MAGUINDANAO, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / January 29, 2010) – The Philippines and Moro Islamic Liberation Front ended peace talks abruptly in Kuala Lumpur without new agreement that would put an end to decades of bloody fighting in the restive region of Mindanao.
Peace negotiators exchanged drafts on the comprehensive compact agreement on Wednesday, but the MILF said Manila had offer nothing new that would lead to a political settlement of the fighting in Mindanao.
The MILF peace panel headed by Mohagher Iqbal said Manila was offering the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao instead of what was previously agreed upon.
“The GRP draft essentially offers the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao,” Iqbal said, referring to the Philippine government.
The peace talks were supposed to end on Thursday, but the MILF peace panel backed out from the last day of the negotiations with Manila and instead met with Malaysian facilitator Datuk Othman bin Abd Razak and members of the International Contact Group to explain its position.
“The GRP draft is practically an enabling legislation piece,” MILF lawyer Michael Mastura said.
The MILF previously expressed concern that a peace agreement is possible before President Gloria Arroyo ends her term in June. But government peace negotiators said that a peace pact is still possible within the remaining term of office of Arroyo.
“We doubted this very much, simply because Arroyo then had been in office for almost eight years, and the comprehensive compact was never discussed. Even the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain was only initialed, but not signed, so how much more for a larger and more important document such as the comprehensive compact and Arroyo has barely five months remaining in office?”
“But we gave value to what my good counterpart (Rafael Seguis) had put forward, as coming no less from the President (Gloria Arroyo). We agreed to work together and willingly gave a serious try, Iqbal said before the start of the peace talks.
Peace talks was stalled in 2008 after both sides failed to sign any agreement on the most contentious issue — ancestral domain – which refers to the rebel demand for territory that will constitute a Muslim homeland.
The failed agreement triggered deadly rebel attacks in Mindanao after the Supreme Court stopped the formal signing of the peace accord. Politicians and lawmakers opposed to the ancestral domain deal filed their petitions to the High Court and asked Manila to make public the rest of the agreement.They claimed the accord was made without public consultations, an accusation strongly denied by government leaders.
The MILF said it will not renegotiate the ancestral domain agreement. "It is already a done deal; we have already initialed the memorandum of agreement on the ancestral domain. We will not revisit or renegotiate the agreement," Iqbal said in the past.
But despite the deal, there is still a need to amend the Constitution to allow plebiscite on areas under the ancestral domain that would make up the so-called Bangsamoro Juridical Entity and give Muslims their own homeland.
Ancestral domain is the single most important issue in the peace negotiations before the rebel group can reach a political settlement with the Philippine government.
It covers the whole of the Muslim autonomous region – Sulu, Tawi-Tawi-, Basilan, Maguindanao and Lanao, including Marawi City. And some areas in Zamboanga Peninsula, North Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat and Sarangani provinces in Mindanao where there are large communities of Muslims and indigenous tribes. And also Palawan Island, off Mindanao.
But Tawi-Tawi Representative Nur Jaafar has filed House Bill 4963 proposing to divide the Muslim autonomous region into two – the South Western Autonomous Region and the Central Mindanao Autonomous Region – and that a plebiscite will be held in every village in the provinces of Sulu, Basilan, Tawi-Tawi, Zamboanga del Sur, Zamboanga del Norte, Zamboanga Sibugay and the cities of Isabela, Pagadian, Dipolog, Dapitan and Zamboanga.
And also in the provinces of Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Lanao del Norte, Sultan Kudarat, North Cotabato, South Cotabato, Sarangani and the cities of Cotabato, Marawi, Iligan, Kidapawan, General Santos, Koronadal and Tacurong.
Despite the abrupt ending of the peace talks, Malaysia announced the deployment in Mindanao on February of a group of international cease-fire observers to monitor the implementation of the truce between the Philippines and the MILF.
Peace talks are expected to resume on February 18 and 19 in Malaysia which is brokering the talks. The talks are expected to discuss the draft agreement and identify the next steps for the purpose of achieving a comprehensive compact and a negotiated solution to the Muslim problems in Mindanao.
President Arroyo opened peace talks with the MILF in 2001 and vowed to forge a peace deal with the rebels before her term ends. (Mindanao Examiner)
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