Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr. said President Estrada informed him the other night that Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) founder and chairman Hashim Salamat has agreed in principle to forging a peace pact with the government in exchange for P2 billion worth of infrastructure projects in Mindanao.
"Whatever it takes, the President was talking of at least P2 billion," Pimentel said yesterday.
Sought for comment, Ghazali Jaafar, MILF vice chairman for political affairs, however, said the infrastructure package "was never a condition for us to sign a peace agreement."
"There was no agreement whatsoever. We were informed of the projects and we agreed with them because it was really for the government to deliver such services to the people," Jaafar said.
Pimentel said Salamat wants the immediate implementation of infrastructure such as roads, hospitals, irrigation systems and power plants in Muslim-dominated areas in Mindanao.
"Salamat might be able to see the evidence of good faith of the government . . . Chairman Salamat wants to see development projects as the basis for peace in the area," he said.
The senator did not say when the peace pact will be signed. "I will not preempt the President but the way he sounded last night, he was very optimistic," he said.
The President has given government and MILF panels until June to forge a political settlement. Both panels ended their third round of formal talks in Cotabato City yesterday, agreeing on safety and immunity guarantees for the negotiators during the talks and finalizing the "clustering" of talking points.
Jaafar admitted though that there were certain issues raised in the back-channeling efforts the government has initiated.
"Let us admit that back-channeling can do a lot to the peace process, but there was never an instance that we discussed such P2 billion worth of projects in exchange for our signing an agreement with the government," Jaafar said.
He added: "See, we are still at the start of our formal talks. How can we be agreeing on something already that would be based on that P2 billion they are talking about?"
Meanwhile, Central Mindanao officials support President Estrada's position to conclude the peace talks by June, but insist that various sectors be involved in the negotiations. - With John Unson