Gov't peace negotiator insists FAB not unconstitutional

MANILA, Philippines - Government peace negotiator Miriam Coronel-Ferrer on Wednesday belied the claims of a Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) leader that the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro (FAB) is unconstitutional.

Ferrer was reacting to the statement of Muslimin Sema, chairman of a bigger faction of the MNLF, that the FAB is a clear violation of the Constitution because it aims to establish a ministerial form of government in Mindanao.

The Philippines' chief peace negotiator for the MILF said that a ministerial form of government is also not unconstitutional.

She said that the government makes sure that all agreements that it will enter with the MILF abide by the constitution.

"That is why any agreement we can agree upon will be subjected to democratic process and must pass the Philippine Congress," she explained.

The other faction of the MNLF led by its founding chairman Nur Misuari is also against the replace of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao with another Bangsamoro region to be led by the MILF.

Misuari is again a fugitive after instigating an attack in Zamboanga City, which ended in a three-week standoff with government troops.

Sema, meanwhile, has said that they welcome the signing of the annex on power sharing between the MILF and the government peace panels.

"We welcome the annex on power sharing, we welcome whatever agreement both sides could agree on," Sema was quoted as saying, while insisting that the government should include the MNLF in the peace talks with the MILF.

In expressing his opinion that the FAB is a violation to the Constitution, Sema said the idea of establishing a ministerial form of government in Muslim Mindanao was first presented and discussed during the 1976 peace talks between the MNLF and Manila "but we learned it was against the law."

Ferrer, however, explained that Republic Act 9054 have so many loopholes that the FAB is addressing clearly and in accordance with existing Philippine laws.