PH gov’t, MILF to hold talks July 8 to break deadlock

Chief MILF negotiator Mohaqher Iqbal FILE PHOTO

DAVAO CITY, Philippines – The Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) peace panels will begin a four-day exploratory meeting in Kuala Lumpur on Monday, July 8, in a bid to settle contentious issues that have bugged the concluding phase of the already 16-year negotiations.

“I expect that it will be hard work,” said MILF chief negotiator Mohagher Iqbal.

The meeting comes after a four-month lull in the negotiations.

During the lull, the government did a due diligence review of all its political, economic and social commitments related to the hoped-for negotiated settlement of the Moro conflict that has spawned four decades of armed rebellion in Mindanao.

As a result of the due diligence review, government has sought refinements to the Annex on Wealth-Sharing that the parties initialed last February.

The MILF has decried this as an act of “backtracking” from the consensus although Iqbal earlier explained that based on their practice, anything settled at the level of the peace panels would still be subject to the final decision of the principals.

The MILF also pointed to some changes in the percentages of some wealth-sharing items. In its original proposal, the MILF sought a 75-25 sharing scheme in favor of the future Bangsamoro government.

According to an MILF source, the government wants the 75-25 sharing scheme retained except for 50-50 for renewable energy and 100 percent for non-metallic resources.

The MILF has stood pat on keeping the initialed document.

The Annex on Wealth-Sharing is one of the four annexes to the preliminary Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro (FAB) that the parties inked Oct. 15 last year. When completed, the annexes plus the FAB will comprise the comprehensive agreement.

Iqbal said the resumption of the negotiations simply meant that the MILF agreed to discuss with government its proposed refinements to the wealth-sharing document.

There is still no consensus on two issues on power-sharing — transportation and communications, and regional waters.

Iqbal and government chief negotiator Miriam Coronel-Ferrer had a chance meeting mid-June in Oslo, Norway, where they discussed about the resumption of the talks.

During that chance meeting, Ferrer handed Iqbal the full document containing government’s proposed refinements to the wealth-sharing annex.