Time for peace progress 'ticking away': MILF

MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) - The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) warned today the government against prolonging the peace talks after they failed to sign the three remaining annexes of the framework agreement on the Bangsamoro (FAB) during their recent meeting in Malaysia.

The clock was "ticking away" on the peace process, said Mohagher Iqbal, peace negotiator for IMLF, which is the largest Muslim rebel group in the Philippines.

The Muslim rebel group recalled that government peace panel chair Miriam Coronel-Ferrer earlier said that the comprehensive agreement would be signed in last March, which she later postponed to April after both parties failed to beat the timeline.

But in last week's talks, the government and the MILF failed again to sign the three remaining annexes on wealth-sharing, power- sharing and normalization and set the next round of discussions after the May 13 elections, the MILF said.

Datu Antonio Kinoc, alternate member of the MILF peace panel, admitted that he could not understand why government always changes position, which was "the real cause of the delays."

"I do not know where the problem lies - in the negotiating team or in their principal," he said referring to President Benigno S. Aquino III as the "principal."

Maulana Alonto, senior MILF panel member, said that before they flew to Malaysia for the 37th round of formal exploratory talks last week, the expectations were high that they could put closure to further discussions at least on the annex on wealth-sharing since both sides had already made some progress on the issue in their February talks.

"A very serious problem now on the question of credibility has come to the fore. We are racing against time but the way things are turning out, time might outrun us," he said.

With the failure to complete the three annexes, a comprehensive peace agreement, which aims to establish the Bangsamoro entity that will replace the current Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, could not be signed either.