Gov't peace panel sees January signing of 'normalization' annex

ZAMBOANGA CITY - The government (GPH) peace panel on Wednesday said that it expects the normalization annex in the negotiations with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to be signed by January 2014 in Malaysia.

Government peace panel member and former Agriculture Secretary Senen Bacani told newsmen in a briefing that the two peace panels have agreed to strike the fourth and last annex which is the normalization and the decommissioning of MILF forces by January next year.

“Based on the joint statement at the closing of the exploratory talks last December 8 that saw the approval of the power sharing annex the two panels will try to finish the normalization annex on January 2014. Yon ang inaasahan natin na puwede natin matapos by next month,” Bacani said.

“Nothing is sure but may commitment ang dalawang parties na sisikapin tapusin sa January 2014,” he added.

Bacani did not categorically describe how hard and contentious the normalization and decommissioning annex compared to the last three annexes forged by the two panels, but he assured that the technical working group has ironed out all the details of the fourth annex since last year.

He said the peace panels have come to a number of consensus on the fourth annex and only the small details of the agreement need ironing out.

Government chief negotiator Mariam Coronel-Ferrer said the benchmark is needed to have a systematic decommissioning and normalization of the MILF combatants with socio-economic components.

No surrender of firearm

The government and MILF peace panels are avoiding the use of the term "surrender" and instead uses the phrase of decommissioning to avoid touching the sensitivity of Muslim combatants culture of owning guns.

Ferrer said there will be a bigger campaign for the legalization of the weapons not just for the MILF combatants, but also for private gun owners.

Ferrer stressed that the campaign of firearms' legalization will be subjected to the general population, not just with the MILF members in the country with the passing of the new firearms control law.

She said they will be applying varied approaches in the decommissioning of firearms.

She said the so-called crew-serve weapons will be prohibited and will be collected for safe keeping until such time these will be destroyed.

Ferrer said in the case of the long and short firearms possessed by the MILF combatants, these will be registered as part of procedures and those not registered will be confiscated.

“At bilang registered firearms, dapat mag-follow ng regulation. Hindi naman puwedeng maski saan dalhin ninyo. Kung may pangangailangan sa labas ng bahay ay kailangan with permit,” She said.

She said gun amnesty will also be extended to some MILF combatants.