GPH, MILF to finalize power-sharing deal

COTABATO CITY, Philippines - The government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) have agreed to hold a 10-day formal talk next month to wind up discussions on the contentious power sharing and normalization parameters for a final GPH-MILF final peace deal.

Both sides have not reached a concrete consensus on the two packages during the August 22-25 39th exploratory talks in Malaysia,, which are to be fused as added annexes to complete the Framework Agreement on Bangsamoro, or FAB.

The FAB is to become the basis for the crafting of an enabling law for the creation of a new MILF-led Bangsamoro political entity that would replace the present Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

The GPH and MILF panels, in a traditional joint communiqué issued after the latest three-day formal talks, reported having resolved “crucial issues” on the two still unfinished annexes and assured of each other’s commitment to continue with the negotiations via a “problem solving approach.”

Peace talks between the government and the MILF started Jan. 7, 1997 and gained headway in 2003 with the participation, as “third party facilitator,” of Malaysia.

The latest GPH-MILF joint communiqué was signed at 3:55 p.m. on Sunday by the government’s chief negotiator, Miriam Coronel-Ferrer, her MILF counterpart, Muhaquer Iqbal and the Malaysian facilitator of the peace talks, Tengku Dato’ Ab Ghafar Tengku Mohamed.

“During the four-day meeting, the Parties worked towards the resolution of some of the most crucial issues. Despite the sensitivity of these issues, the Parties remain committed to the problem-solving approach in order to reach consensus,” the joint statement said, a copy of which was emailed to The Star by the press bureau of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process.

The parties also discussed the composition of the Independent Commission on Policing (ICP) and the possibility of convening it in the next round of formal talks, to be held in Malaysia in September 2013.

The ICP will be tasked to submit recommendations to the peace panels on the appropriate form, structures and relationships of the police force for the envisioned Bangsamoro region that will replace the current Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

Ferrer was quoted in an OPAPP press statement as saying that the 39th exploratory talks was difficult to conclude since the agenda covered two annexes.

“We knew that negotiating on the power sharing annex will be as hard as that on the wealth sharing annex so we feel relieved having come to better understanding on the principles of intergovernmental relations,” she said.

The GPH and the MILF peace panels already signed two of the four annexes – on wealth sharing, and transitional arrangements and modalities - for the FAB during past exploratory talks.

Ferrer said the government is committed to “ensure a viable and genuine autonomy for the Bangsamoro region.”

The panels also appreciated, in their joint communiqué, the participation as “observers” to the 39th exploratory talks of representatives from Congress, the Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC), and civil society groups from across Southern Mindanao.

The two parties also expressed gratitude to President Benigno Aquino III “for his commitment to a just and lasting peace in Mindanao” and Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak “for his continued support in the facilitation of the GPH-MILF Peace Talks.”