Deles welcomes MILF bid to forge united front for peace with MNLF

Posted on Wednesday, 28 March, 2012 - 19:08

Manila, March 28 – Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Teresita Quintos Deles on Wednesday welcomed the call of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) on the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) to peacefully “forge a united front in pushing forward the Moro aspiration for genuine self-governance” in the south.

The peace adviser said that the two groups should talk and settle their differences because that's the only way for permanent peace to reign in the region.

“We cannot see the way to a lasting peace if the MILF and the MNLF are at cross-purposes with each other,” she added, stressing that the current negotiations with the MILF involve the same core territory and the same people that are already the subject of the 1996 Final Peace Agreement (FPA) with the MNLF.

In this context, "the government is pushing for a convergence framework that will join together three strands to bring permanent peace in Mindanao,” explained Deles.

The three strands in the Mindanao peace process are the negotiations for a final negotiated settlement with the MILF, the completion of the implementation of the 1996 FPA with the MNLF, and the roadmap for reform and development of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

On the first strand, peace negotiations between the Government of the Philippines (GPH) and the MILF is “moving forward” despite difficulties, according to Government of the Philippines (GPH) panel chair Dean Marvic Leonen during the 26th GPH-MILF formal exploratory talks held in Kuala Lumpur on March 19 to 21.

Both parties will continue their discussions on substantive issues in April wherein the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) is expected to sit as observer after the parties approved their request through their Office of the Secretary-General.

On the second strand, the OIC, GPH and MNLF recently concluded the tripartite review of the implementation of the 1996 FPA during the 2nd Ad Hoc High-Level Group Meeting early this month in Bandung, Indonesia. Deles related that the tripartite process is not to renegotiate the FPA, but rather to review its implementation towards its full compliance.
The third and last strand, on the other hand, is “now firmly in place with the installation of an appointive OIC regional government in the ARMM,” the peace adviser said.

Under the leadership of OIC Regional Governor Mujiv S. Hataman and Vice-Governor Bainon Karon, a respected MNLF veteran, "new energies are being unleashed in the ARMM to push reforms, side by side with massive financial infusion for social services and infrastructures into the area – all in accordance with the President's daang matuwid (straight path)."

ARMM reforms center on three areas, namely: governance with a special focus on making the bureaucracy functional, electoral reforms, and eradication of corruption with a priority on the regional Department of Education; peace and security with special focus on regulating the proliferation of loose firearms and neutralization of private armies; and socio-economic reform with special focus on enterprise and livelihood development. #

OPPAP Website

http://www.opapp.gov.ph/

links:

http://www.opapp.gov.ph/milf/news/deles-welcomes-milf-bid-forge-united-front-peace-mnlf-0

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