Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda PHOTO/INQUIRER
MANILA, Philippines — The peace talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front will resume in Kuala Lumpur on July 8, Malacañang announced Thursday.
This time, the Aquino administration doesn’t see any possible “spoiler” despite the recent issuance of negative advisories by Australia, Canada and the United States against traveling to areas in Mindanao, where violence and abduction incidents have risen.
“I don’t think there’s any spoiler. They’ve raised some concerns but we are pushing through with the peace talks this coming–this July next week, I think, Monday. So there’s no issue with MILF on that point,” said presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda.
On the travel advisories, he said that these were but “normal” issuances of countries to “protect and caution their citizens” traveling outside their territories.
“We understand the reason for their doing so, but we can assure them that our responsibility as a nation is to ensure the safety of our own citizens as well as the visitors who come here,” said Lacierda.
The latest to issue an advisory on Tuesday, Canada warned its citizens on traveling to Mindanao, citing “serious threat” of terrorism and abduction in the region.
Canada specifically mentioned “serious threat of terrorist attacks and kidnapping” in the Muslim Mindanao region and the Zamboanga peninsula.
There’s no more stumbling block to the negotiations after the MILF “as an organization has pushed through with” the resumption of the talks, said Lacierda.
The two panels are slated to further discuss the annexes on wealth sharing, power sharing and normalization during the coming 38th round of the exploratory talks.
“We are still talking about the annexes,” said Lacierda.
The government and MILF panels will be meeting on the eve of the fasting month of Ramadan.
“Even if it falls on the eve of Ramadan, our panel chairman (Mohaqher) Iqbal and professor (Miriam) Ferrer agreed in Norway to resume the peace talks on July 8,” Ghadzali Jaafar, MILF political affairs chief said earlier.
Iqbal met with Ferrer in Oslo during an international forum on peace mediation held on June 18 and 19.
In a statement issued last week, Ferrer said she had forwarded to her MILF counterpart the full proposals of the government on the wealth-sharing annex for the MILF to study and consider.
At the last exploratory talks in March, the two panels failed to finalize the remaining three annexes, which will form part of the comprehensive agreement, along with the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro.
Jaafar said the MILF was still in the process of reviewing the government proposal on wealth and power sharing, but added that the MILF panel had already established positions on the issues.
“Our panel will present our position at the July 8 meeting; we hope there is a meeting of minds,” he said.