Gov’t, MILF sign annex on road map to Bangsamoro creation

MANILA, Philippines - The government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) signed on Wednesday the annex on Transitional Arrangements and Modalities (TAM) and the Terms of Reference for the Independent Commission on Policing (ICP) at the conclusion of its three-day formal exploratory talks in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Government peace panel chair Miriam Coronel-Ferrer said the annex on TAM details the road map toward the creation of the Bangsamoro entity.

Ferrer said the ICP is the body that will submit recommendations to the peace panels on the police force for the Bangsamoro pursuant to the framework agreement signed by the government and the MILF last Oct. 15.

In a joint statement, the government and the MILF said the two parties continued discussions on the annexes on wealth sharing and power sharing and resolved most of the remaining issues during its 36th formal exploratory talks in Kuala Lumpur last Feb. 25-27.

“The parties likewise discussed the composition of the Third Party Monitoring Team, the body that will review, assess, evaluate and monitor the implementation of the Framework Agreement on Bangsamoro and its annexes,” the joint statement said.

The two panels said they welcome the appointment of all the 15 members of the Transition Commission as envisioned by the framework agreement also provided under Executive Order 120.

They acknowledged the important role that the Transition Commission will play and look forward to its success.

They also expressed appreciation to President Aquino for his unwavering commitment to a just and lasting peace in Mindanao and to Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak for supporting the facilitation of the peace talks.

The joint panels also thanked the members of the MILF Central Committee headed by chairman Al Haj Murad Ebrahim for their “untiring commitment to the peaceful resolution of the Bangsamoro question.”

The panels also thanked the efforts of the International Contact Group (ICG), namely Japan, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Republic of Turkey, the United Kingdom, Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, Conciliation Resources, Muhammadiyah, and The Asia Foundation.

In particular, the panels expressed appreciation to Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue’s David Gorman for his active participation since the inception of the ICG in 2009, and his valuable contributions to the peace process.

The MILF was elated with the recent achievements by the two panels working for the peaceful settlement of the Mindanao Moro issue, according to the group’s vice chairman for political affairs Ghazali Jaafar.

“All is well. We should give credit to the two panels for this good development,” Jaafar said. – With John Unson