Gov't, MILF to sign comprehensive peace pact before Congress opens in July

MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) - The comprehensive peace agreement between the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the government may be signed before Congress officially opens in July, a senior official said today.

According to Miriam Colonel-Ferrer, the government's chief peace negotiator with the MILF, "creative solutions and compromises" on concerns related to the annexes are now being worked out.

"Between the results of the May 13 elections and the President' s next State of the Nation Address at the opening of the 16th Congress in July, the signing of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro will be the next big event marking the mid-term of President Aquino,"  Ferrer said in a forum organized by Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines (FOCAP).

She said the next round of formal talks between the Philippine government and the MILF could take place after the May 13 election.

Both panels are still ironing out concerns related to wealth- sharing, power-sharing, and normalization annexes.

In the wealth-sharing annex, Ferrer said the areas of concern include the system of budgetary appropriation, revenue share of the Bangsamoro from mineral and energy resources.

In the normalization annex, she noted that the decommissioning of weapons and combatants, policing, and redeployment of government troops are major concerns.

Ferrer said principles of intergovernmental relations, lists of powers, and the Bangsamoro "regional waters" are among the concerns that are being addressed under the power-sharing annexes.

The Philippine government and the MILF had been targeting to sign a comprehensive peace agreement in March. But contentious issues surrounding the three remaining annexes in the framework agreement forced the two panels to delay the forging of a comprehensive peace pact.

Last month, the MILF and the Philippine government agreed to exchange notes on the three annexes through the Malaysian facilitator which affirmed their commitment to settle the issues on all three annexes.