Secretary Teresita Deles of OPAPP is all smiles in this file photo with MILF chairman Murad when the framework agreement was first forged in October 2012. Formal peace talks for a comprehensive agreement resumed this week, and both panels signed one of the stickiest matters, the annex on wealth sharing, before midnight Sunday.
The government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front signed before midnight Sunday the wealth-sharing annex to a comprehensive peace framework agreement after extending talks in order to resolve the sticky provisions in Kuala Lumpur, the top Palace peace adviser said.
The negotiations over the annex were completed about 10:30pm Saturday, July 13, according to Secretary Teresita Deles of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP).
The draft on wealth-sharing between the two entities provides for a fiscal arrangement that is better than what exists in the current Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).
"There will be more taxing powers and a more defined sharing of government resources on the whole, in keeping with the goal of having a strong and viable autonomous Bangsamoro governance," chief government negotiator Miriam Coronel-Ferrer had said in early July.
The negotiations that resumed this week got momentarily stalled on Thursday, however, prompting both sides to agree to extend by another day what was supposed to be a four-day session in the Malaysian capital.
The government was moved to appeal to the rebel group not to be "caught up in the trees and missing the forest."
Government chief negotiator Ferrer said in a statement Friday that both parties "need to find good compromises on key issues like taxation and revenue sharing," but added, “we need flexibility on both sides."
The government panel was earlier hopeful that discussions on the wealth-sharing annex would be concluded during this week's round of formal negotiations.
Ferrer, in her opening statement Tuesday, hinted that the talks might result in the signing of one of the three remaining drafts.
"A few days ago, several friends, all leading lights in their respective organizations, visited me in the office to express their support. They even brought a gift -- a pair of pens. And we all know on what occasions we have special use of pens. That’s why I have these pens with me in this trip," she said.
In early July, Ferrer had said, "It's in this stage that both parties want to come to terms with the remaining issues, specially pertaining to the wealth-sharing annex that has taken a long time to process."
"If things go well, we might be able to have a good working draft of the power sharing annex with only few items left for resolution."
3 remaining issues
The wealth-sharing is one of the three remaining issues -- wealth sharing, power sharing and normalization or laying down of arms -- to be settled under the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro signed by government and MILF negotiators in October last year.
Jaafar had earlier accused the Philippine government of deliberately delaying the signing of a final peace agreement for reneging on its commitment to return to the negotiating table immediately after the May elections.
He said that they were disgusted over the government's proposal to amend the already-initialed wealth-sharing agreement. He said they would mostly likely reject the proposal.
The MILF has been fighting government troops for decades to establish a self-ruling Muslim state in southern Philippines.
The Aquino administration and the MILF formally signed the framework agreement on October 15, 2012, a road map for final political settlement to end the decades-long armed struggle in southern Philippines.
However, the two sides have not reached agreements on the three contentious issues -- wealth sharing, power sharing and "normalization", or the laying down of arms by the MILF and reassimilation of its fighters into society.
http://www.interaksyon.com/article/66281/govt-milf-sign-wealth-sharing-annex-to-peace-accord
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.