Peace deal key to more US aid for Mindanao

From the Manila Standard Today (Jan 25): Peace deal key to more US aid for Mindanao

WASHINGTON has committed to provide economic assistance to Mindanao with the expected conclusion of the peace negotiations between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

“The US will support the government of the Philippines as they go about the peace efforts – specially  we can help in the underpinning any agreement with economic assistance and advises so that people can build on that peaceful resolution,” United States Ambassador Philip Goldberg said in an interview from Zamboanga City.

“We are not part of the talks but we what want to do is to support the peaceful resolution. We will try to help, support the process, even though we are not part of it,” Goldberg added.

The government and the MILF expect to conclude on Sunday the disarmament (normalization) annex and an additional agreement on Bangsamoro waters – the last two remaining documents before a comprehensive peace agreement can be signed – during the ongoing negotiations in Kuala Lumpur that began yesterday.

Goldberg flew to Mindanao to sign an agreement with local government officials of Zamboanga City, Basilan and Sulu for a good governance program.

A faction of the Moro National Liberation Front has already expressed willingness to start unity talks with the MILF.

Muslimin Sema, chairman of the MNLF Council, said his group is not opposed to the peace pact between the government and the MILF, but he underscored the need to respect the 1996 final peace agreement between the government and the MNLF.

Sema said the unity talks must be brokered by the influential 57-member Organization of Islamic Cooperation.

“We are waiting for the proposal from the OIC for the MNLF and the MILF to have a forum that would discuss how the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro and the 1996 government-MNLF agreement can possibly be harmonized,” Sema added.

The government earlier called on the MNLF to help in the Bangsamoro Basic Law that would pave the way for the replacement of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

“Peace negotiations between the government and the MILF are coming to a close, with the projected outcome being the enactment of a new law that will put in place the Bangsamoro government with all its improved provisions for achieving a strengthened autonomy in the region,” presidential peace adviser Teresita Deles said.

“As has been explained by the government and the MILF repeatedly, the BBL is not just for the MILF but for the entire Bangsamoro people. We continue to hope that the various MNLF leadership blocs will come around to seeing the value of engaging themselves, together with other Bangsamoro stakeholders, in crafting the best possible law for the Bangsamoro,” Deles added.

The OIC has already called for a mechanism to ensure that the gains of the 1996 FPA are “preserved” and that the Bangsamoro Basic Law will “integrate these gains.”

The basic law is currently being crafted by a 15-man Bangsamoro Transition Commission.

MNLF founding chairman Nur Misuari, who has gone into hiding after an arrest warrant was issued against him over the Zamboanga siege in October, was earlier invited to join the Transition Commission but he declined.

Once a comprehensive peace pact is signed, the draft BBL will be submitted to Congress and will be certified as urgent by the President.

Aquino earlier said the target is to have the law passed at the latest by mid-2015, after which a plebiscite will be held in the areas that will form part of the Bangsamoro.

The President said an interim authority must be in place for the Bangsamoro a year before the 2016 national elections.

http://manilastandardtoday.com/2014/01/25/peace-deal-key-to-more-us-aid-for-mindanao/