Govt chief negotiator: There’s enough mechanism to solve problems on the ground

From the Philippine News Agency (Dec 9): Govt chief negotiator: There’s enough mechanism to solve problems on the ground

There are enough mechanisms on the ground to avoid hostilities while the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front thresh out the remaining annex of the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro signed by both sides last year, the government chief negotiator said on Monday.

In the teleconference from Malaysia with Palace reporters, chief negotiator Miriam Coronel-Ferrer said that the government always keeps in touch with their counterparts whenever there are problems arising on the ground.

One example is the attacks committed by the MILF in Lanao and Marawi City, she said.

Ferrer said that as both parties craft a permanent peace pact in Mindanao there are stumbling blocks that may arise along the way.

“We have always said that the road ahead is going to be rough and these are the kinds of problems that we know we will be encountering along the way, but, I think what is important is that we have the mechanisms to be able to address things that we are able to extract that kind of accountability and discipline that is expected of everyone as … committed to the negotiated settlement,” she said.

For instance, during the incidents in Lanao and Marawi City, Ferrer said they held two executive sessions with their counterpart in the MILF.

That set off the process of immediately contacting respective ceasefire committees, contacting the commanders that were involved in the incidents and making sure that the remedial steps are undertaken, she said.

The process led to the immediate release of the police chief in Marawi City and in another incident the release of abducted civilians, Ferrer said.

The government and the MILF recently signed the agreement on power-sharing annex and gear up to thresh out the normalization annex. Both sides target to sign the comprehensive agreement next year.

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