Dureza hails achievements of fast-paced Bangsamoro peace talks

From the Philippine News Agency (Aug 15): Dureza hails achievements of fast-paced Bangsamoro peace talks

Philippine Peace Adviser Jesus Dureza cited on Monday the new and fast-paced peace process framework between the Philippine government (GPH) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) aimed at ending the decades-old conflict in Mindanao.

 

Members of the GPH and the MILF held a two-day talk in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from Aug. 13-14, which Dureza, in a statement, said ended “in a high and positive note.”

During the meeting, the MILF agreed to increase the membership of the Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC) from 15 to 21 to include more stakeholders.

“For this we give credit to the MILF under the leadership of Al Haj Murad Ibrahim in bringing this about as their positive acknowledgement of the inclusivity and convergence approach in the roadmap of peace of President Duterte,” Dureza said.

In a joint statement Sunday, both sides said they agreed to hold the next peace process meeting in the Philippines and the focus would be on the closure of the negotiation phase and the start of the implementation stage on the work for peace for the Bangsamoro.

Reconstitution of the BTC was agreed upon also to establish an enabling law to be submitted to Congress in lieu of the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), which the previous Congress failed to pass.

It was also agreed upon during the meeting over the weekend that the GPH will work for the early passage of the proposed Bangsamoro enabling law with the help of the monitoring assistance of the MILF.

Other agreements made during the meeting are the establishment of both panels’ terms of reference, review of mechanisms on the ground and alignment of these vis-à-vis the evolving implementation of the phase of the peace process.

Both sides also agreed to identify the next moves toward the normalization program and to immediately hold a joint strategic planning session to better understand the legislative track.

Dureza said they have set the next panel meeting on Aug. 30 in Davao City.

”These series of fast-paced steps are in line with President Duterte's avowed commitment to quicken the pace of the peace process to bring about an early and much-needed end to conflict in the region and throughout the land,” he said, adding that these achievements were made within the first six weeks of the Duterte government.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=914034