MILF, gov’t make progress on self-rule law

MANILA, Philippines–Peace negotiators for the government and the country’s largest Moro rebel group said Sunday that they had “reached agreement on substantial portions” of a draft self-rule law aimed at ending years of bloody conflict in Mindanao.

Both the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) peace panels said in a joint statement that they were committed to completing the draft bill by Aug. 18 so it could be passed by Congress as soon as possible.

“The panels have reached agreement on substantial portions of the document and have developed a shared understanding of the remaining challenges and unsettled issues, which they will bring back to their principals for further guidance,” the joint statement said.

Asked what these challenges and unsettled issues were, head MILF negotiator Mohagher Iqbal said they included the draft law’s “preamble” as well as “fiscal autonomy and intergovernment relations.”

“We covered many things but there were a lot of things that have not been resolved,” he told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

He said the government and MILF panels would have to meet again soon but would not say when this meeting would take place.

The statement said the two sides had discussed “fiscal autonomy and administration of justice,” as well as the issue of budget transfers from the national government to the proposed Bangsamoro autonomous government during the closed-door talks in the southern city of Davao.

A peace agreement signed in March committed President Aquino and the MILF to pass a law creating an autonomous Bangsamoro region in Mindanao by 2016, when his six-year presidency ends.

In return, the 12,000-member MILF would disarm and help the national government improve the lot of Filipino Muslims, who are among the poorest and most marginalized in the Philippines, a mainly Catholic nation of 100 million.

But drafting of the law has been delayed amid grumbling from some MILF quarters that the government was diluting the powers offered for the proposed autonomous area.

There are also growing fears that the autonomous region may not be created before Aquino’s term ends.

The President’s political support has been crucial to the peace process.

Iqbal previously said the talks were “moving forward but of course, the issues are very hard.”