Government peace panelists to draw up strategy

DAVAO CITY — Members of the government panel negotiating peace with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) will meet here on Monday to draw up their strategy in dealing with the separatist rebels, Presidential Assistant for Mindanao Jesus Dureza said.

"We will define the bottom line of the negotiations as far as the government is concerned. We are also going to identify the parameters of what we are going to work on in the peace process," said Dureza, who heads the panel.

The two-day meeting will be held at the newly reopened Davao Waterfront Insular Hotel.

The other panel members are women’s movement leader Irene Santiago, former Lanao del Sur governor Mahid Mutilan and Mindanao State University professor Emily Morahomsar.

Cotabato City’s Muslimin Sema begged off from joining the panel because of his being with the Moro National Liberation Front’s negotiating team before the peace accord was signed in September 1996.

Meanwhile, the government and MILF panels have yet to agree on when the peace talks would finally resume.

"There has been no date and venue yet," Dureza said, adding though that backchannel talks with MILF officials are in progress so that a consensus on the matter could soon be reached.

The talks could not apparently resume within the next three weeks despite a prior agreement that they should start within 90 days from March 24 when National Security Adviser Eduardo Ermita and MILF vice chairman for military affairs Al Haj Murad forged the preliminary deal in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. — Edith Regalado