Aquino sees faster peace negotiation with MILF

From the Philippine News Agency (Dec 9): Aquino sees faster peace negotiation with MILF

President Benigno S. Aquino III said he expects the peace negotiations to speed up now that the government and the Moro Islamic Liberations Front signed the agreement on power-sharing annex.

During his attendance to the 80th Founding Anniversary of the Department of Labor and Employment in Quezon City Monday, the President said in an interview that although both sides signed the Framework Agreement last year, they have a huge task in hammering out the details of the annexes which will take time.

Asked if the government and MILF negotiators remain on track in establishing Bangsamoro government by 2016, the President said: “Lahat tayo gusto nating mas maaga mapirmahan ito pero hindi nga ganoon kadali, reason of itong timeframe.”

“Palagay ko ma-a-accelerate ang process para naman makaupo na sila by 2015, after the enactment of the enabling law.”

The President said that after power-sharing, negotiators must iron out normalization, the last hurdle in the talks.

“Medyo hindi ganoon kasimple iyon dahil talagang dito lalabas iyong buong pagtitiwala o ide-demonstrate nito ang buong pagtitiwala ng lahat,” the President said.

Normalization includes MILF fighters going back to folds of the law as well as safeguarding their weapons, he said noting that the issue is contentious since it involves complete trust to the Philippine government by the MILF.

In a press briefing, government chief negotiator Miriam Coronel-Ferrer said in a teleconference from Malaysia that they intend to meet in January to complete the annex on normalization as well as the addendum, which is the timeline.

In the meantime however, the Transition Commission is going on with their meetings in the next few weeks.

Ferrer also said that the committee on wealth-sharing has been working on the text for the draft of the Bangsamoro Basic Law following the signing of the wealth-sharing annex this year.

Negotiators have to work double time given the previous delays, Ferrer said. She added however that they are still working on the same timeline which is to establish the Bangsamoro government and hold the first elections in 2016.

Both panels target to sign the comprehensive agreement by January, she said.

In October last year, the government and the MILF signed the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro aimed at ending decades-long conflict in Mindanao that resulted to a huge number of casualties and instability in the region.

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