Tripartite review of 1996 peace deal in Indonesia postponed

MANILA, Philippines - The tripartite review of the 1996 peace agreement between the Philippine government and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) scheduled for Monday has been postponed, an official said Friday.

"The Philippine Government through the Department of Foreign Affairs received today (Friday) from the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia a Note Verbale concerning the postponement of the 5th Session of the GPH-OIC-MNLF Tripartite Implementation Review Meeting scheduled on 16 September 2013," Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Teresita Deles announced.

Deles said that the meeting was postponed upon the request of MNLF founding chairman Nur Misuari, whose followers are now locked in an armed standoff with the military in Zamboanga City.

"It stated that the request was made by MNLF Chair Nur Misuari due to the 'situation in Zamboanga City,'" she said.

The meeting could have also been an opportunity for officials of the government to talk personally with Misuari.

"We consider it unfortunate that this opportunity for a face-to-face meeting that had been set precisely to discuss the status of the Tripartite Implementation review and the future of this peace process is yet again delayed," Deles said.

She said that the government has asked the OIC Secretary General from Indonesia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs "that this meeting not be indefinitely postponed."

She said that the MNLF secretariat had asked the OIC General, which serves as chair of the Peace Committee for Southern Philippines, to move the meeting to the 1st week of October.

The meeting is being conducted to review of the 1996 peace agreement between the Philippine government and the MNLF.

Deles assured that the government remains committed to the peace agreement.

Officials of the Misuari-led MNLF faction have said that they feel left out in the negotiations between the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the government.

The government's signing of the 2012 Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro, which paves the way for the creation of a new Bangsamoro entity that will replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, which President Aquino had branded as a "failed experiment."

At least 200 of Misuari's MNLF followers occupied at least five villages in Zamboanga City, resulting in a bloody standoff with the military.

The city government said that at least 12 people have been killed, several others wounded and at least 24,000 have been displaced as the standoff reaches the fifth day on Friday.