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GPH-MILF will sign peace pact after 17 years negotiation
The Philippine Government (GPH) and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) will celebrate two significant events in the history of the Bangsamoro this month: the signing of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) at a date the panels have yet to announce but will definitely be in March, and the submission of the draft Bangsamoro Basic Law to President Aquino by March 31, MindaNews reported on March 13.
The date and venue of signing, however, was made known to those who attended the “Parangal sa Cardinal” testimonial dinner on Tuesday, March 11 at the South Seas Mall Convention Center in Cotabato City.
In his speech, Cardinal Orlando Quevedo, thanked several individuals and groups, among them the MILF and Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) for sending representatives and Secretary Deles, who was the President’s representative during the dinner.
The Cardinal said the President, who had earlier attended his thanksgiving mass at the Immaculate Conception Cathedral, had invited him to the signing of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) on March 27 in Malacanang.
Quevedo spoke of hope even as he acknowledged that there will be “many difficulties along the way” in the implementation of the peace agreement. But a peace agreement, he said, is “not something perfect. Like love, it has to be nurtured, nourished, to grow.”
In an earlier interview with MindaNews, Quevedo also said he hopes the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) factions and the MILF “can come together as brothers and take a look at what in the previous agreement in 1996 can be incorporated into the Bangamoro Basic Law.” Bishop Quevedo also mentioned the concerns or issues raised by the IP’s.
The GPH-MILF Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro (FAB) was signed in Malacanang’s Rizal Hall on October 15, 2012. The GPH and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) signed the Final Peace Agreement that would implement the Tripoli Agreement of 1976, on September 2, 1996 also in Malacanang.
MindaNews sources earlier said a bigger venue outside Malacanang was being considered, having learned lessons from the 2012 signing of the FAB. A day before the signing then, Deles told MindaNews they were expecting some 800 guests. On the day of the signing, a number of guests, and even the government peace panel chair then, Marvic Leonen (now Supreme Court Associate Justice), and MILF vice chair for political affairs Ghazali Jaafar, were seen standing at the start of the program because all seats had been taken.
The GPH-MILF peace process is likely to contribute another “first” in the world of peace negotiations this month: the submission of a draft basic law of an autonomous government just days after signing a comprehensive peace agreement.
The GPH and MILF began peace negotiations in 1997, interrupted by three major wars (2000, 2003 and 2008); and several deadlocks. In August 2011, President Benigno Simeon Aquino III sought a meeting with MILF chair Al Haj Murad Ebrahim to fast-track the peace process so that the agreement would be implemented within the second half of his six-year term.
The President will step down at noon of June 30, 2016, on the same day the first set of elected officials of the Bangsamoro, the new autonomous political entity that would replace the 24-year old Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, are expected to begin Day One of their governance.
All four Annexes to the FAB — Wealth-Sharing, Power-Sharing, Normalization and Transitional Arrangements and Modalities – that would complete what would be the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB), have been signed, with the last annex, on Normalization, signed on January 25.
The parties are presently finishing the final text of what would go into the CAB. The FAB provides for the creation of the Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC) that would draft the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL).
The BTC, headed by MILF peace panel chair Mohagher Iqbal, first met in April 2013 and by late last year said they would submit the draft basic law by April 2014. But the target date for submission was moved to March 31, following a courtesy call on President Aquino in Malacanang on January 30. After submission, the President will certify the bill as urgent to Congress.
In his State of the Nation Address on July 22 last year, the President urged Congress to pass the Bangsamoro Basic Law before the end of 2014, to allow enough time for the transition period, and election of the first set of officials of the Bangsamoro Government by 2016.
The government and MILF peace panels have been meeting in the last three weeks to settle the remaining vital issues on the final text of the comprehensive agreement such as the conduct of the plebiscite and some other aspects on the transition phase.
The panels met in Manila in late February, in Cotabato City on March 4 and in Marawi City on March 11.
MILF Website
Article links:
BANGSAMORO FRAMEFORK
OTHER HUMAN RIGHTS PROMOTIONS WEBSITES
PROTECTION AND PROMOTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS
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