MANILA, Philippines – Malaysia assured the Philippines that the 12 Malaysian peace monitors would stay in Mindanao even if the two governments fail to adopt a new agreement for the International Monitoring Team (IMT), Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo said yesterday.
Romulo said Malaysian Foreign Minister Rais Yatim gave the assurance during a meeting in Kuala Lumpur last week.
“When I was in Kuala Lumpur I talked with Foreign Minister Rais Yatim and he said Malaysia is desirous of retaining their peace monitors, so their 12 monitors will remain,” Romulo said in a press briefing.
Press Secretary Jesus Dureza earlier said the Philippine government is hopeful that local volunteers and civil society groups will help in securing peace in Mindanao if no meeting takes place with Malaysia for the new terms of reference (TOR) to extend the tour of duty of the IMT in Southern Philippines.
“The assurance to me is 12 will remain under old or new TOR,” Romulo added.
Dureza said the desire to continue working for a ceasefire between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) is not lost.
“In a worst case scenario that there will be no meeting of the two panels (RP-Malaysia) and no new TOR is agreed to continue the functions of the IMT, both sides still want to continue the ceasefire committee. It is still on the ground and not erased because of the expiry of the TOR,” Dureza said.
Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Hermogenes Esperon Jr. said the Philippine government is optimistic that a meeting will take place between Manila and Kuala Lumpur before the TOR expires on Aug. 31.
“We hope we could find time to meet between now and Aug. 31. We will regret this if we lose the services of this very important IMT. If there is no TOR before the 31st, the IMT will pull out,” Esperon said.
Aside from Malaysia, the IMT is also composed of peace monitors from Japan, Libya and Brunei.
Under the TOR, the IMT can stay beyond Aug. 31 if the parties make the request for extension.
Observers warned the people that the fighting between government troops and the separatist MILF rebels would escalate if the IMT withdraws completely from Mindanao.
“We hope we could retain at least the remaining 12 observers from Malaysia, six from Libya, eight from Brunei and two from Japan,” Esperon said.