Gov’t peace negotiator unfazed as talks resume with MILF

Miriam Coronel-Ferrer: Ruffled emotions PHOTO FROM OPAPP.GOV.PH

OZAMIZ CITY, Philippines—Expect emotions to be ruffled.

This is the forecast of government chief negotiator Miriam Coronel-Ferrer on how the 35th exploratory meeting between government and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) peace panels would turn out.

The five-day meeting started Monday in Kuala Lumpur to flesh out the remaining details of four annexes to the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro, namely, power-sharing, wealth-sharing, normalization, and transitional modalities.

Together, the preliminary pact and the four annexes will constitute the comprehensive agreement that is supposed to effectively address the Moro people’s aspiration for self-governance that has underpinned close to four decades of rebellion in Mindanao.

“Expect that we will get worked up in the minutest details. Expect that we will once again tangle with words and ruffle emotions,” Coronel-Ferrer said in her opening statement during kick-off rites Monday morning.

In a statement a day earlier, she noted that “much work is still needed to find a middle ground on certain core issues” although she expressed confidence “both parties are open to consider options on the remaining difficulties.”

In specific terms, Coronel-Ferrer outlined the remaining issues as pertaining to “jurisdiction over natural resources; transportation and communications; the extent of territorial waters; taxing powers; timetables for decommissioning and demilitarization; policing structures; (and) the transition authority…”

Speaking to members of the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines (Focap) last week before flying to Kuala Lumpur, MILF chief negotiator Mohagher Iqbal said the peace talks “are passing through a difficult moment…”

He said that the discussions on the four annexes “contain very contentious issues that both parties never expected to get pass through so easily.”

But Iqbal was hopeful at least one of the annexes, “most likely (transitional) modalities and arrangement,” would be completed and signed during the current meeting.

He noted that during the one-month break from the previous meeting, the parties “made tremendous preparations… to study and understand the complexities of the issues at hand in their earnest desire to resolve the remaining issues on the table.”

In a statement on its website, Abdullah Mantawil, chief of the MILF peace panel secretariat, said that during the current meeting, the parties might also consider extending the annual mandate of the International Monitoring Team (IMT), which would end in March.

Principally, the Malaysian-led IMT oversees implementation of the ceasefire agreement.

“Our task is to assist the President realize his vision of peace and progress for Mindanao where the MILF is a trustworthy partner… After the annexes, the ride will even be rougher. But, insha Allah, we will get going,” Coronel-Ferrer stressed.