hit a snag.

The MILF insisted that it would only agree to the formula contained in the original draft which was initialed by chief negotiators Miriam Ferrer for the government and Mohagher Iqbal for the Moros in February.

“It (draft wealth-sharing annex) was already initialed. Why change it? It has gone through discussions already,” MILF vice chairman for political affairs Ghadzali Jaafar said.

A well-placed source in the peace process noted that the “initaled” draft provided for a 75-25 wealth-sharing formula in favor of the Bangsamoro.

After the initialed draft was presented to the Palace, however, the government negotiating panel had to ask the MILF to reconsider the formula and pushed for a 50-50 “compromise” instead.

Ferrer submitted the government’s final wealth-sharing annex draft to Iqbal last week when they met informally at a forum in Norway.

The government negotiator disclosed that formal talks will resume next month, but she did not give any indication if a comprehensive peace agreement can be signed before the President delivers his State of the Nation Address on July 22.

Ferrer said the government panel only wanted to exercise prudence on the wealth-sharing annex.

“The President is committed to delivering an agreement that will allow the Bangsamoro to enjoy effective and meaningful fiscal autonomy but also take into account the legal, political, and administrative constraints of the central government,” she said.

“These are the considerations as to why government wishes to introduce some changes to the draft annex, particularly with regard some aspects of taxation, fund transfer mechanisms, and revenue sharing,” Ferrer added.

On power-sharing, she said both panels are trying to arrive at a language that will make the annex “legally defensible and doable.”

President  Aquino  earlier said he wanted the Basic Law for the Bangsamoro to be enacted by 2015, with an interim authority in place a year before the 2016 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,” Aquino said.

http://manilastandardtoday.com/2013/06/24/this-time-no-flip-flopping-on-milf-deal-palace-vows/