MILF: People with 'honest minds' will approve of power-sharing deal

MANILA, Philippines - The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) is confident that the annex on power-sharing can stand the scrutiny of “honest minds” even as it admitted that the deal is not perfect.

“Modesty aside, the Annex on Power-sharing is a class of its own. It can be open for scrutiny and we are optimistic that honest minds will have difficulty criticizing it,” the MILF said in an editorial posted on its website luwaran.com.

“It is not a perfect agreement, because there had never been a perfect agreement in all times,” it added.

The group, nevertheless, acknowledged that the annex, which it described as “hard-earned,” will have its critics.

“For the fault-finders, however, they are the breed that never sees good things in life, because they see the world as ugly and unfit for living,” the MILF editorial read.

“This is a world of imperfection, and as such, one has to struggle in all spheres of life not to achieve utopian perfection in this life but to install justice to every collective human endeavor and relationship. The Annex on Power-Sharing is one such product of struggle,” it added.

Under the power-sharing deal, a Bangsamoro ministerial cabinet will be formed and will be appointed by a chief minister and a Bangsamoro Council of Leaders.

At least 50 members will constitute the legislative assembly of the Bangsamoro ministerial government.

The central government will continue to exercise authority on key aspects like foreign policy, defense and external security, coinage and monetary policy, citizenship, postal service and naturalization.

The Bangsamoro and central government will exercise concurrent powers on penology and penitentiary, land registration, social security and pension, administration of justice and human rights.

The Bangsamoro government will be given exclusive powers on economic and cultural exchanges, budgeting, banking, land management, agriculture, sports and other matters.

MILF said the power-sharing annex is “the most contentious” and “most difficult” of the three annexes to the Bangsamoro framework agreement.

The group said the signing of the annex was made possible by the efforts of the negotiators from panels, the Malaysian facilitator, the international community and civil society.

The wealth-sharing was signed by the government and MILF panels last July while discussions on the normalization annex have been slated for January.

The government has welcomed the signing of the power-sharing deal and is optimistic that a final peace compact will be signed soon.

Followers of Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) founder Misuari, however, have warned that the deal could trigger fresh attacks.

MNLF spokesman Absalom Cerveza earlier claimed that the signing of the power-sharing annex had prodded their group to aspire for an independent state.

“Certainly, that would lead to another war. They can sign everything. If they want to continue then let the war continue,” Cerveza said.