PH, MILF make little headway

MANILA, Philippines—The Philippines and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) on Thursday ended their 37th exploratory talks in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, without completing the much-touted annexes on normalization, wealth-sharing and power-sharing that would pave the way for the crafting of a basic law that envisions a new Bangsamoro entity.

The three-day meeting instead saw the two panels signing the terms of reference for the Sajahatra Bangsamoro, the socio-economic development program for the communities in Mindanao to be undertaken jointly by the government and the MILF.

“The panels continued to find ways to resolve remaining issues on the annexes on wealth-sharing, power-sharing and normalization, agreeing to exchange notes through the facilitator in the coming days,” the panels’ joint statement released Thursday said.

“They affirmed their commitment to finally settle these issues soon so that all three annexes may be signed without undue delay,” the statement said.

It was signed by government chief negotiator Miriam Coronel-Ferrer, MILF chief negotiator Mohagher Iqbal and Malaysian facilitator Tengku Dato Ab Ghafar Tengku Mohamed.

The panels agreed to continue the talks after the elections.