Peace panels focus on annex on power sharing

MANILA, Philippines - Concluding their 40th formal exploratory talks in Kuala Lumpur last Tuesday, the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) peace panels have decided to set aside for the meantime the discussion on the annex on normalization to be able to finish the annex on power sharing.

Government peace panel chair Miriam Coronel-Ferrer said there was progress in their discussion but they are still encountering difficulties on the final details of the power sharing annex.

“The peace panels tried to clear up the power sharing annex in 11 days of talks but difficult issues remained. There were long lists of powers and differing perspectives on several core issues that needed more time to be threshed out,” Ferrer said.

“The normalization annex had been set aside in this round so the parties can focus on power sharing,” she said.

The remaining annexes on power sharing and normalization, together with the framework agreement on the Bangsamoro, will comprise the comprehensive agreement which the government and the MILF panels aim to sign within the year.

The annexes on transitional arrangements and modalities, and revenue generation and wealth sharing were signed by the parties last February and July, respectively.

“The goal and challenge is that we really need to fast-track much of the implementation. But we know there are parallel processes in place. The Transition Commission has been continually at work,” Ferrer added.

She said the government has “consciously tried to ensure that both the processes and the outcomes will benefit all, even if they are talking to one party among the many interested parties in Mindanao.”

She said President Aquino’s instructions were for the peace talks to be guided by the Philippine Constitution, lessons learned from past negotiations, government’s ability to deliver its commitments, and inclusiveness and transparency to restore public trust and confidence in the peace process.

She said that along this line, the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process “has deliberately instituted parallel tracks to go side-by-side the negotiations with the MILF.”

Among these initiatives, Ferrer said, are giving of positions to several Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) personalities both in the regional government of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and the Regional Legislative Assembly, organizing various seminars to bring together the different constituencies of the MNLF and MILF, and inviting the MNLF factions to nominate people in the Transition Commission, which they declined.

She said that it is taking both sides a long time to thresh out the details “to ensure that the end results will bring about positive change and less conflict,” and “not the other way around.”

During the 40th round of talks, the Independent Commission on Policing (ICP) was convened by the parties for the first time.