MILF panel walks out of KL talks

From the Daily Tribune (Jul 12): MILF panel walks out of KL talks

PEACE NEGOTIATIONS NOW UNCERTAIN

Members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) walked out of the peace negotiating table in Kuala Lumpur yesterday as they rejected a wealth-sharing annex that was rehashed in Malacañang after being initialed by negotiators of both the MILF and the government at a previous meeting.

The walkout happened late in the afternoon with the MILF members leaving the venue of the peace talks without signing any documents presented by the government panel.

A report from online news service Rappler cited a text message from MILF peace panel chairman Mohagher Iqbal describing the result of the currrent negotiations in Malaysia with the government on the creation of the Bangsamoro substate as “fruitless talk.”

Iqbal also indicated that the proposal for the wealth sharing annex presented by the government was “too rigid.”

The MILF contingent left without giving any commitment to return to the negotiating table today, the report said.

President Aquino’s spokesman Edwin Lacierda was with the negotiating teams, apparently sent by Aquino, but he refused to comment when asked about what transpired during the meeting.

Earlier, Aquino said a long meeting was held the other day that lasted until midnight to draw the government panel’s agenda in the talks.

“We finished at about midnight, last night, going over the budget, and some details about our ongoing negotiations on the annexes on the Framework Peace Agreement with the Bangsamoro. So, it took us quite a long while, and I had to admit the energy level was a bit down this morning…,” Aquino said.

Last July 8, in Kuala Lumpur,  before the talks resumed, members of both panels had discussed the delays in the peace process and tried to resolve them through letters.

At the  opening of the peace talks held at the State Room of the Palace of the Golden Horses hotel in Kuala Lumpur,  Mohager Iqbal, MILF peace panel chairman, had revealed  that MILF chairman Al Haj Murad Ebrahim “decided to write” President Aquino a letter to reiterate the “unwavering commitment of the MILF to resolve the conflict peacefully” and “politely informed him (President) of the growing frustration of the people and some members of the MILF as a result of the delay of the talks.”

The meeting in Malacañang last Wednesday began at 10 am and lasted until 8 pm in the evening.

Aquino did not mention, however, the exchanges of notes with the MILF leaders.
Iqbal said Murad explained to Aquino that the delay was perceived to be not coming from the side of the MILF but from the administration.

Iqbal did not say what Murad’s recommendations were but said “the President responded positively to the letter.”

“I am so sorry I cannot disclose the content of the letter because I don’t have the mandate to do so. Our chairman did not allow that copies be made except one that is intended for the Facilitator for the record of the Malaysian Secretariat,” Iqbal said.

Iqbal did not say when Murad wrote the President and to whom it was coursed.
Aquino had his meetings with Murad three times: on Aug. 4, 2011 in Japan; on October 12, 2012 in Malacanang at the signing of the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro (FAB); and on Feb. 11, 2013 at the launching of the government’s socio-economic initiative, “Sajahatra Bangsamoro” in Cotabato province.

None among the officials of the office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace Process (OPAPP) had made mention that letters were have been exchanged between Murad and Aquino.

Iqbal noted that the last time the panels met in Kuala Lumpur on April 8 to 11, they agreed to exchange notes and to meet again after the May 13 elections.

Malaysian facilitator, Dato’ Tengku Abd’ Ghafar bin Mohamed, who shuttled between Manila and Maguindanao on June 6 to 8, had played a crucial role on how to resolve the contentious  issues on the remaining three annexes by serving as courier in the exchanges of notes between the parties.

Iqbal in his opening statement for the current talks in Malaysia, however, hinted of the feeling of frustration from the MILF.

“It has been two months and 29 days since we met here last April 11 for the 37th GPH-MILF Exploratory Talks where we agreed “to exchange notes on the coming days” and “to meet again after the May 13 Philippine elections.” That did not happen,” he said.

During the “long period of uncertainty in the talks, so much negative speculations have filled the air. It is not good to hear these, but they were all expressed loud and clear. To many, the impression is that there is an impasse of the peace talks,” he added.

He added the official explanation coming from government that they needed time to conduct a due diligence study on wealth-sharing is less discernible because “the annex on wealth-sharing, alongside annex on power-sharing, has been on the agenda since July 2012; and members of the two peace panels have initialled the annex on wealth-sharing on Feb. 27, after no less than two from each peace panel led by their respective chairmen, had agreed on the final text of this annex during several rounds of executive sessions.”

“The parties must find a political solution that is above the current Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and below independence. If we faithfully subscribe to this formulation, the parties can move the process very fast. There would be no back-and-forth movements like what happened for the last more four months,” Iqbal added.

“We express our grave concern over the reported government’s changing policy on our relations with development partners and the GPH instruction to these development partners to slow in their engagements with the MILF,” he added.
http://www.tribune.net.ph/index.php/headlines/item/16569-milf-panel-walks-out-of-kl-talks