Government, MILF meet in Kuala Lumpur to reconcile draft pacts

MANILA, Philippines - The government peace panel and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) started a crucial meeting yesterday in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to reconcile their respective draft final peace agreements that they aim to sign before President Arroyo steps down on June 30.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said government peace panel chairman Ambassador Rafael Seguis left for Kuala Lumpur Tuesday night hours after Mrs. Arroyo presided over a meeting of the Cabinet cluster on security at the Palace to finalize the draft comprehensive agreement.

Malaysia is acting as facilitator of the nine-year-old peace talks between the government and the MILF.

He said Seguis got the “go-signal” from the Cabinet “and it’s alright for him to present the draft of the framework agreement” to the MILF panel.

Ermita said Seguis will stress to his MILF counterparts the “need to use the Constitution as our term of reference and that whatever amendment there will be will have to contend with the existence of Republic Act 9054, which is the law that created the new ARMM (Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao).”

“Presented in that framework are what you call ‘executive doables’ – doables by the executive branch,” he said.

He declined to detail the “doables,” saying it might preempt the talks in Kuala Lumpur but said the provisions, if implemented, “could ease the conduct of legislation between the two panels.”

He said he expects the MILF panel to present its own version of the draft final peace agreement.

Meanwhile, the European Union (EU) has no decision yet on the invitation of the Philippine government and the MILF to become a member of the International Monitoring Team (IMT) overseeing the ceasefire between the two parties.

 “We are considering it but we have not taken a decision. We are honored by the trust of the two parties by inviting us to the IMT and helping in the solution of the problem,” said Ambassador Alistair MacDonald, head of the EU delegation.

MacDonald said the invitation is a subject of ongoing discussion in the Council of Ministers in Brussels.

“It is important for us to judge whether we can bring added value to the process,” he added.    – With Pia Lee-Brago