DAVAO CITY — The government is drafting “with the utmost secrecy” a comprehensive peace agreement to be presented to the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), according to North Cotabato Vice Governor Emmanuel Piñol.

Speaking at the Kapihan sa Davao at Café Rysus at the SM City mall, Piñol said he learned about the new document “from a reliable source.”

He said there was “something fishy” in the new draft agreement because the government has not informed other stakeholders about it.

Piñol said that unlike the controversial Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) that was voided by the Supreme Court, the new draft agreement does not define the areas to be included in an expanded Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

“The document talks about associative government and diplomatic powers, the areas for inclusion in the ARMM were not identified,” he said.

The Philippine Daily Inquirer tried but failed to reach the government officials involved in the peace process.

Ambassador Rafael Seguis and the members of the government peace panel were all in Malaysia, a source said.

Ghazali Jaafar, the MILF political affairs officer, confirmed that the government and the MILF peace panels were engaged in another round of meetings in Kuala Lumpur.

But Jaafar said the government has not presented any draft agreement.

‘Always imagines things’

He said the peace talks have not resumed, so presenting a draft final peace agreement was not in order.

“He always imagines things,” he said of Piñol.

Jaafar said what was being discussed in Malaysia were the agreements on the participation of the International Contact Group (ICG) in the peace process and civilian protection, which were signed in October.

He said the two panels have decided to continue discussing the agreements to finalize their implementation.

Jaafar said he suspected that Piñol was capitalizing on the issue of the peace agreement to prop up his gubernatorial bid.

“It’s part of his political gimmickry,” he said.

Piñol said he has no problem supporting any agreement between the government and the MILF as long as the discussions were conducted with transparency.

“There must be an end to the peace process,” he said.

Piñol was among the local government officials of Mindanao who petitioned the Supreme Court to invalidate the MOA-AD, a draft final peace agreement drafted by the negotiating panels.

In October 2008, the high court invalidated the MOA-AD for being unconstitutional and for having been drawn up without consultations with stakeholders. Judy Quiros with a report from Allan Nawal, Inquirer Mindanao