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E-mailThe Philippines' chief negotiator has offered what it calls "enhanced autonomy" to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
Enhanced autonomy means the president is "offering to share powers," islamonline.net quoted Annabelle Abaya. Power-sharing would cover tax collection and the control of natural resources in the Moros' ancestral domain.
Abaya said in a press conference that the government is hoping the offer will convince the separatists to sign a peace accord before the end of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's term in June, when a new president will be sworn in. However, Abaya admitted there is "no guarantee" that the peace pact will be ratified by then.
"The [government] remains open. We cannot say how far the peace process will go but the government remains hopeful for as long as the MILF is hopeful. We’re trying very, very hard to work with them, work also with their proposals," mb.com.ph quoted Abaya.
The offer was made last week in Malaysia, said an Agence France Presse report in Inquirer.net.
No 'Bangsa Moro homeland'
Government negotiators reassured the public that there will be no "Bangsa Moro homeland" in its offer to the MILF, which would be akin to the controversial Bangsamoro Juridical Entity it submitted to the MILF last year, GMANews.tv noted. Last year's Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.
"[Our draft agreement] mostly identifies executive 'doables,' proposed legislative actions to strengthen regional autonomy, and openness to hear MILF proposals for constitutional change," Rafael Segius, head of the government peace panel, said in a statement.
Towards a comprehensive compact
Last week's meeting was the 17th Exploratory Talks between representatives from the government and the MILF. It was facilitated by Datuk Othman bin Abd Razak of Malaysia.
According to a statement released by the Malaysian secretariat, the two parties exchanged drafts of the comprehensive compact, the last and final agenda of the talks, which they will review and discuss during their next meeting on February 18-19.
"We doubted [the possibility of a peace pact within the remaining term of Arroyo], simply because Arroyo then had been in office for almost eight years, and the comprehensiver compact was never discussed," MILF Peace Panel chair Mohagher Iqbal said in his speech during the start of the talks.
"Even the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) was only initialed but not signed, so how much more for a larger and more important document such as the comprehensive compact - and Arroyo has barely five months remaining in office? But we gave value to [the government negotiators' promise] as coming no less from the president."
The negotiations on a comprehensive compact, mb.com.ph noted, will entail the renewal of the Terms of Reference for the International Monitoring Team (IMT), which is in charge of monitoring ceasefire, humanitarian, rehabilitation, development and civilian protection agreements; the creation of the Civilian Protection component within the IMT; and the revival of peace and order unit Ad Hoc Joint Action Group (AHJAG).
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