Monitoring team waits for completion of annexes on Framework Agreement

MANILA, Philippines - The real work of the independent Third Party Monitoring Team (TPMT) established by the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in the context of the peace process can only fully commence once the two outstanding annexes have been completed and added to the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro.

TPMT chair Alistair MacDonald said yesterday that the annexes on power-sharing and on normalization have to be completed and added to the Framework Agreement and its annexes on transitional modalities and on wealth-sharing before the real work of the TPMT could fully commence.

The TPMT meetings in Manila and Cotabato from Sept. 23 to 28 marked the team’s first visit to the Philippines.

“Nevertheless it had been essential for the TPMT to commence its preparatory work already now, reaching out to the key stakeholders, outlining the mandate of the TPMT, and most of all listening to these key actors and hearing of their thoughts and expectations for the way ahead and for how the TPMT could best fulfill its mandate,” MacDonald said. 

MacDonald, former European Union ambassador to the Philippines and currently on leave from the EU prior to his retirement at the end of this year, said at the close of their visit that “my colleagues and I were encouraged by the strongest commitment to peace underlined by all of our contacts, whether in the government or the MILF, or among civil society and other key actors.”

“Much has been done already, and much remains to be done, both in completing the remaining annexes to the Framework Agreement and in implementing these mutually agreed commitments. But it was clear that both parties are absolutely determined to make this work,” he added. 

The chair is an independent international person jointly nominated by the two parties. 

All the members of the TPMT, together with the chair, were present for their first visit, as a team, to the Philippines – Zainuddin Malang, executive director of the Mindanao Human Rights Action Centre (MinHRAC); Karen Tañada from MinHRAC and from the Gaston Z. Ortigas Peace Institute; Huseyin Oru, vice-president of IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation (a Turkish humanitarian NGO); and Steven Rood, Country Representative of The Asia Foundation. 

MacDonald said that during this visit they had been able to meet both with Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) Secretary Teresita Deles and panel chair Miriam Coronel-Ferrer and with MILF Central Committee and panel chair Mohagher Iqbal, with members of the Transition Commission, the International Contact Group and the International Monitoring Team, and with representatives of civil society both in Manila and in Cotabato. 

All members of the TPMT joined MacDonald in expressing their condolences to the families of the victims of the recent violence in Zamboanga.

The TPMT was established by the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro signed in October 2012, being tasked to monitor the implementation of all agreements between the parties.

The terms of reference of the TPMT were adopted by the parties in January 2013, noting inter alia that the TPMT will “monitor, review and assess the implementation of all signed agreements, primarily the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro and its Annexes.”

In particular, this will include monitoring and evaluating the implementation of all agreements between the parties, reviewing and assessing the implementation of commitments by both parties (submitting reports, observations and recommendations to both parties for their consideration), and communicating to the public the progress and developments in the implementation of the agreements.

The TPMT mandate will run until the completion of the Exit Document when all agreements have been fully implemented.