GPH-MILF comprehensive peace pact signed by yearend

From MindaNews (Nov 18): GPH-MILF comprehensive peace pact signed by yearend

The annexes to the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro will be finished before the yearend, the government (GPH) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) reiterated Saturday in their joint statement at the end of the six-day talks at the Palace of the Golden Horses hotel here. Government and MILF peace panel chairs Marvic Leonen and Mohagher Iqbal told MindaNews they are confident that even as there are still several contentious issues, the annexes would be completed before December 31, 2012. This week’s round of talks was cut short by a day as both panels agreed to consult their respective principals and prepare for the next, and hopefully last, round in December. “We will finish,” an optimistic Leonen said. Iqbal was equally optimistic. “Yes, matatapos” (it will be finished), he said. The FAB, which provides for the creation of the Bangsamoro, a new autonomous political entity that would replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) by June 30, 2016, provides that the parties would work on the annexes and “complete a comprehensive agreement by the end of the year.” The one-page joint statement signed at 4 pm Saturday said the technical working groups (TWGs) on wealth-sharing and power-sharing “made substantial progress in the crafting of the annexes while the TWG on normalization, which convened for the first time this week, had “agreed on an outline of issues and had initial positive exchanges on these matters.” The panels, it said, “remain committed to complete the annexes before the end of the year.” The TWGs handed over their respective joint reports to the peace panels during the plenary at 2 p.m. with the TWGs on power and wealth sharing reportedly listing down their consensus points and points of divergence. The TWGs on power and wealth sharing had been meeting every month here since August. The TWG on normalization was convened only last Monday......

http://www.mindanews.com/peace-process/2012/11/18/gph-milf-comprehensive-peace-pact-signed-by-yearend/