‘Talks with MILF will resume despite impasse’

DAVAO CITY - Chief government peace negotiator Silvestre Afable has expressed confidence that peace talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) will resume despite an impasse on the issue of ancestral domain.

"I am confident the peace talks would resume," he told The STAR during a break in the peace consultation of Mindanao stakeholders at the Royal Mandaya Hotel here.

Afable said the government shall submit to the MILF by end of October a new proposal to resolve the impasse in the peace talks.

"It would be an improved proposal from the one we have submitted to them (MILF) before," he said.

Afable refused to divulge the details of the proposal except that there shall no longer be any mention of "subject to constitutional processes," a phrase which the MILF found unsuitable.

"We shall stay away from using the term ‘constitutional processes’ in our proposal," he said without explaining how the government could go about it and not abide by law.

Afable said it is a "sign of the flexibility" that the government and MILF peace panels continue to meet in various fora like yesterday’s consultation on the peace situation in Mindanao.

"You can see the signs of flexibility here," he said.

"I see it as both panels are still open to continuing the peace negotiations. It would be harder if the negotiating panel members do not already see each other during an impasse. It would be very hard."

Afable said the conferences and consultations on the peace process would help a lot to ease the tension built by the impasse. — Edith Regalado