MILF: Signed agreements would be MILF’s guide for peace process continuity

Posted to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front Website (Jul 22): Signed agreements would be MILF’s guide for peace process continuity



Protocols and mechanisms established by signed agreements will remain to be the guide of the MILF in the continuity of the peace process, according to its Chief Peace Negotiator Mohagher Iqbal.

Speaking during a book launch in Makati City on Tuesday (July 19), Iqbal stressed that the “continuity of the peace process will, in great respect, proceed along lines already mutually agreed upon, most essentially those stipulated in the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB).”

Iqbal said that the MILF has not yet engaged the Government of the Philippines (GPH) “formally” as they still await their counterparts in the GPH Peace Panel.

As of now, the peace panel of the government in talks with the MILF has not yet been reconstituted by the Duterte administration.

Formal engagements between the two parties can only be done by the peace panels, Iqbal said.

A day earlier, Malacanan announced the approval of a “peace road map” by Pres. Duterte which will “address the Bangsamoro issue, the impending resumption of peace negotiations with the Communist Party of the Philippines/New People’s Army/National Democratic Front (CPP/NPA/NDF), and the implementation of closure agreements with other rebel groups in the country.”

OPAPP Undersecretary for Operations Diosita T. Andot, who represented Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Sec. Jesus G. Dureza during the book launching, mentioned in her speech that “the new proposed Bangsamoro enabling law will be done simultaneous with the moves to shift to a federal set-up,” with the latter “expected to come later in the planned time line.”

Andot also said that the Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC) will be reconstituted and strengthened to make it “more inclusive”. It will also be mandated to propose amendments to the Philippine Constitution that are pertinent to the Bangsamoro as inputs towards eventual federalism in the country.

New book on the peace process

Iqbal and Andot were the invited speakers during the launching of “Mindanao:The Long Journey to Peace and Prosperity”, a collection of essays edited by Australian National University (ANU) Prof. Paul D. Hutchcroft.

Former GPH Peace Panel Chair Prof. Miriam Coronel-Ferrer and Australian Ambassador to the Philippines Amanda Gorley also gave messages for the event.

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