From the Website of OPPAP
Now is the golden opportunity to craft a peace agreement - Leonen
Kuala Lumpur, Jan. 9 – The Government of the Philippines (GPH) today
reiterated its call to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to craft
a peace agreement within the first quarter of 2012 as the 24th formal
exploratory talks between the two parties started today in the Malaysian
capital.
“The golden opportunity to craft an agreement is the first quarter of this year,” government chief negotiator Marvic Leonen said, emphasizing that “this is an administration that wants to see the solution to the Bangsamoro question in motion when it leaves in a little over four years time.“
Leonen called on the MILF to “meet the challenge of crafting an
agreement soon enough, so that it could be implemented and then assessed
and then adjusted before the term of the next President of the
Republic.”
Meanwhile, Malaysian facilitator Tengku Dato Ab Ghafar Tengku Mohamed
also expressed optimism that both parties will be able to come to an
agreement.
“I hope that the coming of the new year will move into the conclusion
of this negotiation to a final solution to the Bangsamoro problem, he
said.
Genuine autonomy
In his opening statement, Leonen expressed that the Philippines will
“no doubt benefit with a region for Bangsamoro peoples that is not only
genuinely autonomous but also one where the principles of good and
effective governance is in place.”
However, the chief negotiator emphasized the importance of a working
relationship and partnership with the national government and the
equitable sharing of wealth and revenue generation to ensure genuine
autonomy. Such issues are integral to the discussions on the framework
agreement.
In line with this, Leonen said that both panels must “cautiously move forward,” learning from lessons of the past.
New GPH panel members
The government panel formally transmitted during the opening ceremonies the appointment papers of new panel members.
Leonen named Dr. Hamid Barra and Yasmin Busran-Lao as permanent
members of the GPH Peace Panel. Both have joined the last round of
formal talks in December last year as consultants.
“With the two additional members of our panel, we now have a complete
panel of 5,” the panel chair said. Barra takes the place of Mayor Ramon
Piang who now serves as an alternate member in view of his duties as
the mayor of Upi, Maguindanao.
The other panel members include former Agriculture Secretary Senen Bacani and Prof. Miriam Coronel-Ferrer.
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