Quadripartite Council proposed to monitor 1996 FPA accords

From the Manila Bulletin (Sep 17): Quadripartite Council proposed to monitor 1996 FPA accords

The Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) group chaired by former Cotabato City vice mayor Muslimin G. Sema has proposed a Quadripartite Council to monitor the implementation of the accords following the six-year-old tripartite review of the 1996 Final Peace Agreement (FPA).

The proposal was presented this month to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), said lawyer Bayan G. Balt, legal counsel to the MNLF-Sema group.

The proposed Quadripartite Council includes representatives from the OIC, the Philippine government, the MNLF, and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

Balt said the MNLF indicated in the proposal includes all MNLF factions, including that led by founding chairman Nur P. Misuari, the Sema group, and the one headed by Habib Mujahab Hashim, the Islamic Command Council (MNLF-ICC).

Balt said the proposal was submitted to the Peace Committee for Southern Philippines (OIC-PCSP) through Indonesian Ambassador Hassan Kleib in Davao City on Sept. 5.

Indonesia has been chairing the OIC-PCSP for 20 years.

“Representatives from the MNLF groups met separately with Ambassador Hassan Kleib for a consultation on the tripartite meeting in Jogjakarta,” he said.

“Our proposal was relayed to the representatives of Brother Nur Misuari,” said Balt.
It was during the consultation that the group of Sema submitted the proposal for the Quadripartite Council to the Indonesian official, he said.

“The objective of the council is to monitor the implementation of the 42 consensus points in the tripartite review and to discuss problems affecting the FPA and the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro (FAB),” said Balt.

He said the proposal was supposed to be discussed at the Jogjakarta peace meeting, which was postponed on the request of Misuari.

“Hopefully, it would be in the agenda when the meeting is held in the first week of October,” Balt said.

As this developed, Abdul “Kong” Sahrin, secretary general of the MNLF-Sema group, said a meeting of MNLF senior leaders was planned for today.

Sahrin said he was not aware of the agenda, and that the venue being talked about is either Pagadian City or Zamboanga City.

Balt described it as a “convergence meeting.”

“Our brothers in Zamboanga City preferred that it would be held in the city, close to the ongoing crisis,” said Sahrin.

“They will not want to leave their families behind with the very fluid situation,” he said.

http://www.mb.com.ph/quadripartite-council-proposed-to-monitor-1996-fpa-accords/