MANILA - The Philippines has offered southern Muslim separatists "enhanced autonomy" in the hope of sealing a peace accord to end 40 years of rebellion, the government's chief negotiator said Monday.

Annabelle Abaya said the government hoped the fresh offer would convince the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to sign a peace accord before a new Philippine president is sworn in on June 30.

"In enhanced autonomy, the president is offering to share powers," Abaya told reporters.

Power-sharing with the large Muslim minority would cover such areas as tax collection and the control of natural resources in areas of the south that Filipino Muslims claim as their ancestral domain.

The offer was made in Malaysia last week when MILF and government panels met in Kuala Lumpur in the first formal peace talks since fighting broke out in 2008 over a failed draft peace accord.

That earlier draft was struck down by the Supreme Court, which ruled it unconstitutional.
Abaya stressed that the fresh government offer did not seek to "fractionalize" the country and would not require amendments to the constitution.

The MILF, in a statement issued at the weekend, said that the government "had nothing new to offer," and as a result they decided last week to discontinue the latest round of negotiations.

However, Abaya said after the exchange of draft agreements that both sides had agreed to consult with their grass roots back home before continuing talks.

"This is a first draft. In a first draft, you usually give your position and then shift your position depending on what the other side thinks," she said.

The MILF confirmed at the wekeend that peace talks will resume in Kuala Lumpur on February 18.

Abaya said the first draft focused on measures that are "do-able" by the president as well as proposals that could be raised to the legislature.

She also said that the two sides were not far apart.

"Eighty percent of what (the MILF) has proposed can be embedded in the proposals of the government panel," she said.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo opened peace talks with the 12,000-strong MILF in 2001 in an effort to end the bloody secessionist war on the restive but mineral-rich island of Mindanao.

However, talks collapsed after the Supreme Court ruling in August 2008. The proposed deal would have given the MILF control over large areas of the south that were claimed by the rebel group.

The court's decision prompted several MILF leaders to attack towns in renewed hostilities.

Over 700,000 people were displaced at the height of the fighting and nearly 400 were killed. A new ceasefire was signed in September, paving the way for the resumption of peace talks.

Although Arroyo is due to step down in a few months, Abaya said "the fact that (the MILF) continue to speak with this government is an indication that they do not consider it a lame duck."