Gov’t panel chief says pact with MILF near

MARAWI CITY—“We are at the door of an agreement.”

Chief government negotiator Marvic Leonen made the statement to start another round of talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

“Let us persevere. Now is indeed the time for peace,” Leonen said at the start of the 29th exploratory meeting between government and MILF peace panels in Kuala Lumpur.

Ceremonies marking the opening of the talks were moved a day later to give way to closed door sessions.

Leonen was gushing with optimism, saying the government was bent on making autonomy work this time.

While no details of specific agreements reached during the talks were made available, Leonen gave a broad outline of how far the government was willing to bend to reach an agreement with the Moro guerrillas.

“Never again would the initial stages of establishing that autonomous political entity be starved with the lack of funds,” said Leonen.

Lack of funds is among the many reasons being cited by some members of the Moro National Liberation Front for the failure of the 1996 peace pact between the MNLF and the then Ramos administration.

“Never again would rights or powers granted under any law or norm be rendered inutile” by incapable officials of the autonomous government, said Leonen.

Members of the two panels earlier agreed to identify 10 key issues for resolution during the talks including wealth and power sharing between the national and autonomous governments.

Leonen pointed to the unprecedented support that the talks are getting from the Armed Forces of the Philippines as a sign that a peace pact is drawing near.

“In an unprecedented manner, you saw the full cooperation of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police to make your consultation a success,” Leonen said, referring to the three-day Bangsamoro Assembly during which MILF presented the framework of the talks to thousands of its members, supporters, followers and their families.

“Indeed, the working relationship was impressive. I believe that it was so because it was founded on trust and respect,” said Leonen.

“It is this working arrangement that we want to foster with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front,” he added.

MILF expressed the same optimism about the talks.

Mohagher Iqbal, MILF chief negotiator, said that on power sharing, the only remaining contentious point was whether power over energy and elections in the new autonomous setup would rest on the national or autonomous government.

Iqbal said MILF is open to sharing powers with the national government on these two points.

Murad Ebrahim, MILF chair, said it would be ideal, however, for elections in ARMM to be scrapped during the transition from the existing autonomous setup to the new one.

He said MILF wants the peace pact to be “entrenched in the Philippine Constitution” so that “it cannot be altered unilaterally by government.”

This means calling for Charter change, which President Aquino opposes. Ryan D. Rosauro, Inquirer Mindanao